S&P lifts Gulf International Bank view to positive

Standard & Poor's said it revised the outlook on Gulf International Bank BSC to positive from stable.

The agency also said it affirmed the BBB+ long-term and A-2 short-term counterparty credit ratings on the bank.

The actions take into account the improvements observed in the bank's funding profile, resulting from its de-risking strategy, S&P said.

Over the past 18 months in particular, the average tenor and granularity of Gulf International Bank's customer deposits increased while the bank's reliance on short-term wholesale funding sources decreased, the agency said.

This is the reason the agency said it revised the bank's funding profile to average from below average and its stand-alone credit profile to BBB from BBB-.

However, the bank still lacks a robust retail deposit funding base, S&P added.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.