Fitch Ratings has removed from Rating Watch Positive and upgraded
These actions follow the closing of BOW's acquisition by
BMO's ratings and Negative Outlook were not impacted by today's action. For more information on Fitch's rating on BMO, please see 'Fitch Affirms Bank of
Concurrently with this action, Fitch has withdrawn all outstanding ratings of BOW due to reorganization of the rated entity as the company no longer exists.
Key Rating Drivers
The rating actions follows the completion of the sale of BOW to BMO and subsequent merger into BMO's main
In Fitch's opinion, BOW will play an integral and core part of
Rating Sensitivities
Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative rating action/downgrade:
Negative rating sensitivities do not apply as the ratings have been withdrawn.
Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to positive rating action/upgrade:
Positive rating sensitivities do not apply as the ratings have been withdrawn.
OTHER DEBT AND ISSUER RATINGS: KEY RATING DRIVERS
Fitch also upgraded BOW's Long- and Short-Term Deposit Ratings to 'AA' from 'A+', and 'F1+' from 'F1', respectively, essentially mirroring those of BMO. Following the upgrade, these ratings were also withdrawn.
BOW's Long-Term Deposit Ratings for its uninsured deposits were one notch higher than the company's Long-Term IDR, which reflects depositor preference for
BOW's Short-Term Deposit Rating were linked to the Long-Term Deposit Rating per Fitch's rating criteria and maps to a baseline of 'F1+'.
OTHER DEBT AND ISSUER RATINGS: RATING SENSITIVITIES
Rating sensitivities for other debt and issuer ratings do not apply as the rating has been withdrawn.
Best/Worst Case Rating Scenario
International scale credit ratings of Financial Institutions and Covered Bond issuers have a best-case rating upgrade scenario (defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a positive direction) of three notches over a three-year rating horizon; and a worst-case rating downgrade scenario (defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a negative direction) of four notches over three years. The complete span of best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings for all rating categories ranges from '
REFERENCES FOR SUBSTANTIALLY MATERIAL SOURCE CITED AS KEY DRIVER OF RATING
The principal sources of information used in the analysis are described in the Applicable Criteria.
ESG Considerations
Unless otherwise disclosed in this section, the highest level of ESG credit relevance is a score of '3'. This means ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity, either due to their nature or the way in which they are being managed by the entity. For more information on Fitch's ESG Relevance Scores, visit www.fitchratings.com/ESG.
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