Mubasher: Fitch Rating affirms the long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of Gulf Bank of Kuwait (GBK) at ‘A+’ and the short-term IDR at ‘F1’, with a ‘Stable’ outlook.

Additionally, the agency has affirmed GBK’s financial Viability Rating (VR) at ‘bb+’, the support rating (SR) at ‘1’, while the support rating floor (SRF) was affirmed at ‘A+’, the bank disclosed to Boursa Kuwait on Sunday.

GBK ascribed the support ratings to Kuwait’s efforts in providing support to local banks, in addition to the stable work environment across the country, the bank’s large branch network, as well as the improvement in bad loans percentage, and competent team members.

The current ratings were affirmed based on the profitability which was affected by the economic situations in Kuwait, in addition to the concentration in GBK’s balance sheet like all other local banks, and its high dependence on funding from firms and institutions.