The Saudi British Bank (SABB) and Al-Rajhi Banking and Investment Corporation received separate high credit ratings from two international rating agencies on Tuesday. Standard and Poor's rated SABB as “A/Stable/A-1”. It said the “ratings reflect its strong and resilient financial performance plus strong asset quality and adequate capitalization. A flexible and innovative player - but also an aggressive competitor - SABB delivers customers high quality products and services.' S&P recognizes SABB as ‘a leading player' in corporate banking and identifies its asset quality as “strong”, attributing the Bank's ‘good financial performance' in 2008 to “increased volume of corporate lending, good cost control and limited cost of risk.” The rating agency further said “building on its know-how and HSBC's technical support, SABB has been growing very rapidly in recent years, with an assets growth rate outpacing most of its peers.'' Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings affirmed Al-Rajhi's long-term issuer default rating (IDR) at “A+” with a stable outlook. Its short-term IDR at “F1”, individual rating at “B/C” and support rating at ‘1'. Fitch has affirmed Al-Rajhi's support rating floor at ‘A+'. Al-Rajhi continues to dominate the Islamic market segment and retail banking, which has been historically its main focus. The bank's long-term IDR is unlikely to change unless the sovereign rating changes. __
