Thomson BankWatch announced last week that it has assigned a first-time AA- rating to Chase Manhattan Bank's long-term deposits.
BankWatch said it had assigned the high rating because at both the bank and consolidated levels earnings, capital and asset quality have improved considerably during the past few years.
The agency also noted that the bank earned $659 million over the first nine months this year, yielding a 0.92% return on assets.
Thomson noted that Chase is well capitalized and that nonperforming assets stood at less than 2.4% of total loans as of September 30.
Chase Manhattan Bank has $95 billion of assets, representing around 80% of the consolidated assets of Chase Manhattan Corp.
A Chase spokesman expressed satisfaction with the rating, noting that the bank four years ago set itself a goal of obtaining an AA rating by 1995.
