By Barbara Kollmeyer
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Goldman Sachs on Tuesday made several changes to its ratings for European banks, saying that with Basel III now defined, it can realistically assess banks' capital positions. Goldman estimates that some European banks reach capital above its 2012 Core Tier 1 (CT1) target ratios of 9.8%, atop 20% of current market cap. But for others, it sees "comparative capital restraint as a valuation and operating disadvantage." In that regard, Goldman downgraded Credit Agrigole SA (FR:ACA 11.73, +0.07, +0.56%) , Natixis SA (FR:KN 4.51, -0.06, -1.36%) and Credito Valtellinese (IT:CVAL 3.60, -0.03, -0.90%) to sell from neutral. Santander SA (STD 12.87, +0.20, +1.58%) (ES:SAN 9.75, -0.06, -0.57%) , Allied Irish Bank PLC (AIB 1.71, +0.01, +0.59%) (IE:AIB 0.62, +0.01, +1.47%) and KBC Group NV (BE:KBC 36.11, -0.18, -0.48%) were downgraded to neutral from buy. On the positive side, BNP Paribas SA (FR:BNP 55.23, +0.57, +1.04%) was lifted to buy from neutral and Swedbank AB (SE:SWEDA 93.65, +0.90, +0.97%) was upgraded to neutral from sell. |
