Setback as GCR Ratings withdraws South African based Nigerian bank national scale rating

GCR Ratings (GCR) has withdrawn the national scale, long and short term issuer credit ratings of Access Bank (South Africa) Limited without review.

The withdrawal was due to analytical reasons as GCR said it has not received adequate information from Access Bank (South Africa) Limited to meet the rating agency’s standard information sufficiency requirement.

“Therefore, the issuer credit ratings cannot be sustained, meaning GCR no longer supports any previously assigned ratings,” GCR said.

Its Limited issuer credit ratings were last reviewed by GCR in June 2024.

Despite capital injections of Zar1.4bln (N115 billion) by Access holdings, since its acquisition of Access Bank South Africa in 2021, persistent losses have continued for the subsidiary.

GCR had forecast a financial loss at year end 2024 for Access Bank South Africa, after the firm recorded losses in 2023.

Capitalisation was expected to deteriorate in the short to medium term and Access Bank South Africa would have to return to shareholders or the market to increase capital soon, according to GCR.

Access Bank South Africa Limited is the 24th (out of 30) largest regulated banks in South Africa, with a market share across assets, loans and deposits of less than 0.1%.

To increase its market share, Access Bank Plc offered to acquire Bidvest Bank Holdings Ltd., for about 2.8 billion rand ($159 million) to help Nigeria’s biggest lender by assets expand in South Africa.

The credit rating withdrawal by GCR does not imply that the entity is not servicing its debt obligations or that its financial position has deteriorated, but rather that it has failed to provide important information pertaining to its credit profile.