S&P: Portugal: What S&P's Downgrade Means For The Country's Banks

Portugal: What Standard & Poor's Downgrade Means For The Country's Banks (00:20:59 min)

Since March 28th, 2011, we have downgraded, by several notches, the five Portuguese banks that we rate to 'BBB-'. We have also lowered the short-term ratings to 'A-3'. The outlooks on four of the five banks are negative. One bank still remains on CreditWatch negative. What prompted our rating actions on the banks? In this podcast, Director Elena Iparraguirre explains our rationale, why we feel sovereign risk and banks' ratings are so tighthly correlated, and our main expectations for the Portuguese financial system.

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