The following is a press release from Fitch Ratings:
Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of five of six Thai banks to Stable, from Negative, and affirmed the Long-Term IDRs of all six banks, as follows:
- Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM) affirmed at ‘BBB+’, Outlook revised to Stable
- Krung Thai Bank Public Company Limited (KTB) affirmed at ‘BBB+’, Outlook revised to Stable
- TMBThanachart Bank Public Company Limited (TTB) affirmed at ‘BBB’, Outlook revised to Stable
- Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) Public Company Limited (SCBT) affirmed at ‘A-‘, Outlook revised to Stable
- United Overseas Bank (Thai) Public Company Limited (UOBT) affirmed at ‘A-‘, Outlook revised to Stable
- Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited (BBL) affirmed at ‘BBB’, Outlook Stable.
Concurrently, Fitch has affirmed the Government Support Ratings (GSRs) of EXIM, KTB, TTB and BBL, the Shareholder Support Ratings (SSRs) of SCBT and UOBT, the Viability Rating (VR) of BBL and the Short-Term IDRs of all six banks. Fitch has also revised the outlook on BBL’s ‘bbb+’ funding and liquidity score to stable, from negative.
The rating actions follow Fitch’s Outlook revision on Thailand’s ‘BBB+’ sovereign IDRs to Stable, from Negative, on 18 September 2026. A full list of rating actions is at the end of this press release.
Key Rating Drivers
Government Support Ability Intact: The Long-Term IDRs of EXIM, KTB and TTB are driven by their GSRs. We revised the Outlook on the three banks following the Outlook revision on Thailand’s sovereign rating to Stable, from Negative. This reflected our assessment that the government’s ability to provide extraordinary support to financial institutions remains intact, with the domestic economy proving more resilient than we expected.
Country Ceiling Prospects Stabilised: The Long-Term IDRs of SCBT and UOBT are driven by their SSRs, but are capped by Thailand’s Country Ceiling. The Country Ceiling is linked to the sovereign’s Long-Term IDR and would be likely to be revised down in the event of a sovereign IDR downgrade. However, our Outlook revision on the sovereign IDR to Stable indicates that the Country Ceiling is unlikely to change in the near term.
BBL’s Funding and Liquidity Pressure Eased: Our previously negative outlook on BBL’s ‘bbb+’ funding and liquidity score reflected our view that the score of a domestic bank is unlikely to be higher than the sovereign IDR, absent ordinary support from a higher-rated foreign parent. BBL is the only Fitch-rated Thai bank whose score sits at the sovereign level without such support. We therefore revised the outlook on the score to stable, consistent with the Stable Outlook revision on the sovereign rating. The revision of the factor outlook does not affect BBL’s VR, GSR or IDRs.
