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European ratings roundup through March 26

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European ratings roundup through March 26

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.

March 26

* Fitch Ratings affirmed Russia-based OAO AKB SKB-Bank's ratings, including its B-/B long- and short-term issuer default ratings and "b-" viability rating, and subsequently withdrew them for commercial reasons. The long-term issuer default rating carried a stable outlook.

* Fitch affirmed Belgium-based KBC Verzekeringen NV 's and Luxembourg-based KBC Group Re SA's insurer financial strength ratings at A+ (Strong) and the former's long-term issuer default rating at A, with stable outlooks. The ratings were subsequently withdrawn for commercial reasons.

* S&P Global Ratings upgraded Instituto de Crédito Oficial's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer credit and senior unsecured ratings to A- from BBB+, with a positive outlook. The Spanish bank's short-term issuer credit ratings were affirmed at A-2.

* S&P affirmed DNB Bank ASA's issuer credit ratings at A+/A-1 and revised the outlook to positive from stable. The agency also affirmed the BBB/A-2 issuer credit ratings of Bank Norwegian AS and Eiendomskreditt AS, with the outlooks maintained at negative.

* Fitch affirmed the BBB+ long-term issuer default rating and "bb+" viability rating of Italy's Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA, with a stable outlook on the long-term rating.

* S&P lowered U.K.-based financial services software provider Finastra Group Holdings Ltd.'s long-term issuer credit rating to B- from B, with a stable outlook.

March 24

* DBRS confirmed Austria's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer ratings at AAA and its short-term foreign- and local-currency issuer ratings at R-1 (high), with a stable trend on all ratings.

March 23

* S&P Global Ratings raised the unsolicited long-term sovereign credit ratings of Spain to A- from BBB+, with a positive outlook, citing the country's strong economic performance and continuing budgetary consolidation despite political tensions stemming from Catalonia's failed independence bid.

* S&P upgraded Croatia's long-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings to BB+ from BB with a stable outlook, citing the country's improved external position.

* Moody's took several actions on the ratings of Crédit Mutuel Group units Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel SA, Crédit Industriel et Commercial SA and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa SACC, reflecting the downgrade of the group's stand-alone creditworthiness to "a3" from "a2."

* Moody's and Fitch took positive ratings actions on Credito Valtellinese SpA, following the successful completion of the Italian lender's €700 million rights issue. Moody's affirmed Creval's Ba3/Not Prime long- and short-term bank deposit ratings and revised the outlook on the long-term rating to positive from developing, while Fitch upgraded the bank's long-term issuer default rating to BB- from B-, removed the rating from Rating Watch Evolving and assigned it a positive outlook.

* Moody's placed on review for upgrade Depfa Bank Plc's and wholly owned unit Depfa ACS Bank DAC's Baa2/P-2 long- and short-term bank deposit ratings, "ba3" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments and Baa2(cr)/P-2(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments.

* Moody's upgraded ING Bank Slaski SA's long- and short-term deposit ratings to A2/P-1 from A3/P-2 and revised the outlook on the long-term ratings to stable from positive. The rating agency also upgraded the ING Groep NV unit's baseline credit assessment to "baa2" from "baa3" and its long-term counterparty risk assessment to A1(cr) from A2(cr).

* Moody's affirmed Bank Millennium SA's Baa3/Prime-3 long- and short-term bank deposit ratings and revised the outlook on the long-term rating to positive from stable. The Polish lender's "ba2" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments and Baa2(cr)/Prime-2(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments were also affirmed.

* Moody's affirmed PJSC Sovcombank's long- and short-term global- and local- and foreign-currency deposit ratings at Ba3/NP, long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments at Ba2(cr)/NP(cr) and baseline credit assessment at "ba3." The long-term ratings had stable outlooks.

* Fitch affirmed Switzerland's and Norway's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating at AAA, with stable outlook.

* S&P also affirmed Norway's long- and short-term issuer credit ratings at AAA/A-1+, with stable outlook.

* S&P affirmed Malta's long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings at A-/A-2, with positive outlook.

* S&P affirmed Latvia's long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings at A-/A-2, with a positive outlook.

* S&P affirmed the unsolicited long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings of Belgium at AA/A-1+, with a stable outlook.

* DBRS confirmed Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB's long- and short-term issuer ratings at A (high)/R-1 (middle), with stable trends on both ratings. The bank's support assessment remains at SA3.

