The credit ratings of “Belinvestbank” JSC (hereinafter, Belinvestbank or the Bank) under the international scale and the national scale for the Russian Federation have been upgraded due to the changes in the assessment of the creditworthiness of the Government of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter, Belarus).
The credit rating of Belinvestbank is also based on its high business profile assessment, very high assessment of capital position, medium assessment of risk profile, and the moderately high assessment of funding and liquidity. Belinvestbank carries out almost all of its operations in the Republic of Belarus, which also has a significant impact on the Bank’s standalone creditworthiness assessment (SCA).
The maximum achievable level of the Bank’s credit rating is constrained by ACRA’s opinion of the creditworthiness of the Republic of Belarus. The Stable outlook on Belinvestbank’s international and national credit ratings reflects a potential change of this opinion.
Belinvestbank is one of the largest banks in Belarus.
KEY ASSESSMENT FACTORS
The low assessment of the operating environment is based primarily on ACRA’s opinion of Belarus’s creditworthiness. In addition, the Agency takes into account the high (around 45%) share of assets and liabilities of the banking system of Belarus denominated in foreign currency, as well as the relatively high (8.9%) share of liabilities to non-residents. ACRA also views the degree of involvement in and influence of Belarusian state institutions on the activities of the country’s banks as heightened, which is determined, among other things, by coercive lending practices, limiting the cost of lending, etc.
The high business profile assessment reflects the sufficiently strong positions held by Belinvestbank in the Belarusian banking services market and its ability to adapt to unfavorable changes to the operating environment. The Bank is developing as a universal financial institution and as of July 1, 2025, it was among the largest banks in Belarus in terms of assets and most other performance indicators. The share of individuals’ funds held by the Bank amounts to about 3% of the total funds of the population of Belarus. In terms of positive aspects of its business model, the Bank has a high (compared to other Belarusian banks) share of irrevocable fixed-term deposits of individuals (this indicator stands at around 70% for the whole of Belarus), and has a consistent tendency to reduce the foreign currency component of active and passive transactions.
The capital adequacy assessment is very high, which reflects the still significant loss absorption buffer since NFRS capital adequacy ratios are much higher than regulatory minimums, while the Bank’s ability to generate capital is high. The NFRS Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio (CAR) was around 12.7% as of September 1, 2025 (vs. 15.1% as of September 1, 2024). The reduction in the ratio reflects the relatively rapid growth of the loan portfolio over the past 12 months. The Bank maintains a strong ability to generate capital: the capital generation ratio (average pre-tax profit to average RWA for the past five years) is around 4%. ROE amounted to 7.7% and ROA was 1.3% for January–July 2025.
High capitalization allows the Bank to withstand rather significant growth in the credit risk.
The medium risk profile assessment reflects the relatively high share of non-performing assets and the reserves for such assets. When assessing the quality of the portfolio, ACRA notes that part of the IFRS 9 Stage 3 loans are collateralized, which diminishes the risk of impairment loss recognition for such loans. Excluding these collateralized loans, the Bank’s total assets before reserves remained almost unchanged over the past 12 months. The Agency notes that the coverage of non-performing assets by reserves is rather high: total reserves is approaching 100% of total non-performing assets. ACRA assesses the concentration on the largest accepted credit risks, lending to high-risk industries, and types of lending as acceptable. In ACRA’s view, moderate risk factors include the tendency of the loan portfolio to grow rapidly.
Moderately high funding and liquidity assessment. The Agency notes Belinvestbank’s moderate dependence on unstable funding sources and moderate supply of liquid assets. Despite the fact that the Bank traditionally uses short-term client funds as its main funding instrument, this resource base is relatively stable thanks to the significant volume of irrevocable deposits and current funds of individuals. At the same time, the Bank’s approach to funding the growing portfolio has increased the dependence on the largest lender/depositor and occurred against the background of a downward trend in the share of liquid assets. In ACRA’s opinion, the Bank has stable positions for safe operating standards set by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus. The Agency also notes that the share of funding in foreign currency remains relatively low compared to the industry average.
