Moody's revises banking outlook in Asia Pacific

Credit rating agency Moody's reported on Tuesday that it has revised the outlook for banks in the Asia Pacific from negative to stable.

A total of 77 per cent of bank rating outlooks in the region are now stable, up from 64 per cent at the end of last year, Efe news quoted the agency as saying.

It added that banks in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Mongolia are mostly behind the increase in stable outlooks.

"Asset quality is stabilising in most banking systems, as the negative credit cycle in many of these systems has proven to be shallow with a moderate economic upturn now evident, while commodities prices are relatively stable," Stephen Long, Moody's Asia-Pacific Managing Director of financial institutions, said in a statement.

Capitalisation and profitability show good risk levels as well as financing and liquidity, while the flow of foreign funds has begun returning to Asia's emerging economies, Moody's said.

However, it warned that uncertainty generated by the fate of interest rates in banks in the US and the strength of the dollar may affect the return of foreign funds to the region.

The results were published in Moody's mid-year update of its annual outlook report on banks in the Asia Pacific.

The report covers Australia, Bangladesh, China, South Korea, the Philippines, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.

--IANS

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