Fitch reaffirms top ratings for Gulf International Bank.MANAMA: International credit rating agency A credit rating agency (CRA) is a company that assigns credit ratings for issuers of certain types of debt obligations. In most cases, these issuers are companies, cities, non-profit organizations, or national governments issuing debt-like securities that can be traded on a Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. has reaffirmed Gulf International Bank's (GIB See NIST binary. ) long-term issuer default and short-term ratings at A and F1 respectively, with a stable outlook. The agency also re-affirmed the bank's Individual Rating at C/D and its subordinated debt Subordinated Debt A loan (or security) that ranks below other loans (or securities) with regard to claims on assets or earnings. Also known as "junior security" or "subordinated loan". obligations at A-. Fitch said in its report that GIB's ratings reflect expected support from its shareholders, in case of need. The individual rating reflects the sale of most of GIB's investment securities in the first quarter of the year and the positive impact this has had on its risk profile, capitalisation and liquidity. The agency said that GIB's market risk exposure has significantly reduced following the sale of most of its riskier investments as well as the curtailment of proprietary trading Proprietary Trading When a firm trades for direct gain instead of commission dollars. Essentially, the firm has decided to profit from the market rather than commissions from processing trades. . Fitch added that it considers GIB's liquidity and capitalisation as adequate. "We are very pleased with the ratings reaffirmation re·af·firm tr.v. re·af·firmed, re·af·firm·ing, re·af·firms To affirm or assert again. re by Fitch, especially as it comes at a very challenging time for financial institutions," said GIB chief executive officer Dr Yahya A Alyahya. "This is an independent endorsement of the proactive and conclusive action taken by the bank to remove the distraction of its non-core international assets, thereby enabling the bank to focus on its successful and proven GCC GCC: see Gulf Cooperation Council. (compiler, programming) GCC - The GNU Compiler Collection, which currently contains front ends for C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran, Java, and Ada, as well as libraries for these languages (libstdc++, libgcj, etc). focused business strategy. "We consider this positive announcement by Fitch as an endorsement of the actions taken by the bank and its shareholders to address the challenges created by the global credit crisis," he said. "These ratings reflect the bank's ability to withstand the unprecedented pressures caused by the international financial crisis and its commitment to continue its leading role in the region. "We will continue to strengthen our franchise in the GCC states by providing sophisticated, customer-tailored products and services for the benefit of our customers." GIB is a leading merchant bank in the Middle East with its principal focus on the GCC states. With a proven track record spanning more than 30 years, GIB provides client-led, innovative financial products and services to a wide customer base in the region, including investment banking, capital markets debt securities, private equity, asset management, project and structured finance and Islamic banking Islamic banking refers to a system of banking or banking activity that is consistent with Islamic law (Sharia) principles and guided by Islamic economics. . Copyright 2009 Gulf Daily News Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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