It was moved from A2 to A3 on Moody's rating system. The firm's Italian business was downgraded by Moody's earlier this month. On May 15 Moody's decided to downgrade its ratings on 26 Italian banks. The ratings agency is taking the European debt crisis seriously, and clearly the longer it goes on the more vulnerable the stable institutions become. Moody's said it was considering putting a negative outlook on Austria's AAA sovereign debt rating. The country has not experienced the problems of the PIIGS or even France but has become vulnerable by prolonged exposure.