AFX News Limited Kazakhstan’s Kazkommertsbank ratings on review for possible downgrade

) has at the same time affirmed KKB’s foreign currency deposit ratings at ‘Ba1/NP’ with a stable outlook. In Moody’s view, the recent market turbulence and consequent liquidity crisis have substantially reduced KKB’s capacity to attract market funding, increasing its exposure to refinancing risk and testing its business model.

Another negative rating driver is the significant possibility of a material deterioration of the bank’s loan portfolio quality due to the rapid growth in lending and the high concentration of construction and real estate exposure, the agency said. Moodys’ believes that some of the bank’s borrowers from this sector could be adversely affected by the current credit crunch. TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com jro COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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