Capital Intelligence (CI) has placed the foreign currency long-term and financial strength ratings of Mashreqbank on a Positive outlook.

This is in view of the recent Tier 2 capital issue and the bank’s continuing strong business growth, the agency said.

The foreign currency ratings were affirmed at A long-term and A1 short-term, while the financial strength rating was
maintained at A.

The capital increase is expected to support Mashreqbank’s expansion plans. With the bank’s well managed domestic businesses flourishing, management can now focus on diversifying overseas.

Mashreqbank has produced consistently strong results for several years thanks to good net interest earnings and a large and diversified noninterest revenue base. The Bank’s asset quality is sound and it has built a moderately well diversified loan portfolio, within the constraints of the market. It is strongly capitalised and its liquidity ratios are better than peer group.

With total assets of $15 billion at end 2006, the bank is ranked sixth among domestic banks in the UAE. - TradeArabia News Service