The affirmation of the credit rating of ING BANK (EURASIA) JSC (hereinafter, the Bank) and the removal of Watch status reflect the recent cancellation of the agreement on the sale of the Bank to a third-party Russian legal entity due to the lack of realistic expectations for the latter to receive regulatory approvals to participate in the transaction. The A+(RU) credit rating, outlook Stable, takes into account the expectations of the Bank maintaining comfortable capital and liquidity metrics and the fact that over the next 12 months, the Bank will continue to service payments and settlements of customers, including their international transactions. The credit rating is based on the adequate assessment of the business profile, strong assessments of capital adequacy and risk profile, as well as the adequate funding and liquidity position.
Despite the cancellation of the sale of the Bank, the parent international group (hereinafter, the Supporting Entity, SE, or the Group) continues to make statements about its intention to reduce its presence and operations in the Russian Federation. However, there are no details or specific scenarios for the implementation of this goal yet. ACRA notes that, as practice shows, it takes time to work out and coordinate such objectives, and the result is not guaranteed (since it depends on external regulatory approvals), which leads to the Stable rating outlook. If additional information becomes available on the implementation of specific scenarios for the Group’s exit from Russia, including, for example, agreements with new potential buyers, ACRA will consider the possibility of changing the credit rating and/or outlook.
ING BANK (EURASIA) JSC is a subsidiary of a foreign bank that is part of a major European financial group. It specializes in working with corporations and large financial institutions.
KEY ASSESSMENT FACTORS
Adequate assessment of the business profile (bbb). Amid an unstable geopolitical situation, the Bank continues to focus on a limited range of operations, having reduced almost the entire loan portfolio, and intends to adhere to this course over the next 12 months, which determines the low diversification of operational income. The main notable line of business remains cash settlement services, including cross-border payments, in which the vast majority of holders of customer funds in liabilities is interested. The Agency assesses the Bank’s position in this area as fairly comfortable. However, possible changes in the sanctions regime against Russia and the Bank’s clients or changes in the Bank’s ownership structure may affect the results of this business segment.
The quality of management is assessed at a fairly high level, and the Bank’s strategy is still characterized by a conservative risk-taking approach. Additional support for the business profile assessment is provided by a consistently high level of operational income since 2022.
The Bank’s strong capital position reflects the maintenance of mandatory capital adequacy ratios at a very high level (including the N1.2 ratio, which reached 134% as of March 1, 2026). The Bank received a court claim and in March this year enforcement measures were imposed on claims obligations that arose out of commercial relations between the SE and its corporate client domiciled in the Russian Federation. The negative impact on the N1.2 ratio associated with the enforced amount turned out to be significant, but, according to ACRA’s estimates, it was entirely compensated during March 2026 through the inclusion of net profits in common tier one regulatory equity after the completion of the annual audit. The Agency has no information about other pending litigation that could have a significant impact on the Bank’s capital adequacy metrics.
The averaged capital generation ratio (ACGR) calculated over the past five years exceeds 300 bps by a very large margin due to the Bank’s significant net profits in 2022–2025 (high net interest income stems from a cheap funding base that includes current accounts and capital, as well as a high key rate depending on the period under review; since 2022, revenue has been steadily supported by income from servicing currency transactions) in the absence of dividend payments due to restrictions on this kind of capital movement between Russia and the rest of world. ACRA forecasts that, against the background of monetary policy easing, profits will decline in the next 12 months, but will remain high.
In the absence of unforeseen expenses (for example, from the emergence of new claims against the Bank), changes in strategy in favor of business growth and opportunities to pay dividends, ACRA expects the Bank’s capitalization to improve over the next 12 months.
The strong risk profile assessment reflects the Bank maintaining a consistently high quality of assets (mainly placed with the Bank of Russia and interbank receivables) on the back of a rather conservative risk management policy.
