Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘BBB-(nga)’ National Long-term rating and ‘F3 (nga)’ National Short-term rating on Rating Watch Positive (RWP) to Access Bank Plc over its planned acquisition of Intercontinental Bank Plc.

The rating by Fitch, a global rating agency was occasioned the Bank’s recent announcement of its execution of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enter into Business Combination with Intercontinental Bank Plc as well as discussions between Fitch and Access Bank Plc regarding the potential impact of the Business Combination.

The statement from the bank noted that prior to the conclusion of the transaction, Fitch understands that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) will acquire all of the non-performing loans within Intercontinental and will recapitalise the Bank to a net asset value of zero.

He explained that Intercontinental has a large deposit franchise, supported by a branch infrastructure of about 360 branches at end-December 2010. “Fitch is of the opinion that the Business Combination with Intercontinental Bank will support Access Bank’s developing franchise and enhance its systemic importance,” he said.

“Fitch Solutions,” he continued, “Offers a range of comprehensive data, analytical tools and risk services, and is the distribution channel for Fitch Ratings content.

“Fitch’s National ratings provide a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities in countries with relatively low international sovereign ratings and where there is demand for such ratings.

“The best risk within a country is rated ‘AAA’ and other credits are rated only relative to this risk. National ratings are designed for use mainly by local investors in local markets and are signified by the addition of an identifier for the country concerned, such as ‘AAA (nga)’ for National ratings in Nigeria.”