Following the Sept. 18, 2014, update of our criteria on bank hybrid capital instruments, we have lowered our five debt ratings on these instruments, which Latin American banks have issued. We also removed our "Under Credit Observation" identifier from the ratings on these instruments. We believe that banking regulators around the world are adopting a tougher "bail-in" stance--investors share in the cost of a government's rescue of a failing bank--toward hybrid capital instruments than we expected in late 2011. This development increases the possibility that banks may have to use hybrid capital instruments to a greater extent to absorb losses. On Sept. 29, 2014, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its debt ratings on five bank hybrid capital instruments that
