S&P downgrades 34 Italian banks

UniCredit SpA (UCG), Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA (BMPS) are among 34 Italian financial firms downgraded by Standard & Poor's.

The downgrades come after the ratings company reduced the nation's grade last month to BBB+ from A, reported Bloomberg. UniCredit, Italy's biggest bank, and No. 2 Intesa had their long-term ratings lowered to BBB+ from A. Meanwhile, Monte dei Paschi, the No. 3 bank, was reduced to BBB from BBB+. All three have a negative outlook, S&P said. S&P also revised its banking industry country risk assessment, known as Bicra, for Italy to group 4 from group 3, citing mounting risks. "Italy's vulnerability to external financing risks has increased, given its high external public debt, result...