National Bank of Kuwait’s FCR s Lowered ; Outlook Revised to Stable from Negative

Ref: KW 00 8 20 CRA00- 01 6 May 202 1

National Bank of Kuwait’s FCR s Lowered ; Outlook Revised to Stable from Negative

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI) today announced that it has downgraded the Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating (LT FCR) and Short-Term Foreign Currency Rating (ST FCR) of National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) to ‘ A+ ’ and ‘ A1 ’ , respectively , from ‘AA-’ and ‘A1+’ . T he Outlook for the LT FCR is revised to Stable from Negative. At the same time, CI Ratings has affirmed NBK’s Bank Standalone Rating ( BSR ) of ‘a-’ and revised the Outlook to Stable from Negative. The Core Financial Strength ( CFS ) rating of ‘a-’ has also been affirmed.

The dow nward revision of the FCRs mainly reflect s the deterioration in the Bank’s financial fundamentals, specifically profitability and asset quality. NBK’s financials remain solid, but…