The Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Limited (CariCRIS) has assigned NCB Financial Group Ltd (NCBFG) an initial rating of ‘jmAAA’ with a stable outlook.

The Caribbean-based rating agency gives an objective assessment of an entity’s creditworthiness relative to that of other debt-issuing entities. It provides ratings at both the regional and national levels.

On the national scale, NCBFG received a ‘jmAAA’ and ‘jmAA+’ for local and foreign currencies, respectively. On the regional scale, the organisation received a ‘CariA’ and ‘CariA-‘ for the local and foreign currency rating.

According to CariCRIS, “the stable outlook is based on our expectation that the NCB Financial Group’s financial performance will continue to be strong over the next 12-15 months, as the loan portfolio of the Group’s banking subsidiary, National Commercial Bank (NCB), continues to expand as a result of improved economic activity in Jamaica.”

NCB’s triple A rating follows on strong ratings for the bank and two of its subsidiaries, NCB Capital Markets Ltd and NCB Cayman Ltd earlier this year. It also enables the company to offer investment grade instruments to various types of investors.

NCBFG, the holding company of the NCB, says the CariCRIS rating comes at a time when the group is steadily pursuing growth opportunities both in the local and regional marketplace.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sunday-finance/caricris-gives-ncbfg-top-nod_115324