Fitch Downgrades 9 Qatari Banks' IDRs; Outlooks Negative

Fitch Downgrades 9 Qatari Banks' IDRs; Outlooks Negative:

"Fitch Downgrades 9 Qatari Banks’ IDRs; Outlooks Negative here LONDON, August 30 (Fitch) Fitch Ratings has downgraded nine Qatari banks' Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR). Apart from Qatar National Bank (Q.P.S.C) (QNB), which has been downgraded to 'A+' from 'AA-', the rest of the banks have been downgraded to 'A' from 'A+'. They are The Commercial Bank (Q.S.C.) (CBQ), Doha Bank (DB), Qatar Islamic Bank (S.A.Q) (QIB), Al Khalij Commercial Bank P.Q.S.C. (AKB), Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB), Ahli Bank Q.S.C (ABQ), International Bank of Qatar (Q.S.C) (IBQ) and Barwa Bank Q.S.C. (Barwa). All Outlooks are Negative. This action follows the downgrade of the Qatari sovereign by one notch to 'AA-' (see Fitch Downgrades Qatar to 'AA-' Negative Outlook, dated 28-August-2017 on www.fitchratings.com.) and reflects Fitch's view that a timely resolution to Qatar's isolation is unlikely, although further risk of escalation has declined. It also reflects the impact that the measures have had on Qatar's external balance sheet, with an expected fall of sovereign net foreign assets to 146% of GDP in 2017 from 185% in 2016, and our expectation that GDP growth will slow to 2% in 2017. Ultimately, the sovereign ability to support the banking system has weakened and all nine banks' IDRs have been downgraded to reflect this. The banks' Viability Ratings (VR) are unaffected by this action. The VRs remain on Rating Watch Negative (RWN) and reflect the heightened risks that this crisis places on the banks' operating environment, funding and liquidity and earnings and profitability. "



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