MADRID (Standard&Poor's) May 9, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on the Hellenic Republic (Greece) today to 'B/C' from 'BB-/B' and maintained them on CreditWatch with negative implications. (See "Ratings On Greece Lowered To 'B/C' From 'BB-/B' On Rising Rescheduling Risk; CreditWatch Negative Maintained " for further details about our sovereign downgrade.) We believe that this downgrade could have a negative impact on the creditworthiness of the four Greek banks and one related international subsidiary that we rate, namely: National Bank of Greece S.A. (B+/Watch Neg/B) and its strategically important Bulgarian subsidiary United Bulgarian Bank A.D. (B+/Watch Neg/B), EFG Eurobank Ergasias S.A. (B+/Watch Neg/B), Alpha Bank A.E. (B+/Watch Neg/B), and Piraeus