Moody's assigns A3 rating to Gulf International Bank's SR2.0bn unsubordinated FRNs

Moody's said that the FRNs, launched in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the bank's Riyadh branch, constitute unsubordinated obligations of GIB ranking equally with its other senior unsecured obligations.

Moody's added that GIB's A3 deposit rating is based on the bank's standalone financial strength (represented by a D+ bank financial strength rating mapping to a Ba1 baseline credit assessment) as well as four notches of uplift reflecting an assessment of the likelihood of parental support for the bank in case of need. GIB is majority owned by the Government of Saudi Arabia.

Moody's previous rating action on GIB was on 6 April 2009 when it confirmed the bank's A3/Prime-2/D+ ratings, with a stable outlook.

GIB is headquartered in Manama, Bahrain and at the end of June 2009 had total assets of $17.12bn.

The principal methodologies used in rating Gulf International Bank were Moody's "Bank Financial Strength Ratings: Global Methodology" (February 2007) and "Incorporation of Joint-Default Analysis into Moody's Bank Ratings: A Refined Methodology" (March 2007), and available on www.moodys.com in the Rating Methodologies sub-directory under the Research & Ratings tab. Other methodologies and factors that may have been considered in the process of rating these issuers can also be found in the Rating Methodologies sub-directory on Moody's website.