...MEXICO CITY (S&P Global Ratings) May 11, 2016--S&P Global Ratings yesterday published its "Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment: Brazil". We classify the banking sector of Brazil (global scale: ##/Negative/B; national scale: brAA-/Negative/--) in group '6' under our Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA). Other countries in group '6' are Italy, Thailand, Turkey, Iceland, and Colombia. Our bank criteria use our BICRA economic risk and industry risk scores to determine a bank's anchor, the starting point in assigning an issuer credit rating. The anchor for banks operating only in Brazil is '##+'. On March 14, 2016, we revised our BICRA on Brazil to group '6' and our anchor to '##+', from group '5' and '###-', respectively, as a result of increasing credit risk in the economy, given the country's GDP contraction and weak prospects (see "Various Rating Actions Taken On 40 Brazilian Banks On Rising Economic Risks," published March 14, 2016). MAJOR FACTORS...
