On Dec. 5, 2012, we lowered our sovereign credit ratings on Greece to 'SD' as a result of the Greek government's invitation to private bondholders to participate in a series of debt buyback auctions. If the four rated Greek banks participate in the auction, we believe that they will realize economic losses in their government bond portfolios. We expect that the four Greek banks that we rate will continue to receive sufficient support from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund to meet regulatory capital requirements. We are therefore affirming our 'CCC' long-term and 'C' short-term ratings on the National Bank of Greece, Eurobank, Piraeus, and Alpha Bank. The negative outlook reflects our view that we might lower the ratings on the
