Fitch downgrades four Spanish banks

Ratings agency Fitch on Monday lowered its credit rating of four major Spanish banks, according to local media. Fitch lowered its rating for the long-term debt of Banco Santander, the biggest eurozone bank by market capitalization. BBVA, Spain's second-largest bank, saw its rating lowered from A+ to A, while the rating of CaixaBank and la Caixa dropped to A- and Bankia was downgraded to BBB+. The good news for Bankia is that Fitch believed the bank has a stable perspective for the future, while the perspective for the three other banks is negative. This latest move came just over two weeks after Fitch downgraded Spain's solvency by two notches from AA- down to A as a result of what it considered to be the "significant worsening" of the fiscal perspectives in Europe.