Mubasher: Moody’s Investors Service has maintained all credit ratings of the Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK), with a ‘Stable’ outlook.
The rating agency maintained the ratings of the lender’s long-term and short-term deposits at “A3” and “P-2”, respectively, while it maintained its main credit rating at “ba1”, according to a bourse statement on Thursday.
Moody’s report reflects the CBK’s strengths and weakness points as well as the agency’s expectations in this regard. It also highlights the political pressures and any other aggravating consequences due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, not to mention the continued oil price plunge.
These factors collectively form the main risks to the agency’s expectations.
Moreover, the stable outlook reflects the balance between the bank’s strong capability to generate revenues, maintain strong capitalisation, while setting aside precautionary provisions when compared to high credit concentrations. It also reflects the higher level of provisions and loans written-off over the recent years.
It is noteworthy that in 2019, CBK did not register any profits during fiscal year 2019 when compared to profits of KWD 63.8 million in 2018.
