Ankara: International credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has upgraded the long-term foreign currency issuer default ratings of several prominent Turkish banks, including Ziraat Bank, VakifBank, the Industrial Development Bank of Trkiye (TSKB), Halkbank, Emlak Participation Bank, and Vakif Participation Bank.

According to Anadolu Agency, Fitch raised the ratings for Ziraat Bank, VakifBank, and TSKB from "B+" to "BB-." The agency also upgraded these banks' viability ratings from "b+" to "bb-," while confirming their long-term local currency issuer default ratings at "BB-" and maintaining their national long-term ratings at "AA(tur)." The outlooks for these banks have been set at "stable."

Fitch's statement also highlighted the upgrade of Arap Turk Bank's (ATB) long-term issuer default rating from B to B+, its viability rating from b to b+, and its national long-term rating from A-(tur) to A(tur), with a stable outlook. The upgrades reflect Fitch's enhanced assessment of the Turkish operating environment, as demonstrated by the recent revision of the operating environment score for Turkish banks to 'bb-'/stable from 'b+'/positive.

The statement further noted that the government support ratings for Ziraat Bank, VakifBank, and TSKB were upgraded from b+ to bb-, aligning with the Turkish authorities' assessment that the capacity to support the banking sector in foreign currency has increased due to improved foreign exchange reserves.

In a separate announcement, Fitch upgraded the long-term foreign currency issuer default ratings of Halkbank, Emlak Participation Bank, and Vakif Participation Bank from B+ to BB-. The outlook for these ratings remains "stable," with government support ratings for these banks also rising from b+ to bb-.

The statement concluded with an upgrade of the government support ratings for Trkiye Is Bankasi, Akbank, and Yapi Kredi from b- to b.