Fitch affirms Bank of Georgia long-term IDR at BB-

Fitch affirmed the long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of Bank of Georgia, the sole subsidiary of Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO LN) at BB-. The agency emphasized the bank’s stand-alone strength and described its corporate governance and disclosure standards as strong for an emerging market bank. Bank of Georgia’s rating is constrained by relatively high sovereign risk due to the country’s still low level of economic development and also by a very high level of FX lending which makes asset quality and capital ratios sensitive to depreciation of the national currency.