The ratings on The National Commercial Bank (NCB) reflect the bank's majority ownership by the Saudi government, leading commercial position, strong profitability, and robust asset quality. Capitalization, one of the bank's main weaknesses in the past, is back to high levels. Concentration risks stemming from limited geographic and business diversification offset these factors, however. The ratings on the bank include a two-notch uplift to reflect the opinion of Standard&Poor's Ratings Services that the government would likely provide support in case of need, given NCB's shareholding structure and importance to the Saudi economy. We consider NCB to be a systemically important bank in Saudi Arabia, which we classify as "interventionist" to its banking system, as per our country classification
