We believe economic risks for the Hungarian banking sector are rising in a context of deteriorating sovereign creditworthiness and economic slowdown. The quality of banks' retail and corporate books is likely to continue to weaken, keeping credit losses high for the next two years and keeping banks' financial profiles under pressure. We are lowering our anchor--or starting point for our ratings--for banks operating in Hungary to 'bb-' from 'bb'. We are therefore lowering our long-term rating on Magyar Takarekszovetkezeti Bank ZRt to 'BB-' from 'BB'. The outlook is stable. We are affirming our ratings on OTP Bank PLC and its subsidiary OTP Mortgage Bank at 'BB/B'. The outlook is stable. We are also affirming our unsolicited public information (pi) rating
