On Dec. 18, 2012, we raised our long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on Greece to 'B-/B' from 'SD' (selective default). Although we believe that sovereign creditworthiness benefits from the strong determination of the eurozone to restore Greek economic stability and preserve its eurozone membership, we believe that the four Greek banks we rate are likely to continue facing significant risks to their weak financial profiles. We are therefore affirming our 'CCC' long-term and 'C' short-term ratings on National Bank of Greece, Eurobank Ergasius, Alpha Bank, and Piraeus Bank. The negative outlook reflects our view that we might lower the ratings on any of the four rated Greek banks because we believe there is still a one-in-three probability that they
