Rating agency Crisil on Tuesday said that it has placed the ratings on long-term debt instruments of Citibank NA’s Indian operations (Citibank) and four of its affiliates on ‘rating watch with negative implications’.
“The long-term ratings have been placed on watch following continued pressure on Citigroup Inc’s performance from write-downs on its assets, the announcement of a merger agreement with Wachovia Corp, and the action taken by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on the counterparty ratings on Citigroup and its bank affiliates,” Crisil said in a statement.
On September 29, 2008, S&P placed its ratings on Citigroup on ‘credit watch with negative implications’.
The affiliates covered by the Crisil move include Citifinancial Consumer Finance India (CCFIL), Citicorp Finance (India) (CFIL), Citicorp Capital Markets (CCML) and Citicorp Maruti Finance (CMFL). The ratings on the short-term debt instruments of these entities have been reaffirmed at ‘P1+’.
In Crisil’s opinion, even if the credit watch by S&P were to result in a rating downgrade, the agency’s ratings on the long-term debt instruments of Citibank and the Citigroup entities were unlikely to fall below AA. Crisil will remove the ratings from watch and revise them if required, once it has further clarity on Citigroup’s integration plans with Wachovia Corp.