Moody’s Downgrades Acleda, Cites Risk

Ratings agency Moody’s changed its outlook on Acleda Bank’s financial strength yesterday to “negative” from “stable” and downgraded its rating of the bank’s local currency deposits to Ba2 from Ba1. The rating downgrade was applied due to changes in shareholders at the bank over the past two years and a rapid growth in the bank’s loan portfolio. Earlier this year, Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, a German development bank, sold its stake in Acleda Bank to Cofibred SA, a subsidiary of France’s BRED Banque Populaire.