The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) enjoys highest credit rating among leading public sector banks in Pakistan with 'AAA' while Sindh Bank Limited and Bank of Punjab have the lowest credit ratings 'AA-', said the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) credit ratings of January 1, 2012.
According to SBP, 'AAA' ratings denote the lowest expectation of credit risk and are assigned only in case of exceptionally strong capacity for timely payment of financial commitments, hence capacity is highly unlikely to be adversely affected by foreseeable events. In the public sector financial institutions, First Women Bank enjoys strong credit rating 'BBB+' for long term and 'A2' for short term. The Bank of Khyber has 'A-' long term credit ratting and 'A-2' for short-term.
In the private sector financial institutions, Standard Charted Bank (Pakistan) Limited has the best credit rating 'AAA' in the long-run while Soneri Bank Limited has worst credit rating of 'AA-' in the long-run. The ratings for public and private sector banks of Pakistan have been given by the Pakistan Credit Ratting Agency Limited (Pacra) and JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Ltd (JCR-VIS).
Among the foreign banks operating in Pakistan, Oman International Bank SAOG enjoys top credit rating 'BBB' for long term and Deutsche Bank Ag has lowest credit rating for long term with 'AA-'. Among DFIs, Pak-Kuwait Investment Company Private Limited and Pak-Oman Investment Company Limited are the top rated financial institutions with 'AAA', while Pak-China Investment Company Limited and PAIR Investment Company are lowest rated with 'AA-' ratings. All the Islamic financial institutions operating in Pakistan; Al-Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited, Bank Islami Limited, Burj Bank Limited and Dubai Islamic Bank Limited have stable ratings with 'A' in the long run, only Meezan Bank Limited has negative credit rating of 'A-'.