Summary: KASIKORNBANK PCL

Strong market position and franchise as the fourth-largest bank in Thailand. Above-average returns and a well diversified loan book. Pressure on interest margins because of competition and low interest rates. Potential pressure on asset quality owing to slow economic recovery. The stable outlook on KASIKORNBANK PCL (KBank) reflects our expectation that the bank will maintain its high systemic importance in Thailand. We also expect the bank to sustain its 'bbb-' stand-alone credit profile (SACP) over the next two years by maintaining its strong market position while preventing any significant deterioration in capitalization and asset quality. We could downgrade KBank if we lower its SACP. This could result from aggressive expansion, such that the risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio drops below 5%,

...Potential pressure on asset quality owing to slow economic recovery. Outlook: Stable The stable outlook on KASIKORNBANK PCL (KBank) reflects our expectation that the bank will maintain its high systemic importance in Thailand. We also expect the bank to sustain its '###-' stand-alone credit profile (SACP) over the next two years by maintaining its strong market position while preventing any significant deterioration in capitalization and asset quality. We could downgrade KBank if we lower its SACP. This could result from aggressive expansion, such that the risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio drops below 5%, or a substantial deterioration in asset quality. We believe these scenarios are unlikely in the next two years. We also believe that the possibility of an upgrade of the bank is limited over the next two years, given the rating on the bank is the same as the foreign currency sovereign credit rating on Thailand (foreign currency: ###+/Stable/A-2; local currency: A-Stable/A-2; ASEAN regional...

Summary