DBRS Assigns Provisional Rating of A (low), Stable to CIBC’s Non-Viability Contingent Capital Subordinated Debt

DBRS has today assigned a provisional rating of A (low) with a Stable trend to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s (the Bank or CIBC) Debentures (subordinated indebtedness) due 2024 (NVCC Sub Debt).

DBRS assigned the NVCC Sub Debt a rating equal to the Bank’s intrinsic assessment less three rating notches because the NVCC Sub Debt has only the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI)-required non-viability contingent capital (NVCC) triggers and no additional triggers. Furthermore, in the event of a conversion to common shares, the NVCC Sub Debt has a potential for recovery that is sufficiently better than CIBC’s existing NVCC Preferred Shares to allow for a differentiation in the NVCC Sub Debt rating relative to the NVCC Preferred Shares rating. Please see the DBRS press release entitled “DBRS Provides Guidance on Canadian Bank Non-Viability Contingent Capital Ratings” dated January 10, 2014, for more details.

Notes:
The related regulatory disclosures pursuant to the National Instrument 25-101 Designated Rating Organizations are hereby incorporated by reference and can be found by clicking on the link to the right under Related Research or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the European Union.

The applicable methodology is DBRS Criteria: Rating Bank Capital Securities – Subordinated, Hybrid, Preferred & Contingent Capital Securities (December 2013), which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrs.com or contact us at info@dbrs.com.