Albania’s National Commercial Bank Receives AAA Rating

Tirana, Dec. 17, 2008 (AENews) – The Albanian National Commercial Bank , BKT, the second biggest bank in the country by assets, received AAA credit rating as local rating, and BBB- international rating, assigned by JCR-ER rating agency, BKT said in a press release.
“BKT has high level of available liquidity. Deposit structure primarily composed of long term and well spread retail deposit accounts and the management team, plus past performance of the bank gives confidence to investors and customers,” JCR said.
The rating agency expressed concern about increasing trend in non-performing loans and concentration of the construction sector in the corporate portfolio.
About BKT
Banka Kombetare Tregtare Sh.A. (BKT) was established as a state owned bank in 1993 following the merger of the Albanian Commercial Bank and the National Bank of Albania whose history can be traced back to the 1920s. It was fully licensed in 1998 by the Bank of Albania (BoA) in accordance with the new Banking Law to operate as a commercial bank in the Republic of Albania. BKT completed its privatization process in the year 2000 and was the second largest commercial banking institution of Albania in 2007. BKT’s shareholders are ȡlık-Seker Consortium (having 60% of the shares), International Finance Corporation (IFC) (holding 20% of the shares) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) (holding the remaining 20% of the shares).
BKT underwent a major organizational restructuring process following its privatization and has attained higher growth and profitability rates than those of the banking sector in Albania.
BKT has established two new divisions during 2007; i.e., a corporate & commercial banking division and a retail banking division. BKT operates as a commercial bank with 45 branches/agencies in Albania and 5 branches in Kosovo; plans are in the pipeline to open new branches primarily in Kosovo and other regional countries.
About JCR
JCR Avrasya Derecelendirme A.S., briefly called JCR Eurasia Rating, is the first licensed rating agency that has been incorporated by the local capital in Turkey.
The rating process of JCR Eurasia Rating includes the fields of Supranationals, Sovereign Ratings, Financial Institutions Ratings, Insurance Companies Ratings, Public Finance Ratings, Corporate Ratings, Municipality Ratings, Bond Issue Ratings, Structured Finance Ratings (Asset Back Securities, Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities, Residential Mortgage Back Securities), Project Ratings, REITs Ratings and Corporate Governance consultancy.