Fitch: Remaining Zakat Bill Assessments Key to Saudi Bank Impact

Deniz Kılınç / İstanbul, May 4 (DHA) – Fitch Ratings has announced that the Zakat placed on Saudi Arabia’s banks as a result of a backdated change in the Zakat calculation would have a modest impact on banks’ capital and accordingly has not affected their ratings.
Although according to Fitch it is not clear when the Zakat assessments will be completed or how the banks’ appeal will be resolved, it is difficult to reliably estimate how much extra Zakat each bank will hav to pat fort he years still to be assessed.
Fitch has also warned that “some banks\' ratings could come under pressure if the amounts for the remaining years to be assessed are large enough to cause a material decline in capital metrics, or if future years\' Zakat assessments appear likely to structurally weaken a bank\'s internal capital generation”.