Major French Banks Downgraded By Moody's

Following a similar move by Standard & Poor's in October, ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has lowered the long-term ratings on BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole, France's three largest banks. Moody's cited funding concerns and “deteriorating macroeconomic fundamentals.” BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole were cut by one notch to Aa3. Societe Generale was lowered one level to A1. Those are still investment grade ratings for all three banks. Moody's said it has “negative” long-term outlooks on the trio. The ratings agency added the creditworthiness of all three French banking giants is being adversely impacted by the “fragile operating environment for all European banks,” MarketWatch reported. In October, BNP Paribas was lowered to AA- from AA by S&P. S&P lowered the credit profiles of Crédit Agricole SA and Société Générale SA and smaller banks Groupe BPCE and Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, but kept the long-term debt ratings for that group unchanged at A+.