Woori Bank wins Fitch upgrade as capital strength pays off

Woori Bank has received a credit rating upgrade from international rating agency Fitch amid a bank-wide push to strengthen its financial fundamentals. Fitch cited a significant improvement in capital adequacy and meaningful progress in credit risk management as the basis for the upgrade — a sign that President Jeong Jin-wan's capital-building strategy is beginning to bear fruit.

According to financial industry sources Friday, Fitch raised Woori Bank's viability rating last month from a- to a. Its long-term issuer default rating was maintained at A with a stable outlook, and its short-term rating was kept at F1+.

Fitch identified improved capital adequacy as the primary driver of the upgrade, noting that "a consistent business model and improved risk profile have reduced the likelihood of capital erosion." The agency highlighted "disciplined growth and contained asset quality risks" as defining characteristics.

Woori Bank's CET1 ratio rose from 12.7 percent in 2022 to 14.1 percent at the end of last year. The ratio stood at 13.5 percent in the first quarter of 2025 — the lowest among the four major commercial banks — but climbed to 15.4 percent in the second quarter of 2026, a gain of 1.9 percentage points in 15 months. Its total capital ratio of 17.9 percent is now the highest among the four major banks: KB, Shinhan, Hana and Woori.

The Fitch upgrade did not factor in the capital gains Woori Bank recognized from a land revaluation surplus in the first quarter of this year, meaning Fitch concluded that capital soundness had improved even when one-off items were excluded.

Fitch also raised Woori Bank's risk profile score from a to a+, citing "prudent credit risk management over the past decade and robust asset quality." Among the five major banks, Woori Bank was the first to proactively reduce risk-weighted assets and has also been cutting back on foreign-currency loans.

"We actively managed assets sensitive to high exchange rates — such as foreign exchange and derivatives — on top of the real estate project financing portfolio," a Woori Bank official said. "A bank-wide asset rebalancing effort to secure higher-quality assets also contributed."

With the Fitch upgrade, all four major banks now hold a viability rating of a. A viability rating measures a financial institution's standalone creditworthiness, excluding any potential support from the government or a parent company. "This assessment confirms the credit risk management capabilities we have built over a decade and the capital efficiency gains achieved through asset rebalancing," a Woori Financial Group official said. "We will continue working to enhance corporate value by pursuing asset quality improvement, capital adequacy and shareholder return expansion in parallel."

Woori Bank plans to deploy its expanded capital base to accelerate productive lending. "It is the bank's role to channel expanded capital back into productive finance," President Jeong said. "With 252 trillion won ($182 billion) in policy financing allocated this year, we will deepen collaboration with policy finance institutions — building on the work done in the first half — to deliver support that businesses can actually feel." He added that the bank would broaden its engagement to address a range of corporate finance challenges in the field, including at regional industrial complexes, to continue serving as a catalyst for South Korea's growth.