RIYADH: Standard & Poor’s (S&P), one of the world’s leading international credit rating agencies, has affirmed its strong rating of The Saudi British Bank (SABB).
In a detailed report, S&P retains its rating of SABB as ‘A/Stable/A-1’ and states: “The ratings .... reflect its strong and resilient financial performance, 40 percent ownership by HSBC Holdings, strong asset quality and adequate capitalization.
“A flexible and innovative player — but also an aggressive competitor — SABB delivers customers high quality products and services.”
S&P recognizes SABB as “a leading player” in corporate banking and identifies its asset quality as “strong”, attributing the bank’s “good financial performance” in 2008 to “increased volume of corporate lending, good cost control and limited cost of risk.”
The rating agency adds: “Building on its know-how and HSBC’s technical support, SABB has been growing very rapidly in recent years, with an assets growth rate outpacing most of its peers.”