S&P puts eurozone banks on watch for downgrade

Standard & Poor's on Wednesday put a number of large European banks on review for a possible downgrade after earlier this week putting the credit ratings of eurozone states on notice. Among those listed for possible downgrade were French banks BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank of Germany, and Italy's UniCredit. S&P said further banks would be put on notice for possible downgrade. As bank ratings are linked to ratings of their home countries, the move was expected after S&P on Monday put 15 eurozone members on review for downgrades over the debt crisis.