Moody's downgrades Portuguese banks

LONDON (MarketWatch)
Moody's Investors Service said Friday that it has downgraded the senior debt and deposit ratings of nine Portuguese Banks by one or two notches and also cut the standalone ratings for six of the banks.
The downgrades conclude a review initiated on July 15, following the downgrade of the Republic of Portugal to Ba2 from Baa1.
Moody's said the bank downgrades were due to a mixture of higher asset risk due to their holdings of Portuguese government debt, the expected further deterioration of domestic asset quality and the liquidity strains on the banks because of their lack of access to wholesale funding.
Among the banks that were downgraded Banco Comercial Portugues was cut to Ba3 from Ba1, Banco Espirito Santo was downgraded to Ba2 from Ba1 and Banco BPI  as cut to Ba2 from Baa3.