S&P cuts four Greek banks

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its long-term counterparty credit ratings on Greece-based Alpha Bank AE, Eurobank Ergasias SA, National Bank of Greece SA and Piraeus Bank SA to CCC from CCC+.

The ratings were removed from CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on Jan. 30.

At the same time, the agency affirmed its C short-term counterparty credit and subordinated debt ratings on the four banks.

The outlook is negative.

S&P said the downgrade reflects its view that Greek banks will likely default within the next 12 months in the absence of an agreement between the Greek government and its official creditors while the end of the extension of the current program is approaching. In this context, the agency sees increasing likelihood that capital controls will be imposed to staunch further deposit outflows.

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