LONDON (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 10, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said it has lowered its ratings on 34 Italy-based financial institutions. The downgrades follow the lowering of the unsolicited long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Italy (BBB+/Negative/A-2; see "Italy's Unsolicited Ratings Lowered To 'BBB+/A-2'; Outlook Negative," published Jan. 13, 2012, on RatingsDirect on the Global Credit Portal). They also reflect the revision of our Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) on Italy to group '4' from group '3', and of our economic risk and industry risk scores--both components of the BICRA--on Italy to '4' from '3' (see "BICRA On Italy Revised To Group '4' From Group '3' On Weakening Economic And Banking Industry Conditions,"