Global credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s has indicated Colombia’s banking industry and banks are safer to invest in.
Standard and Poor’s revised its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessments for Colombia moving it from group ‘6’ to group ‘5.’
The Banking Industry Country Risk Assessments (BICRA) is on a scale of one to 10 with one bearing the least risk.
The ratings agency also revised its economic risk score for Colombia which worsened, and went to group ‘6’ from group ‘5,’ while the industry risk score improved from group ‘6’ to group ‘5.’
The firm made its revisions after updating its BICRA methodology, which analyzes the domestic risks banks face and and the risks national banking industries face compared to the banking industries of other countries.
Other countries with a BICRA group ‘5’ rating are neighboring Panama and Turkey. Turkey and Colombia belong to the CIVETS 6 countries that are touted as the next generation of tiger economies.
The ratings agency said its decision was influenced by the “increased resilience” of the Colombian economy as well as its “favorable medium-term growth prospects.”
In May 2011, Standard and Poor’s changed Colombia’s BICRA rating from group ‘8’ to group ‘6.’