Jordanian Banks’ Ratings Upgraded Following Similar Sovereign Action

2 July 2024

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI) today announced that it has upgraded 12 Jordanian banks’ Long-Term Foreign Currency Ratings (LT FCRs) and Bank Standalone Ratings (BSRs). The Outlook on the LT FCRs and BSRs of these banks is Stable.  At the same time, CI Ratings has affirmed the Short-Term (ST) FCRs, Core Financial Strength (CFS) ratings, and Extraordinary Support Levels (ESLs) of the 12 banks at their existing level.

The rating actions have been prompted by the recent upgrade of Jordan’s long-term sovereign issuer credit ratings to ‘BB-’ from ‘B+’ and an improvement in the Operating Environment Risk Anchor (OPERA) for the banking system to ‘bb-’ from ‘b+’. The improving operating environment is expected to contribute to greater standalone strength for rated banks, while the constraints imposed by sovereign credit and interference risk have eased slightly, as indicated by the sovereign upgrade.

The sovereign action was driven…