S&P lowers view of four Saudi banks to negative

Standard & Poor’s said it revised the outlooks on four Saudi Arabian banks to negative from stable.

Al Rajhi Bank, National Commercial Bank, Riyad Bank and Samba Financial Group now have negative outlooks.

S&P also said it affirmed the A+ long-term and A-1 short-term counterparty credit ratings on these banks.

The outlook revisions follow a similar rating action on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Feb. 9, the agency said.

These four banks are considered highly systemically important in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian government is considered highly supportive toward the banking system, S&P said.

A possible downgrade of Saudi Arabia, as indicated by the negative outlook, would lead to a revision of extraordinary government support for these banks, S&P said.

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