S&P Global Ratings raised its long-term Issuer Credit Rating (ICR) on BCS Global Markets’ UK legal entity BCS Prime Brokerage Ltd. (BCS UK) to 'BB-' from 'B+'. The Agency also upgraded ICRs to 'BB-' from 'B+' on FG BCS’s operating subsidiaries - BrokerCreditService (Cyprus) Ltd. and BrokerCreditService Structured Products PLC alongside with FG BCS’s ICR to 'B+' from 'B', with the stable outlook.

“FG BCS and its operating subsidiaries benefit from the improving economic risk in Russia, creating favorable growth opportunities in its core customer segments of mass market retail brokerage and midcap Russian corporates. It remains the largest independent broker by number of retail clients and is progressively expanding its global markets investment banking business,” said the rating agency’s experts.

“In first-half 2021, FG BCS posted historically high net income, driven by strong growth in structured products, trading gains, fees, and commissions. We believe that BCS’ Russian brokerage subsidiary will safely pass expected capital requirements from the CBR,” added S&P Global Ratings.

The stable outlook on FG BCS and its core subsidiaries reflects an expectation that the company’s business and financial profiles will be stable over the next 12 months in the supportive operating environment benefiting from good growth opportunities in Russian retail brokerage and introduction of minimum capital and liquidity requirement for Russian securities firms. S&P expects that FG BCS will continue to gain retail and institutional clients, further increase and diversify its revenue, and operate with sufficient capital and adequate liquidity and prudent risk appetite.