Mubasher: Boubyan Bank on Monday announced that rating agency Moody's Investor Services (Moody's) had confirmed the lender's long-term deposit rating at “A3” with a “stable” outlook.

The New York-based ratings agency also affirmed its rating for the bank’s short-term deposit rating and baseline credit assessment at “P-2” and “ba2”, respectively, according to the bank’s statement to Boursa Kuwait.

The rating reflects the bank’s rapid growth in the retail and corporate banking, which drives solid earnings generation and supports strong capitalisation, Moody's noted.

Moreover, it shows Boubyan Bank’s stable funding despite the impact on the said strengths by the rapid growth of the bank’s credit portfolio, according to the statement.

The long-term deposit rating reflects the positive outlook of the agency concerning the rapid growth of the bank’s domestic market share.

Moody's expects Boubyan Bank’s profitability to remain stable owing to the increase in operating income. The Kuwaiti bank’s strong financing growth will continue to reflect its growing retail franchise, the statement said. 

Earlier this month, the Kuwait-listed bank reported a 17.7% profit increase to KWD 25.74 million for the first half of 2018, compared to KWD 21.87 million for the same period of the prior year.

By 10:14 am Kuwait time, Boubyan’s stock went down 0.38% at 518 fils.