Moody’s affirms QIIB’s long-term credit rating at “A2/Prime-1”, with a stable outlook

QIIB

Moody's credit rating agency has reconfirmed QIIB’s long-term credit rating at (A2) with a stable outlook, which affirms the bank’s strong financial position. This high rating reflects the strength and robustness of the Qatari economy at Aa3 with a stable outlook. Moody’s highlighted in its latest Credit Opinion Report on QIIB’s rating that “QIIB exhibits solid asset quality, driven by an adjusted non-performing financing (NPF) ratio of 1.5% as of December 2020, which has improved marginally over the last few years, the NPF ratio compares favourably with the 2.0% average for the Qatari banking system. At the same time, the bank's provisioning coverage to impaired assets increased to 136% as of December 2020,” The report added: “The bank's asset quality is supported by exposures to the Qatari government and quasi-government entities. These exposures, which reached 24% of total financing as of December 2020. “The bank's asset quality is also supported by its continued strength in the retail segment in which it has a significant market share of around 9.2% (of total retail lending in Qatar) as of December 2020, that also supports the bank's healthy margins and provides a strong base of low-cost deposits.”