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[qqqbear]

Santander Among 15 Banks Downgraded by S&P After Spain Cut
Patrick Clark, ©2012 Bloomberg News
Monday, February 13, 2012

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Banco Santander SA and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA were among 15 Spain-based financial firms downgraded by Standard & Poor's after the credit-ratings company reduced the nation's grade last month.

Santander, Spain's biggest bank, was lowered to A+ from AA-, and BBVA was reduced to A from A+, S&P said today in a statement. Both have a negative outlook, the ratings firm said.

Spain's long-term debt was lowered to A from AA- on Jan. 13, as S&P said European leaders' struggle to contain the region's debt crisis would complicate the country's efforts to finance borrowings. S&P revised its banking industry country risk assessment, known as Bicra, for Spain to group 5 from group 4, citing mounting risks.

"We expect Spanish banks' profitability to remain below the historical average over the medium term, owing to high credit provisions," S&P said in the statement. "We believe this could impair the Spanish banking system's competitive dynamics and have therefore revised our assessment to 'intermediate risk.'"

In a separate announcement today, Fitch Ratings downgraded Santander's long-term debt to A from AA-, BBVA's to A from A+ and Spain to A from AA- on Jan. 27.

http://www.sfgate.co...&type=printable

[qqqbear]

Moody's actions can be summarised as follows:

- Austria: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
- France: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
- Italy: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook
- Malta: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook
- Portugal: downgraded to Ba3 from Ba2, negative outlook
- Slovakia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook
- Slovenia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook
- Spain: downgraded to A3 from A1, negative outlook
- United Kingdom: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative

http://www.fxstreet....27-e2084559ecb9