Adequate position in funding and liquidity. For the fourth year in a row, the Bank has been reducing its lending operations, which contributes to the formation of excess liquidity reserves on the balance sheet (as of March 1, 2026, N2, N3 and N4 ratios amounted to 294%, 290%, and 0.05%, respectively), ensuring comfortable management of assets and liabilities by maturity. The funding structure has not undergone drastic changes. The loyalty of the holders of client funds and their long-term relations with the Bank capable of making international payments continue to contribute to the business stability, smoothing out the risks from high concentrations of the funding base.
Low assessment of the degree of support from the Supporting Entity. ACRA considers it inappropriate to include additional levels of support in the credit rating structure, given the lack of communication with representatives of the Supporting Entity, as well as guarantees and assurances from them on support issues, which, in ACRA’s opinion, indicates a low likelihood of external assistance in case of stress.
In connection with the above, ACRA determines the Bank’s credit rating as on par with the SCA.
KEY ASSUMPTIONS
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A complex and lengthy withdrawal of the current owners from the ownership structure of the Bank, which may extend beyond the next 12–18 months;
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Absence of adverse changes in strategy, financial indicators and risk appetite over the next 12–18 months, even with the implementation of the SE’s intentions regarding the Bank’s withdrawal from the Group;
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Maintaining strong capital and profit metrics;
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Maintaining the current funding structure and strong liquidity ratios.
POTENTIAL OUTLOOK OR RATING CHANGE FACTORS
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:
- Scaling of business and expansion of operations, drastically improving the operational income diversification.
A negative rating action may be prompted by:
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Sale of the Bank to an owner with low creditworthiness, whose risks will, in ACRA’s opinion, influence the Bank;
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Drastic change in the strategy, which increases the risk appetite and changes the balance sheet structure in favor of higher leverage, fewer liquid assets, and a higher propensity for credit risks.
RATING COMPONENTS
SCA: а+.
Support: none.
ISSUE RATINGS
There are no outstanding issues.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURE
The credit rating has been assigned to ING BANK (EURASIA) JSC based on the following methodologies: the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Banks and Bank Groups under the National Scale for the Russian Federation to calculate the SCA and determine the credit rating and the credit rating outlook of ING BANK (EURASIA) JSC under the national scale for the Russian Federation, Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings with External Support to assess factors of external influence, and the Key Concepts Used by the Analytical Credit Rating Agency within the Scope of Its Rating Activities to ensure consistent and uniform application of ACRA’s methodologies, rating scales, models, and key rating assumptions.
The principles of the following methodologies were also applied: the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Banks and Banking Groups under the International Scale to assess the creditworthiness of the Supporting Entity under the international scale, Methodology for Mapping Credit Ratings Assigned under ACRA’s International Scale to Credit Ratings Assigned under ACRA’s National Scales to assess the creditworthiness of the Supporting Entity under the national scale for the Russian Federation, and the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Sovereign Entities under the International Scale to assess the operational environment of the Supporting Entity.
The Watch status has been removed in accordance with the with the Key Concepts Used by the Analytical Credit Rating Agency within the Scope of Its Rating Activities.
The credit rating of ING BANK (EURASIA) JSC was published by ACRA for the first time on August 10, 2017.
The credit rating was last published on May 5, 2025.
The credit rating and its outlook are expected to be revised within one year.
The credit rating was assigned based on data provided by ING BANK (EURASIA) JSC, information from publicly available sources, and ACRA’s own databases. The rating analysis was performed using the IFRS financial statements of ING BANK (EURASIA) JSC as of December 31, 2025 and the accounting (financial) statements of ING BANK (EURASIA) JSC drawn up in compliance with the requirements of the Bank of Russia.
The credit rating is solicited and ING BANK (EURASIA) JSC participated in its assignment.
In assigning the credit rating, ACRA used only information, the quality and reliability of which were, in ACRA’s opinion, appropriate and sufficient to apply the methodologies.
ACRA provided no additional services to ING BANK (EURASIA) JSC during the year preceding the rating action.
No conflicts of interest were discovered in the course of credit rating assignment.
