The ratings on Saudi Arabia-based The National Commercial Bank (NCB) reflect the bank's majority ownership by the Saudi government, leading domestic commercial position, strong liquidity, and solid capitalization. Partially offsetting these positive factors are the bank's rapidly grown and largely untested corporate loan book, weakened operating environment, exposure to market risk, and limited--although improving--geographic diversification. The long-term rating on NCB is two notches higher than the bank's stand-alone credit profile reflecting Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' expectation of strong likelihood of extraordinary government support if needed, given NCB's ownership structure and high systemic importance. We consider the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (AA-/Stable/A-1+) as "interventionist" toward its banking system. With total reported assets of Saudi Arabian riyal (SAR) 250.7 billion on
