Rating action

Scope Ratings GmbH has today affirmed the AAA long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings of Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg – Förderbank – (L-Bank) in both local and foreign currency. The agency has also affirmed the S-1+ short-term issuer rating in both local and foreign currency. All Outlooks are Stable.

The latest information on the rating, including rating reports and related methodologies, is available here.

Summary and Outlook

The AAA rating of L-Bank is equalised with the AAA/Stable rating of the German Federal State of Baden-Württemberg (Baden-Württemberg), given the state’s explicit, unconditional, unlimited, statutory, direct, and irrevocable guarantee for L-Bank’s obligations.

This is further underpinned by i) a mature and very supportive legal set-up, which makes changes to L-Bank’s business model or guarantee structure unlikely; ii) the bank’s high strategic importance to the Federal State as a key government-related entity implementing economic and social policies with a countercyclical role, supported by the stability of its resources; iii) high capitalisation and asset quality, and iv) a strong liquidity and funding profile with strong capital market access.

Challenges are L-Bank’s modest but stable profitability and undiversified earnings, both foreseen by the bank’s public policy mandate.

The Stable Outlook reflects Scope’s assessment that the risks L-Bank faces are balanced.

The ratings could be downgraded in the event of: i) a downgrade of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg; and/or ii) changes in L-Bank’s legal framework or guarantee structure, notably weakening government support for the bank.

Rating rationale

L-Bank’s AAA rating reflects the extensive guarantee framework for its liabilities provided by the German Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, which is the key factor for equalising L-Bank’s ratings with the ratings of the federal state. The explicit, unconditional, unlimited, statutory, direct and irrevocable guarantee can only be amended, revoked or restricted through a parliamentary act of Baden-Württemberg. Scope deems any such development unlikely.

In line with other German state development banks, the bank is exempt from insolvency procedures as it is chartered under public law. As such, L-Bank became exempt from ECB supervision as a CRR credit institution in 2019 and does not need to establish a bail-in able liability structure.

The rating is further underpinned by L-Bank’s high strategic importance to the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg. As the federal state’s development agency, with total assets of EUR 90bn, L-Bank plays an essential role in meeting key economic and political objectives on a regional level. L-Bank’s crucial strategic position has been highlighted during the Covid-19 crisis. Over 2020-21 the bank paid out emergency funds from the central and state government to businesses in Baden-Württemberg affected by the pandemic amounting to EUR 9.1bn, or 1.7% of regional GDP. This has been further underpinned by the bank’s ability to adapt its programmes to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the energy shock, and policy. New programmes involve support for regional municipalities for housing Ukrainian refugees and support for renewable energy production. To support the region’s climate goals, the bank introduced a ‘sustainability bonus’, i.e. interest-rate deductions of up to 15bps to businesses with CO2 reporting and/or emissions reduction plans.

L-Bank’s activities are split into four promotional pillars: i) development loans to support the regional economy and promote affordable housing, home ownership, and municipal infrastructure; ii) equity participations; iii) the development of Baden-Württemberg as an investment location through the bank’s technology parks; and iv) the provision of financial assistance on behalf of Baden-Württemberg. Potential risks to L-Bank’s strong position as the federal state’s sole development bank and its provision of competition-neutral business activities, which are underpinned by a mature and supportive legal framework, are deemed remote.

L-Bank’s asset quality is high, underpinned by the bank’s double-recourse loan protection for its policy mandated lending business. Typically, L-Bank has a direct claim against the intermediary bank to whom it provided the initial loan (the ‘house-bank principle’) as well as the ultimate borrower. Only around 1% of the bank’s exposures had a non-investment grade internal rating at the end of 2021. L-Bank’s share of non-performing exposures over total exposures was 0.2% in 2021, up from 0.1% in 2020 and in line with its five-year average.

L-Bank’s Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 21% is sound. Scope expects the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg to continue allowing the bank to retain earnings to support further growth and to provide a sufficient buffer for regulatory changes. At least half of annual profits must be retained according to the L-Bank Act. Scope views L-Bank’s regulatory capital management as prudent and the bank has consistently reported significant buffers for all risk types.

The guarantee structure allows the bank to tap capital markets at favourable rates and provides resilient access to capital markets when needed. The bank demonstrates a favourable liquidity and funding profile, with an excellent track record of capital market access. This is further supported by preferential treatment of the bank’s bonds under Solvency II, along with their recognition as Level 1 high-quality liquid assets for liquidity coverage ratio requirements and zero risk-weighting under Basel.

Despite these credit strengths, challenges to the AAA rating include limited loan portfolio diversification and modest though stable profitability, both driven by L-Bank’s public policy mandate.

L-Bank’s loan portfolio is characterised by regional and sectoral concentration. More than half of its primarily domestic exposures are located in the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg. The regional concentration makes the bank’s asset quality susceptible to developments in the federal state. Should economic conditions in Baden-Württemberg’s export-oriented economy worsen significantly over a protracted period, this could ultimately also impact the bank’s asset quality and profitability. So far during the energy shock triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine, the region has performed relatively weaker than other German federal states, with growth of 1.8% in the first half of 2022 vs a German average of 2.8%, and Scope expects the German economy to cool further over the next quarters, with real growth expected at -0.3% for 2023. The bank prudently manages concentration risks via single obligor, country and concentration limits.

L-Bank’s profitability is modest but stable, reflecting its non-profit maximising character and public policy mandate according to the L-Bank Act. Operating performance is largely dependent on net interest income, which declined in 2021 amid the low interest rate environment to 0.2% of total assets. Low interest margins provide only a limited buffer in case asset quality were to deteriorate significantly which Scope deems unlikely. Scope views the recent rise in interest rates in the euro area as moderately positive for the bank’s net interest income. Although the bank’s cost-to-income ratio increased to 64.1% in 2021 from an average of 47% over 2015-19, it still compares favourably to that of national peers. The recent increase in the ratio was mostly due to an increase in administrative expenses in relation to the sizeable Covid-19 support the bank provided on behalf of the Federal State.

