Jordan Kuwait Bank – 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 Jordan Kuwait Bank (JKB or the Bank) at ‘BB-’ and ‘B’, respectively. At the same time, CI Ratings has affirmed the Bank’s Standalone Rating (BSR) of ‘bb-’, Core Financial Strength (CFS) rating of ‘bb’ and Extraordinary Support Level (ESL) of Moderate. The Outlook on the LT FCR and BSR remains Stable.

The Bank’s BSR is derived from a CFS rating of ‘bb’ and Operating Environment Risk Anchor (OPERA) of ‘bb-’ (indicating moderate risk). Given that international operations account for 32% of JKB group assets, the OPERA also takes into consideration that of the Iraqi subsidiary Bank of Baghdad (BoB). Although JKB’s ESL is Moderate, there is no uplift for the BSR, as the latter is already at Jordan’s sovereign LT FCR level (‘BB-’/Stable). While CI believes the…