The rating of the leading Icelandic bank Glitnir – formerly Islandsbanki – is not affected by the decison of Standard & Poor’s (S & P) to downgrade the sovereign rating of Iceland, according to a press release from the ratings agency.
Glitnir was rated by S&P in March 2006, and remains the first and only Icelandic bank to secure a rating. Glitnir is exposed to the seafood and food, sustainable energy and offshore supply industries that dominate the Icelandic economy, but has developed a regional presence.
“We take encouragement and pride from S&P’s decision to leave Glitnir Bank’s rating unchanged in the light of the sovereign downgrade – a clear vote of confidence in the Bank’s business model striving for continuous diversification and profitable growth in selected areas,” says Bjarni Armannsson, CEO of Glitnir. “Our strategy of becoming less and less affected by the economic cycle in Iceland is bearing fruit. We don’t see the downgrade of the sovereign as a fundamental re-assessment of the economy’s prospects, but rather as a clear signal that more realignment between fiscal and monetary policy is needed in Iceland and a tighter fiscal policy is needed to put the economy in a more balanced state.”