RATING ACTION:
On October 25, 2022, CariCRIS assigned the Issuer/Corporate Credit ratings CariBBB+ (Foreign Currency Rating) and CariA- (Local Currency Rating) on its regional rating scale and jmA+ (Foreign Currency Rating) and jmAA- (Local Currency Rating) on its Jamaica national scale to The Jamaica National Group Limited (JNGL or the Company). A stable outlook was also assigned.
RATING SENSITIVITY FACTORS:
Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to an improvement in the ratings and/or outlook include:
- Expansion of the Group’s product and service offerings and/or improvements in operating efficiencies, leading to a sustained increase in PAT of 10% or more for more than 2 years
- Improvement in the credit rating of the Government of Jamaica, leading to an improved sovereign risk profile
- Improvement in the Group’s cost to income ratio to 65% or below for at least 2 consecutive years
- Improvement in the Group’s NPLs to gross loans to below 2.8%
- Improvement in the Group’s TNW to total adjusted assets to 20% or above
Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to a lowering of the ratings and/or outlook include:
- A greater than 10% decline in the Group’s total income for 2 consecutive years
- Deterioration in the credit rating of the Government of Jamaica, leading to a worsened sovereign risk profile
- Deterioration in the Group’s TNW to total adjusted assets to 8% or below
- Deterioration of any of the Group’s subsidiaries’ capital adequacy ratios below regulatory requirements
- An increase in the Company’s gearing ratio to above 3 times
Analysts’ Contact Info:
Keith Hamlet
Mobile: 1-868-487-8356
Megan Dass