ADB's AAA Rating Affirmed Stablity

S&P Global Ratings has affirmed AAA long-term and A-1 plus short-term issuer credit ratings on Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The ratings on ADB reflect S&P's assessment of the bank's extremely strong enterprise and financial risk profiles. The ratings do not incorporate extraordinary shareholder support from ADB's callable capital because S&P assesses the bank's capital adequacy to be in its highest category without this support.

The Covid-19 pandemic has strengthened ADB's role as a counter-cyclical lender. In response to the pandemic, the bank announced a 20 billion dollar financing package in April 2020, which includes a 13 billion dollar Covid-19 pandemic response option under its countercyclical support facility.

In addition, ADB unveiled a new 9 billion dollar vaccine facility in December 2020 to support the purchase and delivery of vaccines in Asia Pacific region.

In terms of the size of purpose-related exposures, the bank is the fourth-largest multilateral institution after the European Investment Bank, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association.

S&P said ADB's important role and unwavering public policy mandate along with strong membership support anchor its assessment of an extremely strong enterprise risk profile.

The bank benefits from the support of its members and a diverse shareholder base. A total of 49 members from Asia Pacific own 63.4 per cent of ADB and 19 non-regional members own the remainder.

While Japan and the United States have always been ADB's largest shareholders (both own 15.6 per cent), the bank's shareholder base is diversified with eight governments owning more than 5 per cent of capital each.

These include China (6.4 per cent), India (6.3 per cent), Indonesia (5.4 per cent), Canada (5.2 per cent) and South Korea (5 per cent). Non-borrowing members have about 62 per cent of ADB voting rights, outnumbering borrowing members by two to one.