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Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has affirmed the long-term credit ratings of National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) at A+. All the bank’s ratings carry a stable outlook.
“Our outlook on NBK is stable, reflecting our belief that its overall business and financial profile will remain resilient and generally unchanged despite the increased economic risks as a result of the significant decline in oil prices,” S&P said in a new report on NBK. “Despite some expected deterioration in financial performance, we think NBK will largely navigate through the more challenging operating environment without major difficulties. We consider that the bank’s risk profile has also improved. Over the past few years, the bank has bolstered its key asset-quality metrics while building additional loan loss buffers. More importantly in our view, improvements in banking regulation will help partially mitigate the impact of rising economic risks for the bank’s operations in Kuwait.”
NBK has consistently been awarded the highest credit ratings in the region by the major international rating agencies: Moody’s, S&P and Fitch Ratings. NBK is the only Arab bank to be listed among the world’s 50 safest banks for ten consecutive times.