Fitch ratings upgrade of Ahlibank a milestone achievement: Chairman

Fitch Ratings has upgraded Ahlibank’s long-term issuer default rating (IDR) to ‘A+’ from ‘A’ with a stable outlook, and has also revised the support rating floor (SRF) to ‘A+’ from ‘A’. “These rating upgrades reflect Ahlibank’s satisfactory liquidity, sound capitalisation and asset quality, as well as,  fairly conservative risk appetite,” the bank said in a statement.Sheikh Faisal bin AbdulAziz bin Jasem al-Thani, Ahlibank chairman and managing director, said, “We are very pleased to see that Fitch recognises the good health of the banking sector in Qatar, with such banks being well-capitalised and with solid asset quality, reflecting low levels of non-performing loans. “We also believe that the continued support of our shareholders underpins our continued growth within the context of the Qatar growth story. This rating upgrade is another milestone to Qatar’s banking community which makes us proud.”