Moody's affirms ratings of Saudi banks, downgrades outlook to negative

Credit rating agency Moody’s affirmed its rating for 11 Saudi banks, and downgraded its outlook on long-term deposit ratings to negative from stable for 10 of them.

Moody's said in a report yesterday that its decision to affirm the credit ratings of Saudi banks reflects the resilience in their financial performance underpinned by strong capital buffers, favorable funding profiles and ample liquidity buffers.

The rating action follows Moody's decision to change the outlook to negative from stable on the Saudi Arabian government's A1 rating on 1 May 2020, the report added.

Moody’s further attributed the negative outlook to the deteriorating operating environment faced by the country's banks, in addition to challenges for Saudi British Bank, Bank AlBilad, The Saudi Investment Bank and Banque Saudi Fransi where these challenges are largely related to one or more factors in their solvency profile.

The following table shows the credit rating of Saudi banks, according to Moody's:

*Moody’s kept its negative outlook on the bank.