Thursday, March 21, 2013

Ireland needs oil

Reuters quoting a Fitch Ratings report --

Fitch's approach to rating banks' regulatory Tier 2 capital qualifying securities in the six GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) contrasts with the approach more commonly used in EMEA (Europe Middle East Africa), where potential extraordinary sovereign support is excluded from the ratings ...  in most countries it is Fitch's view that sovereign support, while possible, cannot be sufficiently relied upon to flow through to bank hybrids and subordinated securities. ... However, Fitch's criteria recognise that in certain jurisdictions (such as the GCC) the likelihood of sovereign support remains sufficiently strong, at least for some issuers, for Fitch to continue to factor sovereign support into ratings of securities with gone-concern loss absorption features.

There is that crazy and still unexplained feature of Ireland's notorious 2008 bank guarantee (later revoked) which included subordinated bank bonds in the guarantee. Now a ratings company sees it as a luxury only available to oil exporters.