...Absa Group Limited's (ABG) and Absa Bank Limited's (ABL) Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) are driven by their standalone creditworthiness, as expressed by their `bb-' Viability Ratings (VRs). The VRs balance a large franchise, strong revenue diversification, good profitability, comfortable capital buffers and stable funding against some asset-quality weaknesses. The assigned VRs are one notch below the `bb' implied VRs due to the following constraint: operating environment/sovereign rating. This underlines the concentration of activities in South Africa and high sovereign-related exposure relative to capital (end-2024: 2.3x ABL's total equity). The Stable Outlooks mirror that on South Africa. The National Ratings reflect the entities' creditworthiness in local currency relative to that of other South African issuers. They are in line with all other rated banks in the country. VR Equalised with Group VR: ABG is a bank holding company (BHC). Its VR is equalised with the group VR of `bb-', derived...
