Commercial Bank’s Ratings Affirmed with a Stable Outlook

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 Commercial Bank (CB) at ‘A-’ and ‘A1’, respectively. At the same time, CI Ratings has affirmed CB’s Bank Standalone Rating (BSR) of ‘bbb-’, Core Financial Strength (CFS) rating of ‘bb+’ and Extraordinary Support Level (ESL) of High. The Outlook for the LT FCR and BSR is Stable.

The Bank’s LT FCR is set three notches above the BSR to reflect the high likelihood of official extraordinary support in case of need. This is based on the single largest shareholding being by the government through the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the government’s strong track record of both equity and liquidity support for Qatari banks. The government’s financial capacity to support the Bank is strong given Qatar’s sovereign ratings (‘AA’/‘A1+’/Stable).

CB’s BSR is based on a…