Moody's on Dec. 12 affirmed the senior unsecured debt ratings of 22 German banks and changed the outlooks on 16 of these ratings to negative, following the agreement to an amendment to the EU's Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive.
The rating agency said it affirmed the issuer ratings of the affected banks and revised their outlooks to negative from stable, where applicable. Several of the banks' rated subsidiaries and supported entities were also affirmed.
The affected banks are: Bayerische Landesbank as well as its London and Paris branches; Berlin Hyp AG; Berliner Sparkasse; Bremer Landesbank Kreditanstalt Oldenburg-Girozentrale; DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale; Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank eG; Deutsche Bank AG and its branches in London, New York, Singapore and Sydney; Deutsche Bank Financial LLC; Deutsche Finance (Netherlands) BV; Deutsche Hypothekenbank AG; DVB Bank SE; DZ BANK AG; HSH Nordbank AG; Kreissparkasse Köln; Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and its branches in New York and Singapore; Landesbank Berlin AG; Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale; Landesbank Saar; LRP Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz; Münchener Hypothekenbank eG; NORD/LB Luxembourg SA Covered Bond Bank; Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale; Sparkasse KölnBonn; Sparkassenverband Baden-Württemberg; and UniCredit Bank AG and its Hong Kong, London, New York, Singapore and Tokyo branches, as well as unit UniCredit Luxembourg SA.
Moody's said the senior unsecured debt ratings of German banks that already carried a negative outlook prior to this ratings action were affirmed with a negative outlook. Meanwhile, the outlooks on the Aa3 senior unsecured debt ratings of DZ BANK and DVB Bank were revised to negative from positive, whereas the developing outlook on the affirmed Baa3 senior unsecured debt rating of HSH Nordbank was maintained.
The agency noted that the outlook changes on senior unsecured debt reflect the declining probability of government support upon transposition of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive amendment into German law.
At the same time, Moody's affirmed Commerzbank AG's A2 deposit ratings, Baa1 senior unsecured debt and issuer ratings, P-1 short-term ratings, "baa3" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments, and A2(cr)/P-1(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments.
The outlook on Commerzbank's long-term deposit and senior unsecured debt ratings was changed to positive from stable, while the outlook on its senior unsecured debt and issuer ratings was maintained at stable.
Also affirmed were Commerzbank Finance & Covered Bond SA's Baa1 issuer rating, with a stable outlook, its "baa3" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments and its A2(cr)/P-1(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments.
