S&P Global Ratings has revised the outlook on ForteBank's ratings from Stable to Positive and raised its national scale rating. The international S&P Global Ratings agency revised the outlook for the ratings of ForteBank, JSC from “Stable” to “Positive” and upgraded its rating by the national scale from “kzA-” to “kzA”. Long-term and short-term stand-alone credit profiles of the issuer are confirmed at the level of “BB-/B”.

S&P emphasized that the “Positive” outlook on ForteBank’s ratings reflects expectations regarding a possible increase in the bank’s rating in the next 12-18 months if industry risks in the banking sector of Kazakhstan are reduced. ForteBank is one of the largest banks in the country in terms of assets and deposits.

The agency also noted that the banking sector of the Republic of Kazakhstan has demonstrated higher resistance to macroeconomic risks against worsening geopolitical risks in the region in recent years. Asset quality indicators and financial performance of the banking sector were significantly higher than the level predicted by the agency.

ForteBank is one of the five largest banks in terms of assets, the size of which exceeds 3.0 trillion tenge, the volume of its loan portfolio makes 1.5 trillion tenge as well as deposits amount to more than 2.3 trillion tenge.