Capital Intelligence upgrades Gulf Bank’s financial strength rating to ‘A-’

KUWAIT: Capital Intelligence Ratings, the international credit rating agency, announced yesterday that it has upgraded the Financial Strength rating of Gulf Bank from “BBB+” to “A-”.

“The rating upgrade is supported by sound and sustained improvement in the Bank’s loan asset quality, the solid capital and good liquidity positions,” said Capital Intelligence in its recently issued report. The rating also reflects “Gulf Bank’s well established domestic franchise and in particular its strength in the retail sector,” according to Capital Intelligence. Gulf Bank’s Financial Strength and Foreign Currency outlook are now both revised to “Stable” from “Positive”. The Long-Term and Short-Term Foreign Currency Ratings have also been upgraded to ‘A+’ and ‘A1’ from ‘A’ and ‘A2’, respectively.

Commenting on the announcement, Dalal AlDousari, Gulf Bank’s Assistant General Manager of Investor Relations said, “We are proud to announce the upgrade of Gulf Bank’s Financial Strength rating this year, from “BBB+” to “A-”. “The upgrade is an affirmation of Gulf Bank’s strong risk absorption capacity and solid capital adequacy,” continued AlDousari. “Gulf Bank continues to be well recognized in terms of its credit worthiness and financial strength internationally,”.

In addition to Capital Intelligence’s recent upgrade, S&P Global Ratings revised their outlook on the Bank to “Positive” from “Stable” and affirmed its issuer credit rating at “A-” in June 2017. Similarly, Fitch Ratings has upgraded Gulf Bank’s viability rating from “bb” to “bb+” and affirmed the bank’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating at ‘A+’ with a “Stable” Outlook. Moody’s Investors Service also affirmed the Bank’s “A3” long-term deposits rating and “Stable” outlook in May 2017.