Qualitative Scorecard QS1

Scope applies a top-down approach (QS1) in assessing the creditworthiness of L-Bank, which takes the public sponsor’s rating (Federal State of Baden-Württemberg: AAA/Stable) as the starting point. Scope sees ‘strong’ integration between L-Bank and the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, reflecting the bank’s: i) sole public ownership by the Federal State; ii) public legal status as an ‘Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts’ (public law institution); and iii) fulfilment of operating activities exclusively on behalf of the government, with the main purpose of implementing economic and social policies.

Scope then applies a rating equalisation factor given the explicit, unconditional, unlimited, statutory, direct and irrevocable guarantee of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg for L-Bank’s obligations. The approach also includes a supplementary analysis of the entity’s business and financial risk profiles, which has no bearing on its ratings.

The assessments under QS1 and the rating equalisation factor result in an indicative rating of AAA.

For further details, please see Appendix I of the rating report.

The results were discussed and confirmed by a rating committee.

Factoring of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG)

ESG factors material to L-Bank’s credit quality are captured by Scope’s rating approach through several analytical areas.

Governance and social considerations are material to L-Bank’s credit rating and were included in Scope’s assessment of: i) L-Bank’s level of integration with the public sponsor, highlighting the supportive legal framework that requires the bank to comply with its statutes and fulfil its role as a competition-neutral public-law institution, including the provision of key services to support regional economic and social objectives; and ii) L-Bank’s standalone fundamentals, highlighting its conservative risk profile.

Scope also considered long-term environmental developments alongside its assessment of rating-relevant credit risks, but these did not play a direct role in this rating action. Considerations include the bank’s detailed reporting on its sustainability agenda via its non-financial reports and its efforts to be climate-neutral by 2040. The bank reported on its development banking activities and their impact in relation to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The bank’s activities positively impact 12 out of the 17 goals, with a particular focus on climate and environmental protection transformation and digitalisation, small and medium-sized enterprises and equal opportunities.

The bank recently expanded its development loan products, adding a ‘Energiefinanzierung’ loan product targeted at funding sustainable investments. Further, and to support the Federal State’s climate goals, including climate neutrality by 2040, the bank introduced a ‘sustainability bonus’, i.e. interest-rate deductions of up to 15bps to businesses with CO2 reporting and/or emissions reduction plans.

Rating committee
The main points discussed during the rating committee were: i) the level of integration with the government; ii) the liability support mechanism; and iii) a supplementary analysis of L-Bank’s fundamentals.

Methodology
The methodology used for these Credit Ratings and/or Outlooks, (Government Related Entities Rating Methodology, 6 May 2022), is available on https://scoperatings.com/governance-and-policies/rating-governance/methodologies.
Information on the meaning of each Credit Rating category, including definitions of default, recoveries, Outlooks and Under Review, can be viewed in ‘Rating Definitions – Credit Ratings, Ancillary and Other Services’, published on https://www.scoperatings.com/governance-and-policies/rating-governance/definitions-and-scales. Historical default rates of the entities rated by Scope Ratings can be viewed in the Credit Rating performance report at https://scoperatings.com/governance-and-policies/regulatory/eu-regulation. Also refer to the central platform (CEREP) of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA): http://cerep.esma.europa.eu/cerep-web/statistics/defaults.xhtml. A comprehensive clarification of Scope Ratings’ definitions of default and Credit Rating notations can be found at https://www.scoperatings.com/governance-and-policies/rating-governance/definitions-and-scales. Guidance and information on how environmental, social or governance factors (ESG factors) are incorporated into the Credit Rating can be found in the respective sections of the methodologies or guidance documents provided on https://scoperatings.com/governance-and-policies/rating-governance/methodologies.
The Outlook indicates the most likely direction of the Credit Ratings if the Credit Ratings were to change within the next 12 to 18 months.

Solicitation, key sources and quality of information
The Rated Entity and/or its Related Third Parties participated in the Credit Rating process.
The following substantially material sources of information were used to prepare the Credit Ratings: public domain, the Rated Entity.
Scope Ratings considers the quality of information available to Scope Ratings on the Rated Entity or instrument to be satisfactory. The information and data supporting these Credit Ratings originate from sources Scope Ratings considers to be reliable and accurate. Scope Ratings does not, however, independently verify the reliability and accuracy of the information and data.
Prior to the issuance of the Credit Rating action, the Rated Entity was given the opportunity to review the Credit Ratings and/or Outlooks and the principal grounds on which the Credit Ratings and/or Outlooks are based. Following that review, the Credit Ratings were not amended before being issued.

Regulatory disclosures
These Credit Ratings and/or Outlooks are issued by Scope Ratings GmbH, Lennéstraße 5, D-10785 Berlin, Tel +49 30 27891-0. The Credit Ratings and/or Outlooks are UK-endorsed.
Lead analyst: Jakob Suwalski, Director
Person responsible for approval of the Credit Ratings: Giacomo Barisone, Managing Director
The Credit Ratings/Outlooks were first released by Scope Ratings on 22 January 2020. The Credit Ratings/Outlooks were last updated on 19 November 2021.

Potential conflicts
See www.scoperatings.com under Governance & Policies/EU Regulation/Disclosures for a list of potential conflicts of interest related to the issuance of Credit Ratings.

Conditions of use / exclusion of liability
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