The credit rating of International Bank for Economic Co-operation (hereinafter, IBEC or the Bank) is based on assessments of rating factors, including a satisfactory business profile, strong capital adequacy, weak risk profile assessment, and an adequate assessment of funding and liquidity. At the same time, the factor of support from the Bank’s shareholder countries does not influence IBEC’s final rating.
Headquartered in Moscow, IBEC is an international financial institution with a mandate to facilitate international trade, economic development, and collaboration among its member states and the rest of the world.
KEY ASSESSMENT FACTORS
The Bank’s business profile is assessed as satisfactory. As per its mandate, IBEC focuses on developing the economies and foreign trade links of its member states. Previously, the Bank’s business was mainly focused on counterparties from the European Union. The exit of EU countries from IBEC’s pool of shareholders resulted in the need to find new markets for the Bank. The Bank approved a new strategy that enabled it to continue carrying out the objectives as per its mandate. The Bank is currently working on a strategy for 2027–2031.
Strong capital position. IBEC’s capital adequacy is high, which allows it to withstand the potential risks of a significant deterioration of asset quality. The capital adequacy indicator calculated as per the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings under the International Scale to International Financial Institutions amounted to 52% as of December 31, 2025. According to the Bank’s plans, high capital adequacy is to be maintained in the medium term. Payments to the EU countries that exited the Bank are not expected to significantly impact IBEC’s capital adequacy metrics.
The Bank’s risk profile assessment is weak. The average quality of assets remains quite high, while the share of NPL90+ is low. The high territorial concentration of IBEC’s assets has a serious negative impact on its risk profile assessment. The withdrawal of the EU countries and certain difficulties in working with European counterparties forced the Bank to transfer a significant portion of assets to the jurisdictions of other shareholder countries, whose shares increased as a result. As of December 31, 2025, the maximum share of IBEC’s assets in a single country exceeded 50%, which serves as grounds for the weak assessment of the Bank’s risk profile. In addition, receivables from the 10 largest groups of related borrowers (counterparties, issuers) to the total capital of IBEC exceeded 100%. Growth of this metric to 150% may lead to a lower risk profile assessment.
The Bank’s funding and liquidity position remains adequate. As of December 31, 2025 the overall diversification of liabilities remained moderate (the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index was 0.27), and funds raised from other banks amounted to more than 25% of IBEC’s total liabilities. According to ACRA’s estimates, highly liquid assets exceeded short-term liabilities by more than twofold as of December 31, 2025. At the same time, the share of these assets on the balance sheet has been steadily above 20% over the past three years. ACRA also notes that the overall liquidity gap is positive across all horizons.
The assessment of support from shareholder countries does not influence the Bank’s credit rating, which is determined based on its standalone creditworthiness assessment (SCA). IBEC’s credit rating is AAA(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 the Bank’s core functions;
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Maintaining the capital adequacy ratio above 25%;
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Maintaining asset diversification indicators at the current level;
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Profitability of operations;
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Maintaining an adequate liquidity and funding position.
POTENTIAL OUTLOOK OR RATING CHANGE FACTORS UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL SCALE
The Stable outlook assumes that the credit rating will highly likely stay unchanged within the 12 to 18-month horizon.
A positive rating action may be prompted by:
- Significantly lower concentration of the Bank’s assets by countries and groups of borrowers (counterparties, issuers).
A negative rating action may be prompted by:
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Lower assessment of capital adequacy that results in a stable decline of the Bank’s return on equity;
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Higher concentration by groups of borrowers (counterparties, issuers);
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Growth of impaired assets;
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Deterioration of funding and liquidity position.
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 negative rating action may be prompted by:
- Downgrade of IBEC’s credit rating under the international scale.
RATING COMPONENTS UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL SCALE
SCA: a-.
ISSUE RATINGS
Bonds of International Bank for Economic Co-operation, series 001P-02 (RU000A101RJ7), maturity date: June 3, 2030, issue volume: RUB 5 bln — AAA(RU).
Bonds of International Bank for Economic Co-operation, series 002P-03 (RU000A108Q03), maturity date: June 6, 2034, issue volume: RUB 5 bln — AAA(RU).
Bonds of International Bank for Economic Co-operation, series 002P-04 (RU000A10CC99), maturity date: June 23, 2035, issue volume: RUB 6 bln — AAA(RU).
Rationale. The bond issues are senior unsecured debt instruments of IBEC. Due to the absence of either structural or contractual subordination of the issues, ACRA regards them as equal to other existing and future unsecured and unsubordinated debt obligations of IBEC in terms of priority. In accordance with ACRA’s methodology, to determine the credit rating, the simplified approach was applied, according to which the recovery rate for the issues belongs to category II, and therefore the credit rating of the issues is equivalent to that of the Bank — AAA(RU).
regulatory disclosure
The credit ratings have been assigned to IBEC and the issues of IBEC based on the following methodologies: the Methodology for Mapping Credit Ratings Assigned under ACRA’s International Scale to Credit Ratings Assigned under ACRA’s National Scales to determine the credit rating and the credit rating outlook of IBEC under the national scale for the Russian Federation, Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings under the International Scale to International Financial Institutions to calculate the SCA and determine the credit rating and the credit rating outlook of IBEC under the international scale, Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Financial Instruments on the National Scale for the Russian Federation to determine the credit rating of the bond issues under the national scale for the Russian Federation, 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 credit ratings of IBEC under the international scale and the national scale for the Russian Federation were published by ACRA for the first time on May 18, 2020. The credit ratings assigned to the bond issues (RU000A101RJ7, RU000A108Q03, RU000A10CC99) under the national scale for the Russian Federation were published by ACRA for the first time on June 15, 2020, June 18, 2024, and August 14, 2025, respectively.
The credit ratings of IBEC were last published on December 25, 2025. The credit ratings of the bond issue of IBEC (RU000A101RJ7, RU000A108Q03, RU000A10CC99) were last published on December 25, 2025.
The credit ratings and their outlooks are expected to be revised within 182 days as per the Calendar of sovereign credit rating revisions and publications.
The credit ratings were assigned based on data provided by IBEC, information from publicly available sources, and ACRA’s own databases. The rating analysis was performed using the IFRS financial statements of IBEC as of December 31, 2025.
The credit ratings are solicited and IBEC 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 no additional services to IBEC during the year preceding the rating action.
No conflicts of interest were discovered in the course of credit rating assignment.
