National Bank of Bahrain’s 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 National Bank of Bahrain B.S.C. (NBB or the Bank) at ‘B+’ and ‘B’, respectively. At the same time, CI Ratings has affirmed NBB’s Bank Standalone Rating (BSR) at ‘b+’. The Outlook for the LT FCR and BSR remains Negative, in line with the Outlook assigned to Bahrain’s sovereign rating (‘B+’/‘B’/Negative). The Bank’s Core Financial Strength (CFS) rating is affirmed at ‘bbb-’.

The Bank’s BSR is derived from a CFS rating of ‘bbb-’ and the constraints imposed by Bahrain’s Operating Environment Risk Anchor (OPERA) of ‘b+’, indicative of high risk. Our Extraordinary Support Level (ESL) assessment of Moderate does not result in any uplift for the Bank’s LT FCR because the BSR is already at the sovereign level. Although we deem the government’s willingness to…