Riyadh – Mubasher: Moody's Investors Service has assigned provisional senior unsecured foreign-currency ratings of (P)A1/ (P)P-1 to the $5 billion Euro Medium-Term Note (EMTN) programme of Samba Funding Limited, a special-purpose vehicle established by Samba Financial Group.

“Securities issued under the programme will constitute direct, unconditional, unsubordinated and unsecured obligations of Samba,” Moody’s said in a recent report.

The American business and financial services company noted that the (P)A1/ (P)P-1 foreign currency ratings assigned to the backed senior unsecured class of notes of the new EMTN programme are aligned with Samba's A1/P-1 deposit ratings.

They also reflect that the instruments issued under the programme will be (under the deed of guarantee) direct, unconditional, unsubordinated and unsecured obligations of Samba and rank equally with all other unsecured and unsubordinated from time to time outstanding obligations of Samba.

“Samba's A1/P-1 deposit ratings capture the bank's baseline credit assessment (BCA) of a2 and a one-notch uplift based on our view of a very high likelihood of government support from Saudi Arabia (rated A1 stable), in case of need,” the report highlighted.