Arab Banking Corporation’s Ratings Affirmed; Outlook Revised to Negative

Arab Banking Corporation’s Ratings Affirmed; Outlook Revised to Negative

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI) , today announced that it has revised the Outlook on the Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating (LT FCR) and Bank Standalone Rating (BSR) of Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) to Negative from Stable. At the same time, CI Ratings has affirmed the Bank’s LT FCR and S hort-Term Foreign Cu r rency Rating (ST FCR ) at ‘B BB+’ and ‘A2’, respectively. The BSR was also affirmed at ‘bbb’ .

The revision of the Outlook for the LT FCR and BSR is primarily driven by the deterioration in the operating environment and the negative impact this is likely to have on ABC’s credit risk profile – particularly asset quality and profitability – over the next 12-18 months. Economic prospects in the Bank’s key markets, notably in the GCC and Brazil, have weakened significantly due to the twin shock of the coronavirus…