Fitch Downgrades 5 Big European Banks

Fitch Ratings downgraded five major European commercial banks and cooperative banking groups on Wednesday, after it conducted a review of big banks in the region. The ongoing debt crisis in Europe, as well as problems facing the banking sector, were the reasons it gave for its decision.

Fitch said that, although the five lenders have improved their capital and liquidity positions—a positive factor that helped keep their viability ratings from falling more than a single notch—capital markets are not functioning efficiently and the debt crisis is contributing to an economic slowdown, The Washington Post reported.

As a result, the long-term issuer-default and viability ratings were cut by one notch for French banks Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel and Crédit Agricole, Denmark’s Danske Bank, the Finnish OP Pohjola Group and Rabobank Group of the Netherlands.