Research Update: The National Commercial Bank Long-Term Rating Lowered To 'A' On Higher Economic Risks In Saudi Arabia; Outlook Negative

On Oct. 30, 2015, we lowered our ratings on Saudi Arabia to 'A+/A-1' from 'AA-/A-1+' due to pronounced deterioration of Saudi Arabia's fiscal position. This indicates higher economic risk, leading us to revise our Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment on Saudi Arabia to group '3' from group '2'. We are therefore lowering our long-term rating on The National Commercial Bank (NCB) to 'A' from 'A+' and affirming the 'A-1' short-term rating. The negative outlook primarily reflects that on Saudi Arabia as well as our view of increased economic risks and our expectation of a moderate but manageable increase in credit losses and lower loan and deposit growth for NCB. On Nov. 5, 2015, Standard&Poor's Rating Services lowered its

...On Oct. 30, 2015, we lowered our ratings on Saudi Arabia to 'A+/A-1' from '##-/A- + 1+' due to pronounced deterioration of Saudi Arabia's fiscal position. This indicates higher economic risk, leading us to revise our Banking Industry + Country Risk Assessment on Saudi Arabia to group '3' from group '2'. We are therefore lowering our long-term rating on The National Commercial Bank + (NCB) to 'A' from 'A+' and affirming the 'A-1' short-term rating. The negative outlook primarily reflects that on Saudi Arabia as well as our view + of increased economic risks and our expectation of a moderate but manageable increase in credit losses and lower loan and deposit growth for NCB....

Research Update