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Bank ratings upgrades Four of Lebanon’s banks received ratings upgrades from Moody’s Investors Service in April. The agency raised the long-term foreign currency deposit ratings of BLOM Bank, Bank Audi, Byblos Bank and Bank of Beirut from B2 to B1. Byblos Bank’s foreign currency senior and subordinated bond ratings were also raised from B1 to Ba3. The ratings were all deemed stable by the ratings agency. The upgrades are due mostly to the upgrade in Lebanon’s sovereign ratings. Fitch Ratings also followed a sovereign upgrade with bank ratings upgrades in April. Both Byblos Bank and Bank Audi’s long-term issuer default ratings were upgraded from B- to B. Both raters noted that while these upgrades were the result of an improvement in Lebanon’s sovereign rating, they are hampered by the banks’ high exposure to the sovereign and holdings of government paper. Fitch Ratings mentioned that about one half of Lebanese banks’