Oct 25 (Reuters) – Moody’s Investors service said on Thursday that the rating downgrades so far this year across U.S. public finance sectors covered debt of more than $200 billion, higher than the amount for all of 2011. The 652 rating downgrades affecting $216.6 billion widely surpassed the 518 rating cuts in 2011. The upgrades so far in 2012 were 158 versus 125 during the 12 months of... 

Vietnam’s dollar bonds are defying a credit downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service as efforts by the government to stabilize the economy since 2011 show progress. The average yield on Vietnamese debt fell to a record low of 4.06 percent on Oct. 10, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI Global index, even after Moody’s said Sept. 28 there was an “elevated risk” that the government... 

Moody’s took the first step toward stripping Germany of its coveted AAA credit rating on Monday, cutting the outlook for Europe’s largest and most pivotal economy to “negative.” Delivering a stark warning that no one is immune from the eurozone’s rolling crisis, the ratings agency lowered Germany’s credit outlook from “stable” to “negative.” A... 

Major international credit rating agencies Standard&Poor’s and Moody’s announced credit ratings for HCM City-based Sacombank for the first time last Friday. S&P assigned Sacombank a ‘B+’ long-term rating and ‘B’ short-term counterparty credit rating. The outlook on the long-term rating was stable, reflecting S&P’s view that Sacombank would maintain its... 

The well-known global credit rating firm Moody’s has assessed equitization plan of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) as credit positive. In its weekly Global Credit Research, Moody’s commented that equitization will help BIDV improve its capital base and adequacy, bring positive structure changes as well as enhance its financial and management transparency. Besides, the... 

Europe is reeling from warnings it faces a “deep depression” if the eurozone collapses and that every EU nation’s credit rating could be hit without firm action to resolve the debt crisis. An updated growth report from the OECD on Monday said the crisis was now just one step away from plunging advanced economies into an abyss of recession and could trigger waves of bankruptcies. And... 

US rating agency Moody’s warned Monday that all European Union sovereign ratings were threatened by the current financial crisis. “The continued rapid escalation of the euro area sovereign and banking credit crisis is threatening the credit standing of all European sovereigns,” the agency said in a new special comment. Moody’s said that “in the absence of policy measures... 

Moody’s on Friday downgraded its credit ratings for a dozen British banks, including state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB, due to the removal and curtailment of government financial support. Moody’s said it chose to downgrade five large banks and seven small lenders as government action had “significantly reduced the predictability of support over the medium to long-term.” The... 

The international credit rating agency Moody’s has maintained its negative outlook over the next 12-18 months on Vietnam’s banking system based on the institution’s observation among the six Moody’s rated Vietnamese banks. Those banks are Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Vietnam Technological and Commercial Bank (Techcombank), Military Commercial... 

Standard & Poor’s has cut the US credit rating for the first time in history, saying the country’s politicians are increasingly unable to come to grips with its massive fiscal deficit and debt load. S&P cut the US rating from its top-flight triple-A one notch to AA+, and added a negative outlook to it, saying there was a chance it could be downgraded again within two years if progress...