IIRA Reaffirms Credit Ratings on JIB

The Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) has reaffirmed Jordan Islamic Bank’s (JIB) credit ratings. On the national scale, JIB is rated A+ (jo) / A1 (jo). On the international scale, the foreign currency rating was reaffirmed at BB+/A3. Further, IIRA has maintained a stable outlook on the assigned ratings. The report issued by the Agency on 21/10/2018 stated that despite the political challenges surrounding Jordan and difficult conditions facing economy including inflation, high indebtedness and global monetary tightening, JIB was able to maintain its presence in local banking market.  JIB is the largest Islamic bank in Jordan and the third largest of all banks in the overall banking sector. The bank commands close to 55% of the local Islamic banking market, according to statistics by the Association of Banks in Jordan (2018) and 9.1% of the JD 46.5b of banking industry asset’s base. The report indicated that granting these ratings is based on the bank’s maintaining a stable funding base, diversification of the sources of deposits, sound profitability, adequate reserves, surplus and strong liquidity and sound assets quality. The report added that the bank witnessed a growth in its net equity. It stood at JD 375 million as of 2017 year – end. The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) amounted to 23% as of December 2017, which exceeds the ratio adopted by the CBJ that is at least 12%. JIB’s market share inched up to 10.8% of total industry deposits as at 2017 year-end. The bank developed and updated its five years strategy for 2018-2022. It continued also to expand by opening three banking offices during 2017 and increasing the number of its staff to reach 2335. “The reaffirmation of our bank's credit rating underscores the successful implementation of the Bank's strategy to maintain an advanced position in the Jordanian banking market and achieve further achievements at various levels while adhering to international credit rating standards," said Musa Shihadeh, General Manager of Jordan Islamic Bank. , Stressing that these ratings lead us to make more efforts to keep JIB in the forefront always. It is worth mentioning that IIRA has upgraded the Sharia Quality Ratings of Jordan Islamic Bank (“JIB”) at AA+(SQ) for the bank’s perseverance to conform to the high standards of Sharia principles in accordance with the regulatory amendments in corporate governance framework of Islamic banks in Jordan.