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.
May 28
* Moody's affirmed Slovakia-based Všeobecná úverová banka a.s.'s long- and short-term bank deposit ratings at at A2/Prime-1, its long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments at A2(cr)/P-1(cr) and baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments at "baa2." The outlook on the Intesa Sanpaolo SpA unit's long-term deposit rating is stable.
* Moody's affirmed Vontobel Holding AG's long-term issuer ratings at A3, with a stable outlook, and unit Bank Vontobel AG's long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments at A2(cr)/P-1(cr). Bank Vontobel's Aa3/P-1 long- and short-term bank deposit rating were also affirmed, with a stable outlook on the long-term rating, while its baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments were affirmed at "a2."
* Fitch Ratings assigned BBB+/F2 long- and short-term issuer default ratings, with a stable outlook, to DB Privat- und Firmenkundenbank AG, the legal entity created by the merger between DB Privat- und Firmenkundenbank AG and Deutsche Postbank AG. The agency also assigned DB Privat- und Firmenkundenbank a viability rating of "bbb+," support rating of 5 and support rating floor of No Floor.
* Moody's further extended its review for upgrade of Credit Europe Bank NV's Ba2 long-term local- and foreign-currency deposit ratings, "b1" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments and Ba1(cr)/Not Prime(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments due to the still-pending decision of regulators on the bank's divestment of Russian unit Credit Europe Bank Ltd.
* Moody's affirmed UniCredit Bank Austria AG's long- and short-term bank deposit ratings at Baa1/P-2 and revised the outlook on the long-term rating to positive from stable. The agency also affirmed the UniCredit SpA unit's senior unsecured debt rating at Baa1 and its backed senior unsecured ratings at A2, and revised the outlook on the ratings to developing from stable.
May 26
* DBRS upgraded Cyprus' long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer ratings to BB from BB(low), with a positive trend. The agency also confirmed the short-term foreign- and local-currency issuer ratings at R-4 and revised the trend to positive from stable.
May 25
* Moody's placed Italy's Baa2 long-term issuer and senior unsecured bond ratings and other short-term ratings of (P) Prime-2 on review for downgrade, with the action driven by potential material weakening in Italy's fiscal strength and the risk of structural effort stalling.
* Moody's affirmed Austria's long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings at Aa1. The outlook remains stable.
* S&P Global Ratings downgraded SIX Payment Services (Austria) GmbH's long- and short-term issuer credit ratings to A/A-1 from A+/A-1+ and placed them on CreditWatch with negative implications, following SIX Group AG's agreement with Worldline SA to sell the company. The rating agency also affirmed the AA-/A-1+ long- and short-term issuer credit ratings of SIX Group, SIX x-clear AG and SIX SIS AG, with negative outlooks.
* S&P affirmed Santander UK Group Holdings PLC's BBB/A-2 long- and short-term issuer credit ratings and main operating unit Santander UK Plc's A/A-1 ratings.
* Fitch raised UniCredit Bank SA's viability ratings to "bb" from "bb-" and affirmed its long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating at BBB- with a stable outlook, F3 short-term foreign-currency issuer default rating and 2 support rating. Also affirmed were the BBB+ long-term foreign-currency issuer default ratings of Banca Comerciala Româna SA and BRD-Groupe Société Générale SA with stable outlooks, their F2 short-term foreign-currency issuer default ratings, and 2 support ratings. The agency also upgraded Banca Transilvania SA's long-term issuer default rating to BB+ from BB with a stable outlook and its viability ratings to "bb+" from "bb."
* Fitch Ratings assigned Kazakhstan-based JSC Agrarian Credit Corp. BB+ long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings and a AA(kaz) national long-term rating, with a stable outlook on both ratings.
* S&P assigned Credit Suisse Group AG unit Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG A/A-1 long- and short-term issuer credit ratings, with a stable outlook.
* Moody's upgraded Abanca Corporación Bancaria SA's long-term deposit ratings to Ba2 from Ba3 and revised the outlook to positive from stable. The agency also upgraded the Spanish bank's baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments to "ba2" from "ba3" and its long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments to Baa3(cr)/Prime-3(cr) from Ba1(cr)/Not Prime(cr).
May 24
* Fitch affirmed Axa's long- and short-term issuer default ratings at A/F1 and the insurer financial strength ratings of its core subsidiary companies at AA-, and removed all the ratings from Rating Watch Negative.
