Riyadh - Mubasher: Capital Intelligence (CI) confirmed its Saudi British Bank’s (SABB) long-and-short-term foreign currency rating, and maintained a ‘stable’ outlook.

The ratings agency said in a report that it had maintained its rating of the Saudi-listed bank’s long-term assets at ‘A+’ and the short-term assets at ‘A1’. SABB’s financial strength rating (FSR) at was also kept at ‘A+’.

The agency ascribed its valuation to SABB’s strong liquidity ratios, weak reliance on short-term financing, considerable capital ratios, and sharp cost control.

Many Saudi banks lost customer deposits during 2016, but SABB overcame the trend by increasing customer deposits at the fastest rate among all banks in the sector.

The bank had previously reported a 2.4% increase in net profits to reach SAR 1.1 billion in the first quarter in 2017, compared to SAR 1.08 billion in the same period in 2016.