Fitch Affirms UMB Financial, Subsidiary Ratings

CHICAGO (AP) — Fitch Ratings on Friday affirmed all of the ratings for UMB Financial Corp. and its principal banking subsidiary.

Fitch kept the long-term issuer default rating, or IDR, at "A'' and the short-term IDR at "F1+."

The ratings are considered investment grade. The outlook remains Stable.

The affirmation reflects Kansas City, Mo.-based bank's good financial flexibility and earnings performance. "UMBF has executed on strategies to improve earnings performance while maintaining the company's strong capital and liquidity and sound credit quality," Fitch said, using the company's Nasdaq stock market ticker. "Profitability has shown resilience in a difficult operating environment, as UMBF's credit costs have remained low."

The company has shown good expense management, good fee income generation and measured loan growth, Fitch said. "UMBF has a solid market position in the health care savings account space and select servicing businesses."

UMB's asset management businesses have been affected by lower market valuations, but continue to perform well given market conditions, the ratings agency said.