Oman International Bank's Ratings Affirmed and Withdrawn 

(MENAFN Press) 14 September 2012


Oman International Bank's Ratings Affirmed and Withdrawn

Capital Intelligence (CI), the international credit rating agency, has affirmed and withdrawn the ratings of Oman International Bank (OIB) following its merger with the Oman operations of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited in June 2012, which resulted in changes to the ownership, board and management of the Bank. The merged entity has been renamed HSBC Oman and is 51% owned by HSBC Bank Middle East Limited.

CI last rated OIB in September 2011, and the ratings assigned at that time were those affirmed today. The Financial Strength Rating at that time was affirmed at 'BBB', with the Bank's sizeable retail customer franchise, very good liquidity and high capital adequacy ratio underpinning the rating. The Foreign Currency Ratings were maintained at 'BBB' Long-Term and 'A2' Short-Term, with a Support Rating of '3'. The ratings reflected the high likelihood of support from the government in case of need. 'Stable' Outlooks were assigned to all ratings.

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The ratings have been initiated by Capital Intelligence. The issuer did not participate in the rating process. The information source used to prepare the credit ratings is public information. Capital Intelligence had access to the accounts but no other relevant internal documents of the issuer for the purpose of the rating; however Capital Intelligence considers the quality of information available on the issuer to be satisfactory for the purposes of assigning and maintaining credit ratings. Capital Intelligence does not audit or independently verify information received during the rating process.

The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity and released with no amendment following that disclosure. Ratings on the issuer were first released in July 1987.The ratings were last updated in September 2011.

The principal methodology used in determining the ratings is Bank Rating Methodology. The methodology and the meaning of each rating category and definition of default, as well as information on the attributes and limitations of CI's ratings, can be found at www.ciratings.com