* Fitch affirmed the long-term issuer default ratings of RSA Insurance Group PLC and unit Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Plc at A-. Also affirmed was Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance's A insurer financial strength rating. The outlook on both companies is stable.
* Fitch affirmed Unipol Gruppo SpA unit SIAT - Societa Italiana Assicurazioni e Riassicurazioni pA's insurer financial strength rating at BBB (Good), with a stable outlook.
* Fitch maintained Old Mutual PLC's BBB long-term issuer default rating on Rating Watch Negative and affirmed Old Mutual Insure Ltd.'s insurer financial strength rating at BB+. Meanwhile, the national insurer financial strength ratings of Old Mutual Insure, Mutual & Federal Risk Financing Ltd. and Old Mutual Life Assurance Co. (South Africa) Ltd. were affirmed at AAA(zaf). The outlooks on the units are stable.
* Fitch affirmed Société Générale SA unit Crédit du Nord SA's long- and short-term issuer default ratings at A/F1, with a stable outlook on the long-term rating. The agency also affirmed the company's viability rating at "bbb+" and its support rating at 1.
* S&P affirmed Arrow Global Group PLC's long-term counterparty credit rating at BB-, with a stable outlook.
* S&P revised the outlook on Russia-based Credit Union Payment Center (LLC)'s long-term issuer credit ratings to positive from stable and affirmed the rating at BB. The company's short-term issuer credit ratings was affirmed at B.
* A.M. Best placed Hannover Re unit International Insurance Co. of Hannover SE's A+ (Superior) financial strength rating and the "aa" long-term issuer credit rating under review with negative implications.
* Fitch placed Adriatic Slovenica Zavarovalna druzba d.d.'s BBB- insurer financial strength rating on Rating Watch Positive and KD Group financna družba d.d.'s BB issuer default rating on Rating Watch Evolving.
* Fitch upgraded Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD's viability rating to "bb+" from "bb" and affirmed its BBB-/F3 long- and short-term foreign-currency issuer default ratings, with a stable outlook on the long-term rating. The agency also took actions on the ratings of three other Bulgarian lenders and Bulgarian leasing company Sogelease Bulgaria.
May 23
* S&P affirmed Munich Re Co.'s A- issuer credit and insurer financial strength ratings and non-operating unit ERGO Group AG's A rating, as well as the ratings of Munich Re's core and highly strategic subsidiaries.
* Moody's affirmed Ringkjøbing Landbobank A/S's long- and short-term bank deposit ratings at A1/P-1 and its long-and short-term issuer ratings at A2/P-1, with a stable outlook on the long-term ratings. At the same time, the Danish company's long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments were affirmed at Aa3(cr)/P-1(cr) and its baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments "a3."
* Moody's affirmed the long-term foreign- and local-currency deposit ratings of DenizBank AS at Ba3/Ba2, with a negative outlook, and its short-term bank deposit rating at NP. The Turkish bank's "ba2" adjusted baseline credit assessment, "ba3" baseline credit assessment, and Ba1(cr)/NP(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments were also affirmed.
* S&P affirmed Nordic Investment Bank's AAA/A-1+ long- and short-term issuer credit ratings, with a stable outlook.
* Fitch upgraded Ardonagh Group Ltd. unit Ardonagh Midco 3 plc's long-term issuer default rating to B from B-, with a stable outlook. Moody's, meanwhile, affirmed Ardonagh Midco 3 plc's B3 corporate family rating and B3-PD probability of default rating.
* Moody's affirmed Danmarks Skibskredit A/S' Baa2 long-term senior secured debt rating and revised the outlook on the rating to stable from negative.
May 22
* Moody's raised Alpha Bank AE's long-term bank deposit rating and senior unsecured debt ratings to Caa2 from Caa3 and its long-term counterparty risk assessment to B3(cr) from Caa1(cr). The agency also upgraded the senior unsecured debt ratings of the bank's U.K.-based units, Alpha Credit Group Plc and Emporiki Group Finance Plc, to Caa2 from Caa3. The outlook on the long-term deposit rating and senior unsecured debt ratings is positive.
* Fitch upgraded ProCredit Bank sh.a. Kosovo's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to BB from BB-, with a stable outlook. The agency also upgraded the ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA unit's viability rating to "b+" from "b" while affirming the B short-term foreign-currency issuer default rating and 3 support rating.
* Fitch affirmed the long-term issuer default ratings of IHS Markit Ltd. and IHS Markit Group Holdings Ltd. at BBB.
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.
