National Bank of Pakistan – Ratings Affirmed

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI) has affirmed the Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating (LT FCR) and Short-Term Foreign Currency Rating (ST FCR) of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP or the Bank) at ‘C+’ and ‘C’, respectively. At the same time, CI Ratings has affirmed NBP’s Bank Standalone Rating (BSR) of ‘c’, Core Financial Strength (CFS) rating of ‘b+’ Extraordinary Support Level (ESL) of Moderate. The Outlook for all ratings is Stable.

The Bank’s LT FCR is constrained by CI’s internal assessment of sovereign credit risk for Pakistan. NBP’s FCRs reflect its majority government ownership and its market share of both assets and customer deposits where it ranks second. The FCRs also incorporate significant concentration risk with respect to NBP’s substantial portfolio of Pakistani government securities and, inter alia, sovereign credit risk and the very challenging domestic operating environment notwithstanding some recovery in recent…