Capital Intelligence: Qatar Islamic Bank maintains solid capital adequacy

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Capital Intelligence (CI), the international credit rating agency, today announced that it has affirmed Qatar Islamic Bank’s (QIB) long-term foreign currency rating of ‘A’, its short-term foreign currency rating of ‘A2’ and its financial strength rating of ‘A’.

All ratings carry a ‘Stable’ outlook. At the same time CI affirms the support rating of 2. QIB’s ratings reflect the recently demonstrated government financial support of the Qatari banking system (including support of QIB itself), which has enabled the Bank to maintain its solid capital adequacy and overall sound financial condition, along with its strong franchise and profitability.

The Bank’s ratings are constrained by the volatility in income from investments in real estate property and associate companies as well as by structural balance sheet maturity mismatching. CI notes that the financial strength rating may come under pressure if the weakness in the Bank’s investment and trading income persists in 2010.