* DBRS also confirmed Nordea Bank AB (publ)'s issuer rating at AA (low), senior unsecured debt and deposit ratings at AA (low) and short-term debt and deposit ratings at R-1 (middle), with stable trends on all ratings. The bank's support assessment remains at SA3.

March 22

* Moody's affirmed the long-term deposit and debt ratings of Millennium BCP and its supported entities at B1 and changed the outlook on the ratings to positive from stable. The Portuguese bank's long-term counterparty risk assessment was upgraded to Ba1(cr) from Ba2(cr).

* S&P kept the B+ long-term global scale issuer credit rating and kzBBB- long-term Kazakhstan national scale rating of Kazakhstan-based JSC Kazkommertsbank on CreditWatch with positive implications. At the same time, the agency affirmed the bank's B short-term issuer credit rating and removed it from CreditWatch positive, where it was placed in error previously.

* Moody's assigned Mediobanca - Banca di Credito Finanziario SpA a Baa1 long-term issuer rating and A3/Prime-2 long- and short-term deposit ratings, with the outlooks on the long-term issuer and deposit ratings at stable and negative, respectively. The Italian bank was also assigned "baa3" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments and Baa1(cr)/Prime-2(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments.

* Fitch revised the outlook on JSC ProCredit Bank Georgia's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings to positive from stable, while affirming the ratings at BB. The bank's short-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings were affirmed at B.

* Moody's upgraded Kutxabank SA's long- and short-term bank deposit rating to Baa2/Prime-2 from Baa3/Prime-3 and revised the outlook on the long-term rating to stable from positive. The Spanish lender's baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments were also upgraded to "baa2" from "baa3."

* S&P affirmed the BB-/B long- and short-term issuer credit ratings of Russian lenders Sovcombank and JSCB RosEvroBank (JSC), with stable outlooks.

* S&P affirmed the AA-/A-1+ long- and short-term issuer credit ratings of Euroclear Investments SA/NV and the AA/A-1+ long- and short-term issuer credit ratings of unit Euroclear Bank SA/NV, with a stable outlook.

March 21

* Moody's upgraded the long-term foreign-currency bank deposits of Belarus state-owned lenders JSC Belagroprombank, Belarusian Bank for Development & Reconstruction Belinvestbank JSC and OAO Belarusbank, as well as that of PAO Sberbank of Russia unit OJSC BPS-Sberbank, to Caa1 from Caa2, among other ratings. The outlooks on the four Belarusian banks are stable.

* Fitch revised to positive from stable the outlooks on the long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings of Russian lenders Sovcombank and RosEvroBank after affirming them at BB-. The banks' B short-term foreign-currency issuer default ratings and "bb-" viability ratings were also affirmed, while RosEvroBank's 5 support rating was placed on rating watch positive.

* S&P withdrew PerMicro SpA's B- long-term counterparty credit rating at the Italian microfinance company's request. At the time of withdrawal, the rating carried a stable outlook.

* S&P upgraded United Bulgarian Bank AD's long- and short-term issuer credit ratings to BBB-/A-3 from BB+/B and revised the outlook to stable from positive. The ratings were subsequently withdrawn at the company's request.

* Moody's revised to stable from negative the outlook on Volkswagen Financial Services AG's and Volkswagen Bank GmbH's A3 senior unsecured debt and long-term issuer ratings, as well as that on Volswagen Bank's A1 long-term bank deposits rating. All the ratings were affirmed, as were the P-1 short-term deposit ratings of Volkswagen Bank.

* Fitch affirmed Poland-based Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy SA's long- and short-term issuer default ratings at A/F1 and its long- and short-term national rating at AAA(pol)/F1+(pol), with stable outlooks on the long-term ratings.

March 20

* Moody's assigned Spain-based Criteria Caixa S.A. Sociedad Unipersonal a first-time Baa2 long-term issuer rating, with a stable outlook.

* Moody's assigned KazAgro National Management Holding JSC Ba1/Not-Prime long- and short-term issuer ratings, with a stable outlook on the long-term rating, and Aa2.kz long-term national scale issuer rating.

* S&P affirmed Italy-based Poste Italiane SpA's long- and short-term issuer credit ratings at BBB/A-2, with a stable outlook.

* Fitch affirmed Etablissement Public à caractère Industriel et Commercial Bpifrance's short-term foreign-currency issuer default rating at F1+ and its long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings at AA, with a stable outlook.

This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings, a separately managed division of S&P Global. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.