National Bank of Bahrain’s Ratings Affirmed

13 July 2026

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 Stable, in line with the Outlook assigned to Bahrain’s sovereign rating (‘B’/‘B’/Stable). The Bank’s Core Financial Strength (CFS) rating is affirmed at ‘bb+’.

The Bank’s BSR is derived from a CFS rating of ‘bb+’ (lowered from ‘bbb-’ in April 2026) and the constraints imposed by Bahrain’s operating environment risk anchor (OPERA) of ‘b’ (lowered from ‘b+’ in April 2026), indicative of significant risk. Our ESL assessment of Moderate does not result in any uplift for the Bank’s LT FCR, because the BSR is already at the sovereign…