...Asset Quality Weighs on Ratings: First Investment Bank AD's (FIBank) Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) and Viability Rating (VR) reflect the bank's substantial asset-quality pressures, which are a result of a high stock of impaired loans and repossessed assets. At end-3Q20, the bank's consolidated impaired loans (Stage 3 loans) accounted for 23.4% of gross loans. The bank's high stock of repossessed assets (6.5% of total assets at end-3Q20) and investment property (largely foreclosed assets) further weigh on the bank's overall asset quality. Pandemic-Related Risks: The Negative Outlook reflects the downside risks to the bank's asset quality, earnings and capital from the effects of the pandemic, which in Fitch Ratings' view exacerbate the bank's existing asset-quality challenges. The capital increase completed in 3Q20 has deferred some of the imminent pressures on the bank's capital position from its large stock of problem assets and the risks from the economic fallout of the pandemic. Tail...
