Commercial Bank International : CBI’s Long Term Foreign Currency Rating Upgraded to ‘A-’ By Capital Intelligence Ratings Read More...

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CBI's Long Term Foreign Currency Rating Upgraded to 'A-' By Capital Intelligence Ratings
Tuesday, September 27, 2016

• Long- and Short-Term Foreign Currency Ratings are raised to 'A-' and 'A3'. • Financial Strength Rating upgraded to BBB-. • Bank assigned a 'Stable' outlook.

The Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating of the UAE's Commercial Bank International (CBI) has been upgraded by five rating tiers to 'A-' from 'BB', by Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI), the international credit rating agency. CBI's Short-Term Foreign Currency Rating was also upgraded to 'A3' from 'B'.

The rating upgrade was driven by CBI's continuously improving asset quality and robust capital position, in addition to the strong backing it receives from its largest shareholder, Qatar National Bank

CBI's improved rating follows the investment grade rating it received earlier this year from Fitch Ratings, which assigned the Dubai-based bank a long-term issuer default rating of 'A-'.

Mark Robinson, Chief Executive Officer of CBI, said: 'Over the past year, CBI has focused on strengthening its balance sheet by divesting non-core assets and reducing non-performing loans. The rating upgrade to 'A-' by Capital Intelligence Ratings, in conjunction with Fitch Ratings' 'A-' earlier in the year, are a testament to not only the success of our strategy to-date, but also to the bank's robust fundamentals.'

According to CI, CBI 'is well-placed to grow its business by leveraging its close connections with Qatar National Bank (QNB) and is therefore in an advantageous position in the domestic market vis-à-vis other banks of similar size. The substantial business support extended by its major shareholder, QNB, as well as the Bank's strong fee and commission income base are other factors supporting the rating upgrade.'

Additionally, the Financial Strength Rating of CBI has been upgraded to 'BBB-' from 'BB' with a 'Stable' outlook

In-spite of a challenging macro-economic environment, CBI has performed well throughout 2016. Driven by the growth of its wholesale and Islamic banking businesses, and an increase in customer deposits, CBI's first half net profit increased to AED 68.7 million.

For further details on CI's credit rating upgrade of CBI, please visit:

http://www.ciratings.com/news/2016/09/14/2184

For further information, please contact:

Marketing, Branding & Corporate Communications

Mohamed Al Tajer
Head of Marketing, Branding & Corporate Communications
[phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Will Anderson
Director
Brunswick Gulf Ltd
[phone]
Email: [e-mail]

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