Various Rating Actions Taken On Three European Banks And Foreign Subs On Revised Ratings Above The Sovereign Criteria

OVERVIEW On Nov. 19, 2013, we published our updated methodology for rating nonsovereign entities above the sovereign. Under this methodology, we can now rate a financial institution up to two notches above the long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating of the country of reference if we believe that the institution's creditworthiness is strong enough to withstand the sovereign default scenario that we outlined in our criteria. We are therefore taking various ratings actions on three European financial institutions (Spanish banks Banco Santander S.A. and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A., and Irish bank Barclays Bank Ireland PLC) and some of their subsidiaries that are directly or indirectly affected by this criteria change. MADRID (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 22, 2013--Standard&Poor's

RESEARCH Various Rating Actions Taken On Three European Banks And Foreign Subs On Revised Ratings Above The Sovereign Criteria Publication date: 22-Nov-2013 Primary Credit Analysts: Elena Iparraguirre, Madrid (34) 91-389-6963; elena.iparraguirre@standar...

Ratings Action