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THREE major French high street banks have had their long-term credit ratings cut by Standard & Poor’s.

Placed under surveillance since December 5, the Société Générale, the BPCE (Banques Populaires-Caisse d’Epargne) and the Crédit Agricole have gone down a notch from A+ (the fifth best rating out of 22) to A (the sixth).

The state bank Caisse des Dépôts saw its rating lowered to the same level as that of France itself – the second-highest, AA+.

However there was good news for BNP Paribas, which keeps its AA- rating (the fourth best), despite having been considered for lowering.

The changes are a knock-on effect of the loss of France’s top AAA rating, announced on January 13.

The banks have seen their share values on the Paris stock exchange drop as a consequence.

Photo: B64/ Wikimedia Commons