Askari Bank Limited – Ratings Affirmed

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI) today announced that it has affirmed the Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating (LT FCR) and Short-Term Foreign Currency Rating (ST FCR) of Askari Bank Limited (ABL or the Bank) at ‘C+’ and ‘C’, respectively. At the same time, CI Ratings has affirmed ABL’s Bank Standalone Rating (BSR) of ‘c’, Core Financial Strength (CFS) rating of ‘b’ and Extraordinary Support Level (ESL) of Uncertain. The Outlook for all ratings is Stable.

ABL’s LT FCR is constrained by significant concentration risk in regard to the Bank’s large portfolio of Pakistani government securities and, inter alia, CI’s internal assessment of sovereign credit risk.

The ESL is assessed as Uncertain. The capacity of the Bank’s majority shareholder, the Fauji Foundation Group, to provide financial assistance in the event of stress is considered uncertain. This is also the case in regard to official support; ABL is not classified as a domestic…