Standard and Poor's affirms SABB's high credit rating

In a detailed report, S&P retains its rating of SABB as 'A/Stable/A-1' and states:

"The ratings. reflect its strong and resilient financial performance, 40% ownership by HSBC Holdings, 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 adds: "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'".

Looking ahead, S&P says that the Bank is likely to benefit from the repricing of assets and improvement in core earnings quality as the volume of activities increases at the recently-launched subsidiaries and associates including investment bank HSBC Saudi Arabia, Shariah-compliant insurance producers SABB Takaful, insurance brokers SABB Insurance Services Limited and share brokerage and securities specialists SABB Securities Limited.

SABB's Managing Director, Richard Groves, commented: "The report confirms the strength of our strategy of focusing on the delivery of market leading products and on caring for our customers. SABB is well placed to take advantage of opportunities in the current environment."