...Support Drives Ratings: Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi A.S.'s (YKB) ratings are driven by potential support from UniCredit S.p.A. (UC, BBB/Negative). UC owns a 50% stake in YKB's holding company, which in turn holds an 82% stake in YKB. Fitch Ratings considers YKB to be a strategically important and highly integrated subsidiary of UC. The Negative Outlook on YKB mirrors that on the Turkish sovereign. IDR Below That of Sovereign: YKB's Long-Term Foreign-Currency (FC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) is one notch below that of the sovereign, reflecting our view that in case of a marked deterioration in Turkey's external finances the risk of government intervention in the banking sector would be higher than that of a sovereign default. Operating Environment: YKB's operations are concentrated in the high-risk Turkish operating environment, which deteriorated significantly in 2018. This was due to material Turkish lira depreciation, sharp increases in lira interest rates and weakening GDP growth. Asset Quality...
