Al-khaliji obtains strong first time credit rating

Al Khalij Commercial Bank (al khaliji) announced that Moody's Investors Services has assigned first time credit ratings of A3 to al khaliji with a Stable outlook. Moody's defines obligations rated in the A range as subject to low credit risk.

Moody's reported that the bank’s strong macro profile takes into account its operations in Qatar (Strong-), the UAE (Strong-) and France (Very Strong -) and the fact that al khaliji’s main operations are in Qatar. Solid asset quality, solid capitalization and a strong liquid asset position were also contributory factors in this strong initial rating.

Fahad Al Khalifa, Group CEO, Al Khalij Commercial Bank (al khaliji) commented: "We are pleased with this A3 rating from Moody’s, our second credit rating from the major rating agencies. This strong rating from Moody’s recognizes the continued growth at al khaliji across our operations in Qatar, UAE and France and will assist us as we continue to diversify our sources of funding to support our ambitious growth plans". "The growth in our franchise was a contributory factor in the recent ratings upgrade we received from Fitch".

al khaliji published its Q1, 2015 financial statements in April, these showed strong growth with Net Profit increasing to QAR144.4 million, up 32% year on year, Loans and Advances growing 31% to QAR 30 Billion supported by strong growth in Customer Deposits which were up 32% on the same period in 2014. al khaliji is already rated A+ by Fitch Ratings, following a ratings upgrade earlier in 2015.