Scope Ratings has today confirmed the Positive Outlook for Crédit Agricole SA’s (CASA) Long-Term Ratings of A. The Positive Outlook has been in place since Scope announced its ratings on CASA in April 2014. The confirmation applies also to the Positive Outlook for CASA’s Tier 2 and Additional Tier 1 securities ratings or BBB+ and BB+, respectively. The Outlook for CASA’s S-1 Short-Term Ratings remains Stable.

The Positive Outlook confirmation reflects Scope’s view that the recently announced intragroup transaction – the transfer of investment certificates (“CCI/CCA”) related to the regional banks to an ad-hoc company wholly owned by the regional banks – should enhance the group structure’s clarity and transparency, not least by cancelling the part of the Switch mechanism related to these instruments. The rating agency considers the announced step as relevant in this respect, highlighting that a clearer corporate structure has been a key positive rating-change driver for Crédit Agricole ever since the ratings were assigned.

Scope also reiterated that its analysis of CASA is done in the broader and materially more reassuring context of the entire Crédit Agricole Group. Thanks to the overall strength and breadth of the entire group banking and financial services domestic franchise (primarily via the regional banks), to the safe prudential metrics at group level, as well as to the various intragroup cross-guarantees, Crédit Agricole ranks as one of France’s and Europe’s stronger financial institutions.

The rating agency concluded by saying that the group’s forthcoming update on strategy, announced for later in Q1, should shed more light on the restructuring and intragroup re-balancing topic. One possible outcome of Scope’s analysis of an improving context could be a positive rating action.