Limitations and adjustments. The Agency has not applied any adjustments that separately take into account the quality of corporate governance and risk management, but ACRA notes that they are adequate in terms of the strategy and the nature of the Bank’s operations. The ownership structure is assessed as transparent. The final SCA is set at bb-.
The Bank’s SCA and credit rating are limited by ACRA’s opinion of the creditworthiness of Belarus, so no additional support notches have been applied. At the same time, ACRA determines the extent of possible support as medium. On the one hand, this reflects the important social role played by Belinvestbank (expressed in the relatively high share of liabilities to individuals out of their total volume in Belarus), as well as the Bank’s presence in the list of second-tier systemically important banks. On the other hand, the above assessment of possible support is due to the fact that Belinvestbank’s role in the implementation of state programs is smaller than that of other state-owned banks, and the Bank does not use regulatory concessions but relies on its own resources for development.
The credit rating of Belinvestbank is BBB(RU), outlook Stable, under the national scale for the Russian Federation as per the Methodology for Mapping Credit Ratings Assigned under ACRA’s International Scale to Credit Ratings Assigned under ACRA’s National Scales.
KEY ASSUMPTIONS
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Maintaining current positions in key segments in the Belarusian banking sector;
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Tier 1 CAR at no lower than 10%;
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Maintaining the current business model (in particular with regard to limited risk appetite);
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Maintaining the current funding structure.
POTENTIAL OUTLOOK OR RATING CHANGE FACTORS UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL SCALE
The Stable outlook assumes that the rating will highly likely stay unchanged within the 12 to 18-month horizon.
A positive rating action may be prompted by:
- ACRA’s higher opinion of the creditworthiness of the Republic of Belarus, and the Bank’s SCA remaining at least at the current level.
A negative rating action may be prompted by:
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ACRA’s lower opinion of the creditworthiness of Belarus;
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Lower Tier 1 CAR;
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Worse asset quality;
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Worse funding structure;
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Worse liquidity indicators.
POTENTIAL OUTLOOK OR RATING CHANGE FACTORS UNDER THE NATIONAL SCALE FOR THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
The Stable outlook assumes that the rating will highly likely stay unchanged within the 12 to 18-month horizon.
A positive rating action may be prompted by:
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ACRA’s higher opinion on the creditworthiness of the Republic of Belarus;
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Significant growth of the Bank’s positions in the Belarusian financial services market.
A negative rating action may be prompted by:
- ACRA’s lower opinion on the creditworthiness of the Republic of Belarus.
RATING COMPONENTS UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL SCALE
SCA after adjustments and limitations: bb-.
Support: since ACRA’s opinion of the creditworthiness of the Republic of Belarus has a limiting impact on the Bank’s credit rating under the international scale, the assessment of support does not affect the credit rating.
ISSUE RATINGS
No outstanding issues have been rated.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURE
The credit rating has been assigned to “Belinvestbank” JSC under the international scale based on the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Banks and Banking Groups under the International Scale and the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings with Support. The credit rating has been assigned to “Belinvestbank” JSC under the national scale for the Russian Federation based on the Methodology for Mapping Credit Ratings Assigned under ACRA’s International Scale to Credit Ratings Assigned under ACRA’s National Scales and the Key Concepts Used by the Analytical Credit Rating Agency within the Scope of Its Rating Activities.
The credit ratings of “Belinvestbank” JSC under the international scale and the national scale for the Russian Federation were published by ACRA for the first time on October 28, 2021. The credit ratings and their outlooks are expected to be revised within one year following the publication date of this press release.
The credit ratings were assigned based on data provided by “Belinvestbank” JSC, information from publicly available sources, and ACRA’s own databases. The rating analysis was performed using the financial statements of “Belinvestbank” JSC drawn up in accordance with the IFRS and the NFRS financial statements of the Republic of Belarus. The credit ratings are solicited and “Belinvestbank” JSC participated in their assignment.
In assigning the credit ratings, ACRA used only information, the quality and reliability of which were, in ACRA’s opinion, appropriate and sufficient to apply the methodologies.
ACRA provided additional services to “Belinvestbank” JSC. No conflicts of interest were discovered in the course of credit rating assignment.