Fitch & Moody’s upgrade Commercial Bank outlook

DOHA: Global credit rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s have upgraded the outlook of Commercial Bank to Stable and affirmed the long-term issuer default ratings (IDR) at ‘A’ (Fitch) and ‘A3’ (Moody’s), reflecting the strength of Qatar’s economy and the banking sector.

Qatar has demonstrated strong financial performance despite the diplomatic boycott by three GCC neighbours, with Moody’s expecting no change in the capacity of the government to support the country’s banks. Commercial Bank has also maintained strong asset quality, capital and liquidity buffers.

Commercial Bank’s Group Chief Executive Officer Joseph Abraham said, “This news reflects the commitment by Qatar’s government to maintain the resilience and stability of Qatar’s banking system, with Qatar emerging from the boycott stronger than it was before. Commercial Bank is closely aligned with the strategic economic objectives of the nation and we are well positioned to benefit from Qatar’s continued economic growth.”

Abraham added: “Commercial Bank is in the second year of our five year strategic plan to reshape our business and the execution of our plan is clearly evident in significantly improved bottom line performance. Commercial Bank reported a consolidated operating profit of QR1.21bn and a net profit of QR855m in our H1 2018 financial results, representing a 12 percent and a 376 percent increase over the same period last year respectively.”

Fitch had issued a “AA-“ rating for Qatar’s sovereign credit rating and an outlook upgrade to Stable in June 2018,

Moody’s affirmed the “AA3” Qatar government bond rating and change in outlook to Stable on 13 July 2018. Qatar’s macro profile score also rose to “Strong”.

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