Fitch affirms Doha Bank ratings at ‘A’ with Stable Outlook - The Peninsula Qatar

Fitch affirms Doha Bank ratings at ‘A’ with Stable Outlook - The Peninsula Qatar:

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Doha Bank’s (DB) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘A’ with a Stable Outlook. At the same time, the agency has affirmed DB’s Viability Rating at ‘bb+’.

DB’s IDRs, Support Rating (SR) and Support Rating Floor (SRF) reflect Fitch’s expectation of an extremely high probability of support from the Qatari authorities for domestic banks in case of need.

This reflects the strong ability of Qatar to support its banks, as indicated by its rating (AA-/Stable), combined with Fitch’s belief of a strong willingness to support the banking sector and the bank. The latter is based on a strong track record of sovereign support to the banking sector including i) between 2009 and 1Q 2011 when some banks received capital injections to enhance their capital buffers and the government purchased some problem assets from the banks and ii) during 2H17 when the Qatari authorities placed significant deposits across the banks to support sector liquidity following the start of the blockade between Qatar and some of its neighbors.