Banca Agricola Popolare di Sicilia mandates Scope with its first-ever public rating

Scope Ratings has been given a public ratings mandate by Banca Agricola Popolare di Sicilia (BAPS), the largest regional bank in Southern Italy formed from the recent merger of Banca Agricola Popolare di Ragusa and Banca Popolare Sant’Angelo.

Scope assigned a BBB-/Stable rating, reflecting a well established co-operative franchise, improved asset-quality metrics and sound capital and funding positions.

This is the bank’s first-ever public rating. The decision to mandate Scope came just ahead of the European Central Bank’s onboarding of Scope’s ratings into the Eurosystem Credit Assessment Framework. ECAF status makes Scope-rated debt instruments eligible as collateral in ECB and euro area central banks’ monetary policy operations.

Marco Troiano, Head of Financial Institutions Ratings at Scope, said: “We are delighted that BAPS mandated Scope to assign its inaugural public rating. It reinforces Scope’s positioning as a provider of credit ratings in Italy and shows the validity of our analytical proposition. Our analytical approach, solidly anchored in the analysis of a bank’s business model and operating environment, produces ratings that display through-the-cycle stability”.

Saverio Continella, Chief Executive Officer of BAPS, said: “Obtaining our first-ever rating, from Scope, represents a very important achievement for our bank. It distinguishes us on the Italian banking scene and confirms the solidity of our financial fundamentals, the strategic vision that drives our decision-making and our constant commitment to transparency and innovation. The rating we obtained strengthens the trust of our stakeholders and is an important lever to access new opportunities, continuing our path of growth and service.”

See the BAPS rating report here.

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