Moody's assigns local currency deposit ratings to 7 banks

International ratings agency Moody's has assigned global local currency deposit ratings and stable outlooks to seven Uruguayan banks, the agency said in a statement. The seven banks are the local units of ABN Amro, BankBoston, Lloyds TSB, Grupo Santander, Banco de la Nación Argentina, and local banks Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay and Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay. Moody's global local currency deposit ratings indicate the relative credit risk of banks on a globally comparable basis. The ratings for the Uruguayan banks reflect the banks' financial strength as well as the relative importance of their deposit franchises within Uruguay's financial system and their ownership characteristics. Moody's also assigned first time national scale ratings for foreign currency deposits for each of the banks, while affirming the seven banks' national scale ratings for local currency deposits and global foreign currency deposit ratings. Bank financial strength ratings for the local unit of Grupo Santander, BHU, and BROU were also affirmed. To read the full Moody's report and to see the individual ratings of each bank, place the following link into your browser: http://www.bnamericas.com/rc_search_detail.xsql?id_documento=67300&Tx_idioma=I