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KUWAIT: Moody's investor Service has affirmed Gulf Bank's stable outlook and solid revenue-generating capacity in a credit opinion issued this week.

Moody's said that Gulf Bank's standalone Base Line Credit Assessment ("BCA") rating reflects its solid revenue-generation capacity, comfortable liquidity metrics, and adequate capitalization.

In its latest semiannual credit opinion update, Moody's recognizes the competitiveness of Gulf Bank's risk management systems and practices deployed by its management that have enhanced the Bank's control of the loan portfolio credit risk.  Moody's also affirmed Gulf Bank's stable deposits outlook. This reflects the balance between adequate capital and provisioning buffers together with a reduction in problem loans.

Moody's said that Gulf Bank's BCA is supported by its strong macro profile. In addition, the problem loans levels have come down to 2.7 percent of gross loans and provision coverage is up to 276 percent at yearend 2015.

Moody's affirmed the following ratings of Gulf Bank; Outlook is Stable, Bank Deposits at A3/P-2, Baseline Credit Assessment at ba1, Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment at ba1 and Counterparty Risk Assessment at A2(cr)/P-1(cr).

Gulf Bank has consistently been awarded outstanding credit ratings in Kuwait by the major international rating agencies, Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.