Moody downgrades 7 banks in Benelux

Ratings agency Moody's downgraded five Dutch banks and one bank in Belgium and one in Luxembourg late on Thursday. Four Dutch banks were downgrade by two notches and one bank by one notch. Rabobank was downgraded by two notches to Aa2, ING and ABN Amro to A2 and Lease Plan Corporation to Baa2. SNS Bank were downgraded one notch to Baa2. In a statement Moody's noted that "The Netherlands is affected by the ongoing euro area debt crisis and regional economic weakness." Belgium's KBC Group was downgraded two levels to Baa1. Luxembourg's Banque et Caisse d'Epargne de l'Etat (BCEE) was downgraded to Aa1 from Aaa.