In the second quarter of 2012, rating agencies have taken a number of actions on BBVA’s rating, associated with prior downgrades of Spanish sovereign debt. This was the reason given by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch for downgrading BBVA’s rating to BBB+ (negative outlook) from A. Additionally, Moody’s ended the process of reviewing Spanish banks in May (as part of a more extensive process covering the whole European banking system), and downgraded BBVA to A3 (negative outlook) from Aa3. Barely one month later, another downgrade of Spanish sovereign debt (associated with the support package from the European Union) gave rise to a downgrade of BBVA’s rating to the same level as the sovereign debt (Baa3). The agency is maintaining the sovereign rating (and that of the Bank) on review for further downgrade until it knows more details about the package.

Ratings