Moody's Investors Service issued an Aaa.sa long-term issuer national scale rating to Saudi Aramco and assigned an NSR to four banks in Saudi Arabia, reflecting their creditworthiness within the kingdom.
Saudi Aramco benefits from an “exceptional operational scale, significant downstream integration and strong financial flexibility given its low cost structure and low leverage relative to cash flows”, Moody’s said in a statement late on Wednesday. “This provides resilience through oil price cycles.”
Aramco's A1 long-term issuer global scale rating (GSR) remains unchanged. The newly assigned NSR to the world’s biggest oil producing company reflects its “position as the strongest rated corporate in Saudi Arabia and one whose credit profile is very closely interlinked with the credit quality of the government”, according to Moody’s.
NSRs provide relative measures of creditworthiness among debt issues and issuers within a country, enabling market participants to better differentiate relative risks. NSRs, though, are not globally comparable with the full universe of rated entities, according to Moody’s.
The lenders assigned NSRs include Saudi British Bank (Sabb), Bank Al-Jazira, Riyad Bank and Samba Financial Group.
The rating action on long- and short-term deposit ratings as well as counterparty risk ratings (CRRs) of the four Saudi Arabian lenders follow a new NSR map by Moody's for the government of Saudi Arabia.
The ratings agency assigned Aa1.sa/SA-1 national scale deposit ratings and Aa1.sa/SA-1 national scale CRRs to Sabb. The Aa1.sa is the second highest NSR that can be achieved by any entity in Saudi Arabia and the highest currently assigned to a lender in the kingdom, Moody’s said.
The bank’s deposit rating reflects its “funding and sound liquidity, solid profitability and efficiency as well as strong capitalisation”, Moody’s said. “These strengths are moderated [however,] by pressures on the bank's solvency in the next two years on the back of lower oil prices, reduced government spending and the coronavirus-induced disruption.”
Moody’s assigned A3.sa/SA-2 national scale deposit ratings and A2.sa/SA-1 national scale CRRs to Bank Al-Jazira. Its deposit rating reflects the bank's small but growing Islamic banking franchise, improved capitalisation and sound liquidity and funding.
The ratings agency assigned Aa2.sa/SA-1 national scale deposit ratings and Aa1.sa/SA-1 national scale CRRs to Riyad Bank, underpinning its strong capital base, stable deposit-based funding and resilient profitability, it said.
Samba received Aa1.sa/SA-1 national scale deposit ratings and Aa1.sa/SA-1 national scale CRRs. Its deposit ratings capture solid funding and liquidity and its strong solvency, with high capital buffers.
Separately, Saudi Re for Cooperative Reinsurance, or Saudi Re, as the company is known, received an A1.sa national scale insurance financial strength rating from Moody’s on Wednesday. The new rating underpins the company's strong brand and market position within the kingdom and its growing presence in its target markets such as Asia and Africa
Its strong asset quality, capital adequacy, strong financial flexibility with non-existent leverage and good access to capital markets in Saudi Arabia also support the rating action, Moody’s said.
More about Middle East geopolitics
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Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
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Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
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2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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Company%20profile
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Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
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Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
BLACK%20ADAM
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What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
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- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
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The Details
Article 15
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The specs
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Brief scoreline:
Wales 1
James 5'
Slovakia 0
Man of the Match: Dan James (Wales)
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Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
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The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
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Thursday Beat Sydney 2-0 in Sydney
Saturday v Western Sydney Wanderers in Sydney
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Manchester United v Club America
When: Thursday, 9pm Arizona time (Friday UAE, 8am)
