Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank wins a top rating from S&P

SINGAPORE - S&P Global Ratings has assigned its 'AAA/A-1+' long- and short-term issuer credit ratings to Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and says the outlook is stable.

 
“The ratings reflect our opinion that over the next three to five years AIIB will establish a track record and significantly enhance its operational setup, supporting our assessment of its very strong business profile and its extremely strong financial profile,” S&P says.
 
“AIIB has a robust callable capital base. However, we do not factor in any uplift into our issuer credit rating because of extraordinary shareholder support as AIIB's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) is already 'aaa'.”
 
Founded in 2015, AIIB is a multilateral lending institution (MLI) established by international treaty. Its headquarters is in Beijing and China is the largest shareholder, with 27.5% of the votes.
 
Its original 57 founding members (now 80) include almost all 'AAA' rated sovereigns globally (Canada has been approved as a member but has not yet ratified the treaty).
 
The members have entrusted the institution with a very significant capital endowment of $100 billion, of which 20% represents paid-in resources to be funded in full over the next five-to-seven years.
 
“This means AIIB will be, from the start, one of the largest MLIs globally,” S&P says.
 
“We base our assessment on our forward-looking view that AIIB will deploy a significant portion of its resources to establish a track record and a strong footprint in Asia.
 
“Should it fail to do so we would likely reconsider our view of its business profile.” www.sstandardandpoors.com (ATI).