On Friday, SP announced that it had lowered its credit ratings for Banco Popular, Bankinter, Banca Civica, and Bankia along with its parent Banco Financiero y de Ahorro (BFA), AFP reported.
“The rating actions follow our review of the wider implications for economic and industry risks in the Spanish banking sector after our two-notch downgrade of the Kingdom of Spain,” the ratings agency said in a statement.
On April 26, SP lowered Spain’s sovereign debt rating to BBB-plus and said that it expected the Spanish economy to contract in 2012 and 2013.
Battered by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008, taking with it millions of jobs.
Many economists believe Spain’s economy will enter into a new recession in the first two quarters of 2012.
The worsening eurozone debt crisis has raised Spain’s financing costs and raised concerns that the country might have to seek a European Union bailout, like Greece.
GJH/HGL
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