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European ratings roundup through Feb. 5

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European ratings roundup through Feb. 5

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. 5

* Moody's placed on review for upgrade Ulster Bank Ireland DAC's Baa2/Prime-2 long- and short-term deposit ratings, Baa3/Prime-3 long- and short-term issuer ratings, "baa3" adjusted baseline credit assessment and A3(cr)/Prime-2(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments.

* Moody's affirmed the A1 insurance financial strength ratings of QBE Insurance Group Ltd. units QBE Insurance (Europe) Ltd. and QBE Reinsurance (Europe) Ltd. and lowered the outlook on the units to negative from stable.

* Fitch Ratings affirmed Bank Ochrony Srodowiska SA's B+/B long- and short-term foreign-currency issuer default ratings, BB+(pol)/B(pol) national long- and short-term ratings, "b+" viability rating, 4 support rating and B support rating floor. The outlook on the long-term rating is stable.

* Fitch upgraded the viability rating of Société Générale SA unit Euro Bank SA to "bb+" from "bb," revised the outlook on Alior Bank SA's BB long-term issuer default rating and BBB+(pol) national long-term rating to positive from stable and downgraded Getin Noble Bank SA's long-term issuer default rating to B+ from BB- with a stable outlook, among other actions on the three Polish lenders.

Feb. 3

* DBRS confirmed Finland's AA (high) long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer ratings and R-1 (high) short-term foreign- and local-currency debt issuer ratings. The trend on the ratings is stable.

Feb. 2

* Moody's downgraded Danske Bank A/S' long-term bank deposit ratings to A1 from Aa3, with the outlook remaining stable. At the same time, the rating agency affirmed the Danish lender's A1 senior unsecured debt and long-term issuer ratings and changed the outlook on both ratings to negative from positive. Moody's also affirmed the bank's P-1 short-term bank deposit rating, "a3" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments and Aa2(cr)/P-1(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments.

* Fitch revised the outlook on Azerbaijan's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings to stable from negative and affirmed the ratings at BB+.

* Fitch revised the outlook on Macedonia's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings to positive from stable and affirmed the ratings at BB.

* S&P Global Ratings upgraded the long-term corporate credit ratings of U.K.-based Worldpay Group Ltd. and unit Worldpay Finance Plc to BB+ from BB, with negative outlooks, after Vantiv Inc. acquired Worldpay Group Plc to form Worldpay Inc. The ratings were removed from CreditWatch with positive implications.

* A.M. Best assigned a financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) and a long-term issuer credit rating of "a-" to R&Q Insurance (Malta) Ltd. The outlook assigned to the ratings is stable.

* Fitch placed the A+ insurer financial strength ratings of QBE Insurance (Europe) and QBE Re (Europe) Ltd. on Rating Watch Negative.

* Fitch affirmed the long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings of Slovakia and Sweden at A+/F1+ and AAA/F1+, respectively. The outlooks on the long-term ratings are stable, while both sovereign's country ceilings were affirmed at AAA.

* S&P affirmed Albania's B+/B long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings. The outlook remains stable.

* Fitch affirmed Unione di Banche Italiane SpA's BBB-/F3 long- and short-term issuer default ratings, with a negative outlook on the long-term rating. The rating agency also affirmed the Italian lender's "bbb-" viability rating, 5 support rating and No Floor support rating floor.

* Fitch affirmed Aareal Bank AG's BBB+/F2 long- and short-term issuer default ratings, with a stable outlook on the long-term rating. The agency affirmed the German bank's "bbb+" viability rating, 5 support rating, No Floor support rating floor, A-(dcr) derivative counterparty rating and A-/F2 deposit ratings.

* Fitch also affirmed Berlin Hyp AG's A+/F1+ long- and short-term issuer default ratings, with a stable outlook on the long-term rating. The lender's "bbb" viability rating and 1 support rating were affirmed.

Feb. 1

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

* Fitch upgraded to B from B- the long-term issuer default ratings of Belarus-based banks OAO Belarusbank, Belarusian Bank for Development & Reconstruction Belinvestbank JSC, JSC Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus, OJSC BPS-Sberbank, OJSC Belgazprombank and OJSC Belvnesheconombank, or Bank BelVEB, with a stable outlook.

Jan. 31

* A.M. Best assigned a financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and a long-term issuer credit rating of "a" to Mapfre SA unit Mapfre España Compañia De Seguros Y Reaseguros SA. The ratings have a stable outlook.

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

* Fitch affirmed the long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings of Anadolubank AS and Fibabanka AS at BB-/B and of Sekerbank TAS at B+/B. The agency also affirmed the national long-term ratings of Anadolubank, Fibabanka and Sekerbank at AA-(tur), A+(tur) and A(tur), respectively, among other actions. The outlooks on all the long-term ratings are stable.

* Fitch affirmed the AAA/F1+ long- and short-term issuer default ratings of KfW, Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, NRW.BANK, Investitionsbank Berlin, Investitionsbank Schleswig-Holstein and L-Bank Baden-Württemberg- Förderbank. The outlooks on all the long-term ratings are stable.

Jan. 30

* S&P assigned Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc unit Royal Bank of Scotland International Ltd. BBB/A-2 long- and short-term issuer credit ratings, with a positive outlook.

* Moody's placed on review for downgrade the A2/Prime-1 long- and short-term deposit ratings, "baa3" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments and A2(cr)/P-1(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments of Royal Bank of Scotland Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland NV. The agency also placed on review for downgrade the A3 long-term issuer rating of RBS NV and the A2(cr)/P-1(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments of Royal Bank of Scotland NV London Branch.

Moody's placed on review for upgrade the A3 long-term issuer ratings, A2 long-term bank deposit ratings, "baa3" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments and A2(cr) long-term counterparty risk assessments of National Westminster Bank Plc and Ulster Bank Ltd. and affirmed their P-1 short-term bank deposit ratings and P-1(cr) short-term counterparty risk assessments. The agency also assigned provisional (P)A1/(P)Prime-1 long- and short-term deposit ratings, Aa3(cr)/P-1(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments and "baa1" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments to Adam & Co. Plc, one of the future ring-fenced banks of parent company RBS.

* S&P affirmed the A- issuer credit rating of QBE European Operations Plc and the A+ local-currency counterparty credit rating and financial strength rating of QBE Insurance (Europe), among other actions on the units of Australia-based QBE Insurance Group. The outlooks on the ratings were revised to stable from positive.

* Fitch upgraded the insurer financial strength ratings of Belarusian state-owned insurers Belarusian Republican Unitary Insurance Co. Belgosstrakh, RUE Belarusian National Reinsurance Organization and Eximgarant of Belarus, or Export-Import Insurance Co. of the Republic of Belarus, to B from B-.

* Moody's affirmed West Bromwich Building Society's B1 long-term deposit rating and changed the outlook on the rating to positive from stable. The rating agency also affirmed the firm's Not Prime short-term deposit rating, "b1" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments and Ba1(cr)/Not Prime(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments.

* S&P affirmed HDI-Gerling Verzekeringen NV's A long-term insurer financial strength and issuer credit ratings. The outlook is stable.

* S&P maintained JSCB KapitalBank's CCC+ long-term issuer credit rating on CreditWatch Negative, while affirming the Uzbekistan-based lender's C short-term issuer credit rating.

S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.