NEW YORK (AP) -- Moody's Investors Service lowered its credit ratings on Credit Agricole SA on Thursday, citing concerns over the French bank's exposure to market volatility and risk of large losses in the capital markets.
The move came as the ratings firm downgraded ratings for more than a dozen of the world's biggest banks.
Moody's cut Credit Agricole's long-term debt and deposit ratings by two notches to "A2" from "Aa3." The new ratings are still considered investment grade.
Moody's affirmed the lender's short-term rating at "Prime-1," but lowered its stand-alone credit assessment by three notches to "D/ba2" from "C-/baa2."
In addition, it downgraded the adjusted baseline credit assessment to "Baa2" from "a3," reflecting the risks to the lender due to its significant exposure to the Greek economy. Credit Agricole owns Greek bank Emporiki.
Moody's outlook on the ratings is negative.
The firm noted that government support in France and many other European countries is no longer sufficiently predictable or reliable to play a factor in propping up debt ratings for Credit Agricole.
Downgrades mean Moody's sees greater risks in a company's debt, and they generally make it more costly for banks to raise money by selling debt because investors demand higher interest in return for taking on riskier debt.
Other banks downgraded Thursday included Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Moody's had said in February that it was considering downgrading the credit ratings of major banks.
