Moody's Investors Service has today placed on review for possible downgrade the ratings of four UAE banks:

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and its subsidiary ADCB Finance (Cayman) Limited,

Commercial Bank of Dubai ,

Dubai Bank and

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (UAE

panch) and HBME Sukuk Company Ltd.

The purpose of Moody's rating review is to assess the resilience of these banks' ratings to the potential continued deterioration in Dubai's operating environment, including their exposure to the ongoing restructuring of Dubai World companies' debt. (Moody's recently downgraded three other UAE banks -- Emirates NBD , Mashreqbank pSC and Dubai Islamic Bank pJSC -- which had been on review since August 2009.

please refer to Moody's rating action press release dated 10 December2009.)

Moody's views positively the emergency support extended by the Government of Abu Dhabi to Dubai on 14 December to enable Dubai to meet the immediate obligations of some entities within the troubled Dubai World group. However, Moody's believes that despite the timely settlement of obligations falling due this week, the final form of the on-going restructuring of the remaining debt owed by Dubai World has yet to be defined. It is also not clear at this time whether this restructuring process will be confined to Dubai World entities. Finally, uncertainty still surrounds the implementation process of the promised comprehensive reorganization framework and its impact on the ultimate level of debt recovery. According to Moody's, the Dubai World incident will have further repercussions on the already weakened corporate scene in Dubai.

Moody's also expects the prevailing difficult economic conditions in Dubai to lead to a further rise in distressed loans over the foreseeable future, thus testing the resilience of the ratings of the four named banks. Although Moody's stress-testing scenarios suggest that these banks have adequate capital buffers to absorb an increased level of bad debt, their earning power could be dented.

Moody's rating reviews will focus on assessing the impact of the potential continued weakening in credit quality on the banks' asset quality and earnings metrics.

The current ratings of the affected banks are now as follows:

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank pJSC

BFSR: C- on review for downgrade

Long-term deposit ratings: Aa3 on review for downgrade

Senior unsecured debt ratings: Aa3 on review for downgrade

Subordinated debt ratings: A1 on review for downgrade

Short-term debt and deposit ratings: prime-1

ADCB Finance (Cayman) Limited

Senior unsecured debt ratings: Aa3 on review for downgrade

Subordinated debt ratings: A1 on review for downgrade

Commercial Bank of Dubai pJSC

BFSR: D+ on review for downgrade

Long-term deposit ratings: A2 on review for downgrade

Short-term deposit ratings: prime-1 on review for downgrade

Dubai Bank

BFSR: D on review for downgrade

Long-term deposit ratings: A3 on review for downgrade

Short-term deposit ratings: prime-2

DB Sukuk Company Limited

Senior unsecured trust certificates: A3 on review for downgrade

Short term ratings: prime-2

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited

BFSR: C on review for downgrade

Long-term deposit ratings: Aa3 on review for downgrade

Senior unsecured MTN (foreign): Aa3 on review for downgrade

Subordinated MTN (foreign): A1 on review for downgrade

Short-term deposit ratings: prime-1

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (UAE panch)

GLC deposit ratings: Aa3 on review for downgrade

FC deposit ratings: Aa3 on review for downgrade

HBME Sukuk Company Ltd

Senior unsecured trust certificates: Aa3 on review for downgrade

The previous rating action on ADCB was on 15 December 2008, when Moody's revised downwards the outlook on ADCB to negative from stable.

The previous rating action on CBD was on 22 July 2008, when Moody's initially assigned its ratings.

The previous rating action on DB was on 15 December 2008, when Moody's revised downwards the outlook to stable from positive.

The previous rating action on HBME was on 24 August 2009, when Moody's downgraded HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd long-term ratings to Aa3 from Aa2.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank reported total assets of AED158.63 billion (US$43.1 billion) as at 30 September 2009.

Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, Commercial Bank of Dubai reported total assets of AED37.03 billion (US$10.07 billion) as at 30 September 2009.

Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, Dubai Bank reported total assets of AED18.49 billion (US$5.03 billion) as at year-end 2008.

Incorporated in Jersey, HSBC Bank Middle East reported total assets of US$41.528 billion as at year-end 2008.

The principal methodologies used in rating these banks are the "Revised Methodology for Government Related Non-Bank Financial Institutions", and "Bank Financial Strength Rating: Revised Methodology", which can be found at www.moodys.com in the Rating Methodologies sub-directory under the Research & Ratings tab. Other methodologies and factors that may have been considered in the process of rating these issuers can also be found in the Rating Methodologies sub-directory on Moody's website.

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For more information please contact:

Mardig Haladjian

General Manager

Financial Institutions Group

Moody's Investors Service Cyprus Limited

JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456

SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454

DIFC

John Tofarides

Analyst

Financial Institutions Group

Moody's Middle East Ltd.

Telephone: +971-44-01-9536

© press Release 2009