Moody's on Dec. 13 confirmed Commercial Bank of Dubai PSC's long-term bank deposit ratings at Baa1 and revised the outlook on the ratings to negative, concluding a review for downgrade initiated Oct. 1.

The negative outlook reflects the agency's expectation that the lender's underlying asset quality will continue to gradually weaken in 2019 on the back of a soft economic environment, which Moody's said will particularly impact the creditworthiness of midsize corporates, which make up Commercial Bank of Dubai's core client base.

The agency also confirmed the lender's P-2 short-term bank deposit ratings, "ba1" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments, A3/P-2 long- and short-term counterparty risk ratings and A3(cr)/P-2(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments.