Fitch gives ‘A’ rating for Qatar-Based Doha Bank’s EMTN programme

Fitch Ratings has assigned Doha Bank Q.S.C.’s (Doha Bank) USD2bn euro medium-term note (EMTN) programme a Long-term senior unsecured debt rating of ‘A’ and a Short-term senior unsecured debt rating of ‘F1’. Notes may be issued by Doha Bank or by Doha Finance Limited, based in Bermuda, in which case the notes will be guaranteed by Doha Bank.

However, Fitch notes that there is no assurance that notes issued in the future under the programme will be assigned a rating, or that the rating assigned to a specific issue under the programme will have the same rating as the programme rating.

Doha Bank has a Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘A’ with a Stable Outlook, a Short-term IDR of ‘F1’, a Viability Rating of ‘bbb’, a Support Rating of ‘1’ and a Support Rating Floor of ‘A’.

Doha Bank has a well-established franchise in Qatar as the third largest conventional bank, accounting for around 8% of total banking assets. The bank’s shares are listed on the Qatar Exchange and the Qatari government, via the Qatar Investment Authority, owns 16.67% of the bank’s shares.