Rating agency Moody's Investors Service said late Monday that it has downgraded by one to four notches the long-term debt and deposit ratings for 28 Spanish banks and two issuer ratings.

The debt and deposit ratings were downgraded by one notch for three banks, by two notches for 11 banks, by three notches for ten banks and by four notches for six banks. The short-term ratings for 19 banks have also been downgraded between one and two notches, triggered by the long-term ratings changes. The affected banks include two of the country's largest lenders: Banco Santander S.A. and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. among others.

Monday's actions follow the weakening of the Spanish government's creditworthiness, as captured by Moody's downgrade of Spain's government bond ratings to Baa3 from A3 on June 13, and the initiation of a review for further downgrade, the rating agency said in a statement.

Moody's said that today's downgrades of the long-term debt and deposit ratings also reflect the lowering of most of these banks' standalone credit assessments.

Moody's said the downgrades reflect its assessment of the reduced creditworthiness of the Spanish sovereign as well as its expectation that the banks' exposures to commercial real estate will likely cause higher losses.

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