Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service cut the ratings of eight Greek banks on Friday following a downgrade of the country's sovereign rating further into junk territory earlier in the week.
Moody's cut Greece's sovereign rating by three notches to Caa1 from B1 on Wednesday.
It said the rationale behind Friday's action was the rising likelihood of a sovereign debt restructuring.
"In the adverse scenario of a sovereign debt restructuring, Greek banks would be directly impacted via a reduction in the value of their Greek government bond portfolios, which would significantly weaken their capitalisation metrics," it said.
The banks affected are National Bank of Greece (NBGr.AT), cut to B3 from Ba3, plus EFG Eurobank (EFGr.AT), Alpha Bank (ACBr.AT) and Piraeus Bank (BOPr.AT), which were all downgraded to B3 from Ba3.
Moody's also cut the rating of ATEbank (AGBr.AT) and Attica Bank (BOAr.AT) to B3 from B1, with Emporiki (CBGr.AT) and Geniki (GHBr.AT) both cut to B1 from Baa3.
The agency said all of the banks' deposit and debt ratings have a negative outlook, in line with the negative outlook on the sovereign.
REUTERS
