Credit rating agency, Moody’s, has downgraded its score for the Moscow Bank for Reconstruction and Development (MBRD) to a B2, from B1.

At the same time the bank’s subordinate debt rating was lowered to B3 from B2 and its foreign currency senior unsecured debt score fell from B1 to B2.

The reductions in ratings are the result of a review that began in October 2008 in light of the fact that MBRD’s parent firm, JSFC Sistema’s, score had been put under review for a possible downgrade.

Sistema’s corporate family debt rating was indeed downgraded on 21 April 2009, to Ba3, from B1. Additionally, Sistema Capital SA’s senior unsecured debt rating was reduced to B2 from Ba3 with a negative outlook.

A press release from Mody’s stated: ‘The rating agency will continue to maintain its previous assumptions of a moderate probability of parental support from Sistema to MBRD, in case
of need, as well as a high degree of interdependence between the parent
and the subsidiary, as evidenced by deep involvement of MBRD in providing financial services to Sistema companies and its high reliance on funding
inflowing from the related pa