Moody's upgrades Boubyan Bank's ratings to Baa1; outlook stable

Moody's Investors Service has upgraded by one notch the global foreign and local-currency deposit ratings of Kuwait-based Boubyan Bank (Boubyan) to Baa1 from Baa2. At the same time, Moody's has upgraded Boubyan's standalone bank financial strength rating (BFSR) to D+ from D, equivalent to ba1 baseline credit assessment (BCA) from ba2. All ratings assigned to Boubyan carry a stable outlook. Moody's rating upgrade primarily reflects the strengthening of asset-quality and coverage metrics and improvement in capitalisation levels. However, these strengths are moderated by high concentration risks and challenges stemming from rapid growth.