Moody’s affirms ratings of 10 Qatar banks and changes outlook to stable

Moody’s affirms ratings of 10 Qatar banks and changes outlook to stable:

Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) yesterday affirmed the long-term deposit and issuer ratings of the 10 banks it rates in Qatar, as well as the senior unsecured and subordinated debt ratings of their affiliated entities.

The banks reviewed are Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank, Al Khalij Commercial Bank (Al Khaliji), Ahli Bank, Barwa Bank, International Bank of Qatar, Masraf Al Rayan, Qatar International Islamic Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank and The Commercial Bank.

The banks have managed to maintain strong asset quality and capital buffers and their liquidity buffers remained solid, Moody’s said in a statement. Qatari bank’s system average non-performing loan ratio stood at 1.8% as of December 2017 and capital buffers stood at 15.5% tangible common equity to risk-weighted assets ratio, it said.