Raising money just got a whole lot tougher for Ireland’s cash-strapped banks.
Standard & Poor’s this week cut the country’s credit rating to AA-, the lowest since 1995, just as 30 billion euros ($37.9 billion) of government-guaranteed bank debt is due to roll over. Lenders may have to turn to the European Central Bank, said Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Bloxham Stockbrokers in Dublin.
