Standard&Poor's lowered all outstanding ratings on Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires S.A. to 'D', following the announcement by the bank that it will not pay the interest on its $200 million, 9% senior unsecured notes maturing Nov. 1, 2003. Although the interest payment was missed on June 1, 2002, the issue had a grace period of 30 business days, ending on June 12, 2002. The decision to lower all outstanding ratings on the bank to 'D' is supported in the announced debt restructuring plan, which began with an offer to exchange securities issued by the New York branch of Banco de Galicia. The bank entered into this debt exchange with other securities in default, clearly pointing to
