Bank Ratings Face Downgrade Risk
Swedbank, Nordea and SEB are included in a list of banks that face the risk of having their ratings downgraded by Moody's Investor Service.
On Wednesday, the rating agency announced that 114 banks in 16 European countries are being reviewed.
The agency cited pressure from Eurozone financial crisis and deteriorating creditworthiness of Eurozone countries. The ratings of nine European countries were adjusted downwards on Monday.
“While there are mitigating factors such as the currently supportive stance of many governments towards their banking systems and accommodative monetary policies, these are overshadowed by the aforementioned pressures, in Moody's opinion,” a press release said.
The reviews announced on Wednesday followed a January announcement in which European banks were expected to be placed on review for downgrade during the first quarter of 2012.
Ott Tammik