S&P ISSUES ‘A-’ STABLE LONG TERM CREDIT RATING TO AHLI UNITED BANK

Ahli United Bank (AUB) B.S.C has announced that the Bank has been assigned a Long Term Issue Credit Rating of ‘A-‘ (stable) by Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Rating Service. The S&P’ move follows affirmation of the Bank’s long term credit risk rating of ‘A-‘(stable) by Fitch in August 2008 and earlier by Capital Intelligence of ‘A’ (stable) in June 2008.

In its rating report, S&P said that “the ratings on Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank B.S.C. (AUB) reflect its leading commercial position in the Kingdom of Bahrain, better geographic diversification than for regional peers, improving financial performance, and strong asset quality”.

S&P went on to state: “AUB is among the 20 largest banking groups in the Gulf. It is also one of the very few players to have good geographic diversification, although this creates additional challenges for risk management and operating efficiency. The group’s adequate enterprise risk management–in our assessment–and proven ability to integrate acquisitions nevertheless positions it well to handle these challenges”.

Describing AUB’s strategy as well defined, the report highlighted the Bank’s strengths in a number of areas: “The bank’s asset quality is strong”; “Its customer franchise is good, with more than 400,000 customers”; “Private banking and wealth management is more developed at AUB than at most other Gulf banks”, and that “Enterprise risk management at AUB is adequate, reflecting its good risk