Fitch rates Societe Generale notes A

Fitch Ratings said it assigned an A long-term rating to Societe Generale's senior non-preferred notes issued under the bank's €50 billion euro medium-note program.

The introduction of this new debt class does not affect the A long-term rating of existing senior debt, which following legislative changes in France will become preferred senior obligations of the bank, the agency said.

Under its criteria, Fitch said it requires a high burden of proof to notch senior debt up or down as compared to a bank's issuer default rating based on recovery prospects, particularly at high rating levels.

This is because the structure of a bank's balance sheet is likely to be very different at the point of failure and that default is unlikely to result in liquidation for systemically important banks, the agency said.

Fitch said it believes the difference in default risk between the senior preferred and senior non-preferred debt will initially be very small until the bank has larger buffers of senior non-preferred and junior debt.

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