S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a weekly overview of ratings actions on European financial institutions and economies. Ratings actions are listed by announcement date in reverse chronological order.

Feb. 26

* S&P Global Ratings placed the A long-term issuer credit ratings of Standard Life Aberdeen Plc and the A+ long-term issuer credit and financial strength ratings of Standard Life Assurance Ltd. on CreditWatch with negative implications, after Standard Life Aberdeen said that it will the unit to Phoenix Group Holdings.

* Fitch Ratings revised the outlook on Vivat NV's long-term issuer default rating to evolving from stable, while affirming it at BBB. The agency also affirmed the BBB+ insurer financial strength ratings of Vivat entities SRLEV NV and REAAL Schadeverzekeringen NV and revised the outlooks to evolving from stable.

* Fitch upgraded Russia-based PJSC MTS Bank's viability rating to "b" from "b-" and affirmed its long- and short-term issuer default ratings at B+/B, with a negative outlook on the long-term rating, and its 4 support rating.

Feb. 23

* S&P revised Russia's long- and short-term foreign-currency sovereign credit ratings to BBB-/A-3 from BB+/B, while keeping the outlook stable. It also upgraded the sovereign's credit ratings to BBB/A-2 from BBB-/A-3.

* Meanwhile, Fitch affirmed the long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings of Russia at BBB-/F3 and those of Slovenia at A-/F1. The outlook on Russia is positive while that on Slovenia is stable. The country ceiling of Russia and Slovenia were also affirmed at BBB- and AAA, respectively.

* Fitch Ratings affirmed the A long-term issuer default rating of Phoenix Group Holdings and the A+ insurer financial strength ratings of units Phoenix Life Assurance Ltd. and Phoenix Life Ltd. The outlooks on the ratings are stable.

* S&P affirmed Turkey's BB/B unsolicited long- and short-term foreign-currency sovereign credit ratings and its BB+/B unsolicited local-currency long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings, with a negative outlook. The agency also affirmed the country's unsolicited trAA+/trA-1 long- and short-term national scale ratings.

* DBRS upgraded Malta's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer ratings to A (high) from A and its short-term foreign- and local-currency issuer rating to R-1 (middle) from R-1 (low), while Moody's revised Malta's A3 rating outlook to positive from stable.

* S&P affirmed Tajikistan's B-/B long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings, with a stable outlook.

* A.M. Best affirmed the B+ (Good) financial strength rating and the "bbb-" long-term issuer credit rating of Pasha Insurance Co., with the outlook remaining stable.

* Moody's assigned Luxembourg-based financial services company Saphilux S.À R.L. a B3 corporate family rating and B2-PD probability of default rating, with a stable outlook.

* A.M. Best has assigned a financial strength rating of A+ (Superior) and a long-term issuer credit rating of "aa" to new FM Global Group member FM Insurance Europe SA, with a stable outlook.

Feb. 22

* Moody's placed certain ratings of HSBC Holdings Plc unit HSBC Bank Plc and Barclays Plc and unit Barclays Bank Plc on review for downgrade, including HSBC Bank's Aa3 long-term issuer, bank deposit and senior unsecured debt ratings, "baa1" baseline credit assessment, "a2" adjusted baseline credit assessment and Aa2(cr) long-term counterparty risk assessment.

Barclays' Baa2/Prime-3 long- and short-term issuer ratings and Baa2 senior unsecured debt rating and Barclays Bank's A1/Prime-1 long- and short-term bank deposit ratings, A1 long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings, "baa2" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessment and A1(cr) long-term counterparty risk assessment were also placed on review for downgrade.

* S&P affirmed Latvia's A-/A-2 long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings, with a positive outlook on the long-term rating, and affirmed the country's foreign- and local-currency senior unsecured and short-term debt ratings at A- and A-2, respectively.

* Moody's extended its review of the Caa1 long-term deposit ratings of Novo Banco SA and its related entities.

* S&P assigned J.P. Morgan Bank Luxembourg SA A+/A-1 long- and short-term issuer credit ratings, with a stable outlook.

Feb. 21

* Moody's upgraded Greece to B3 from Caa2, with a positive outlook, citing "material" improvements in the country's fiscal and institutional profile.

* S&P affirmed the CCC+/C long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings of Greek lenders Alpha Bank AE, Eurobank Ergasias SA, National Bank of Greece SA and Piraeus Bank SA, with stable outlooks.

* S&P assigned JSC Georgia Capital a B+ preliminary long-term corporate credit rating, while Moody's assigned the investment firm a B2 corporate family rating and a B2-PD probability of default rating. The outlooks on the ratings are stable.

Feb. 20

* S&P affirmed France-based Agence Française de Développement's AA/A-1+ long- and short-term issuer credit ratings, with a stable outlook.

* Fitch assigned BBB-/F3 long- and short-term issuer default ratings to Turkey-based Volkswagen Dogus Finansman AS, which is controlled by Volkswagen AG unit Volkswagen Financial Services AG. The outlook on the long-term rating is stable. The agency also assigned the Turkish financial services firm a national long-term rating of AAA(tur), with a stable outlook, and a support rating of 2.

* Moody's placed on review for upgrade Otkritie Financial Corp. Bank's B2 long-term foreign- and local-currency bank deposit ratings, senior unsecured debt ratings and B1(cr) long-term counterparty risk assessment. Simultaneously, Moody's upgraded the bank's baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessment to "caa3" from "ca" and placed them on review for further upgrade.

* Moody's revised to positive from negative the outlook on Russia-based PAO Bank Zenit and its Ba3 long-term local- and foreign-currency deposit ratings and local-currency senior unsecured debt rating. The agency affirmed the bank's long-term ratings, "b1" baseline credit assessment, "ba3" adjusted baseline credit assessment, Not Prime short-term local-currency and foreign-currency deposit ratings and Ba2(cr)/Not Prime(cr) long-term and short-term counterparty risk assessments.

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