IIRA assigns Al Baraka Sudan top credit ratings

Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG) announced that Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA), a Bahrain based well reputed rating agency, has assigned national scale investment grade credit ratings of ‘A- (SD)/A-2 (SD)’ (A Minus/A Two) to Al Baraka Bank Sudan (ABBS or ‘the bank’). Outlook on the assigned rating is ‘Stable’.

The ratings have acknowledged ABBS’ strong asset growth and favourable  diversified retail deposit base most of which comprise of current accounts, and its strong franchise and overall conservative business approach. IIRA observed that ABBS maintains sizable liquid reserves, with solid liquidity and that asset quality indicators have improved  and are better than the banking sector average.  The capital ratio of ABBS is strong and higher than the minimum required and the average of the banking industry in Sudan and scope exists for further growth. The bank achieved a general improvement in profitability, driven by consistent increase in gross revenue supported by low cost of deposit funding. 

The rating has taken into account the various economic and financial challenges faced by banks in Sudan. Besides, ABBS being a directly owned subsidiary of Al Baraka Banking Group, a leading Bahrain based Islamic Banking Group, it derives strategic guidance from its parent’s international experience and established banking processes and systems in risk management and internal controls and in compliance with international regulations including anti-money laundering regulations. The overall corporate and Shari’a governance structure in place is considered good and the Fiduciary Score has been assessed in the range of ‘70-75’, reflecting adequate fiduciary standards wherein rights of various fund providers are adequately defined and protected. The fiduciary score is an aggregation of scores assigned to its three sub-sections, namely Corporate and Shari’ah Governance, and Asset Manager Quality. 

Adnan Ahmed Yousif, the President & Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group and Chairman of ABBS commented that the ratings are indeed a milestone for ABBS and represents an endorsement of its good performance despite the challenging conditions, in addition to meeting the high standards of Sharia compliance and corporate governance.