August 24, 2010 No. 36/10 - G STANDARD AND POOR'S RE-CONFIRMS CDB'S AAA RATING The international credit rating agency, Standard and Poor's (S&P), has once again rated the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) as a ‘Triple A' institution in its just-released full analysis of the Bank's operations. In identifying the major rating factors, S&P listed CDB's strong capitalization, its diversified and well-performing loan portfolio, its prominent position as a lender in its borrowing member countries (BMCs), the recent demonstration of strong shareholder support in the form of a large paid-in capital increase, and adequate liquidity. S&P stated that "The performance of CDB's loan portfolio to date has been excellent. The bank has reportedly never written off a loan (although some have been rescheduled), and its impaired loans totaled less than US$11 million, 1.3% of total loans, as of year-end 2009. More than 95% of CDB's loans were to or guaranteed by its member countries as of that date. CDB's core income increased to more than US$30 million during 2009 from less than US$25 million one year earlier, with the ratio of core income to average assets increasing to nearly 2.6% from 2.3% and the return on average shareholders' equity to almost 6.0% from 5.1%." With regard to the rating outlook for CDB, S&P characterizes this as ‘stable', adding that it "expects any reductions in CDB's capitalization or liquidity to be modest and consistent with the current rating." CDB's Management has welcomed this development, and regards it as vote of confidence in its stewardship of the Bank's assets as it seeks to promote the social and economic development of its BMCs.