Dr. Al-Fayez stated: "During the last 18 months, GIB has been upgraded by all three major international credit rating agencies, Fitch, Moody's and Standard & Poor's. The upgrades in GIB's ratings provide an important independent validation of the bank's GCC-focused merchant banking strategy. The upgrade in the Standard & Poor's rating to A-, which follows an upgrade in the Fitch rating to A- in December 2003, also represents a transition across an important threshold as recognised by the new Basel II capital adequacy proposals which assign significantly lower capital requirements to banks rated A- and above". Dr. Al-Fayez explained that under the new Basel II capital adequacy guidelines, capital requirements will be determined based on credit ratings. It is therefore important that banks strive to achieve the highest possible credit ratings.