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Press Release

DUBAI, July 22, 2009--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services found the exposure to the Saad and Algosaibi groups of 30 commercial banks it rates in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to be significant but manageable, according to its report "Special Standard & Poor's Survey Shows That Rated Gulf Banks Are Significantly Exposed To The Saad And Algosaibi Groups."

The two prominent Saudi Arabian groups recently ran into severe and unexpected difficulties and have entered debt restructuring discussions with their respective creditors.

"Total exposure net of tangible collateral to the two groups is significant but manageable for sampled rated GCC banks," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Goeksenin Karagoez.

Information related to each individual Gulf bank's exposure is confidential--and as such can not be disclosed by Standard & Poor's--but our survey enabled us to arrive at various opinions:

Exposure to the groups varies significantly among the sampled GCC rated banks, from no exposure to net exposure of more than 20% of a few banks' adjusted total equity.