Moody's on Sept. 13 downgraded State Joint-Stock Commercial Bank Asaka's baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments to "b3" from "b2," reflecting a material deterioration in the Uzbekistan-based bank's liquidity profile in the 2017-2018 period, among other factors.
The agency said the downgrade also reflects its expectation for the bank's liquidity position to remain weak in the next 12 months, as well as the bank's growing provisioning charges and weak profitability metrics.
Moody's affirmed the bank's B2/B1 long-term foreign- and local-currency deposit ratings, with the outlook remaining negative. Also affirmed were the bank's B1(cr)/Not Prime(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments, B1/Not Prime long- and short-term counterparty risk ratings and Not Prime short-term deposit ratings.
