S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a weekly overview of ratings actions on Middle Eastern and African financial institutions. Ratings actions are listed by announcement date in reverse chronological order.
March 2
* Moody's assigned first-time local- and foreign-currency issuer ratings of B1 to Tanzania, with a negative outlook.
* Capital Intelligence Ratings affirmed Egypt's B/B long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency ratings and revised the outlook to positive from stable.
* S&P Global Ratings affirmed the B/B long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings of Cape Verde, with a stable outlook.
* S&P also affirmed the B-/B long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings of Lebanon, with a stable outlook.
March 1
* Fitch Ratings downgraded Bahrain's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings to BB- from BB+, with a stable outlook.
* A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of B++ (Good) and the long-term issuer credit rating of "bbb" of Emirates Retakaful Ltd. and removed the ratings from under review with negative implications. The outlook is negative. Concurrently, A.M. Best has withdrawn the ratings as the company has requested to no longer participate in the agency's interactive rating process.
Feb. 28
* Fitch downgraded Arab Bank Plc's long-term issuer default rating to BB from BB+ and revised the outlook to stable from negative. The bank's viability rating was lowered to "bb" from "bb+", while its B short-term issuer default rating, 5 support rating and No Floor support rating floor were affirmed.
Fitch also revised the outlooks on Jordan Islamic Bank and Bank of Jordan Plc to stable from negative and affirmed the banks' long-term issuer default ratings at BB-. The agency affirmed both banks' short-term issuer default ratings at B, their viability ratings at "bb-", and their support ratings and support rating floors at 4 and B+, respectively.
* S&P revised the outlook on Seib Insurance & Reinsurance Co. LLC's local-currency counterparty credit and financial strength ratings to stable from positive, while affirming the ratings at BBB. The rating agency also affirmed the company's Gulf Cooperation Council regional scale counterparty credit rating at gcAA.
* CI Ratings downgraded the long-term foreign-currency rating of Investec Bank Ltd. to BBB- from BBB.
Feb. 27
* S&P affirmed the BBB+ long-term issuer credit and insurer financial strength ratings of Al Khaleej Takaful Insurance Co. QPSC, with a stable outlook.
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