Moody's international ratings agency has announced that it lowered the long-term local currency deposit and debt ratings of the Baltic unit of Swedbank from A1 to Baa2. The financial strength rating (BFSR) was downgraded to D from C- and the subordinated debt ratings were downgraded by four notches to Baa3 in line with the senior debt downgrade. The bank's short-term ratings were also downgraded to Prime-2 from Prime-1. The outlook on all of the bank's ratings remains negative. "The downgrade of Hansapank's BFSR reflects the bank's significantly weakened asset quality and the continuing difficult environment in the Baltic region," said Kimmo Rama, senior analyst in Moody's Financial Institutions Group.
After failing to obtain a license in the U.K., Lithuania's commercial bank Snoras has opted to pull out of the British market. Snoras said in a statement that its management board had decided to wind up its London branch. The British media reported in early February that Snoras had been refused permission to operate in the U.K. because it had repeatedly given misleading and incomplete information to the Financial Services Authority. The Lithuanian commercial bank reportedly claimed that it had been discriminated against and that it had appealed to the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal. The Vilnius-based banking group, which includes Latvijas Krajbanka (Latvian Savings Bank), has reported a net profit of 41.99 million litas (12.17 million euros) for the full year 2008, down 42.4 percent from 72.917 million litas in 2007.
