Moody’s Changes Outlook for Russia’s Sberbank From Negative to Stable

Moody’s Investors Service said that outlook on long-term debt and deposit ratings of Russia’s largest bank Sberbank has been changed from negative to stable to reflect the stabilization of the country’s economy.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The outlook on long-term debt and deposit ratings of Russia’s largest bank Sberbank has been changed from negative to stable to reflect the stabilization of the country’s economy, Moody’s Investors Service said in a press release on Tuesday.

“The change of the outlook to stable on the Russian government's Ba1 bond rating has led to the affirmation with a stable outlook of Sberbank's Ba1 long-term debt and local-currency (LC) deposit ratings and Ba2 foreign-currency deposit rating,” the release said.

The rating agency expects the Russian government to support Sberbank, which plays a “key systematic role” in the country’s banking system, according to the release.

As of October 2015, Sberbank has 25.9 trillion rubles in total assets.

Moody’s noted that the likelihood of a further shock for the Russian economy in the next year has diminished.

The agency has previously attributed Russia’s stabilization to a macroeconomic adjustment to offset the impact of low oil prices, and the "diminished likelihood" of future international sanctions or worsening conflict in eastern Ukraine.