London, England - September 23, 2011 - Moody's credit rating agency issued two credit downgrades in the crisis-hit eurozone on Friday, marking down leading Greek banks by two notches and Slovenian debt by one notch.

The agency downgraded the main Greek banks by two notches, citing increased risks of losses on their holdings of Greek debt.

Moody's Investors Service also warned of an increased prospect that the Greek economy will worsen, and said that private holders of Greek debt, meaning banks, might suffer further losses.

It also downgraded the rating of Slovenia's sovereign debt by one notch, warning of an increased risk that the government might have to intervene again to support the banking system.

Moody's Investors Service cut Slovenia's rating from "Aa2" to "Aa3" and also placed the country's debt on negative outlook, meaning that it could cut the rating again after further analysis.

These downgrades, as the eurozone debt crisis worsens raising deep concerns about the strength of some banks, follow downgrades by Standard & Poor's in Italy this week, first downgrading Italian sovereign debt and then seven top Italian banks.

The Greek banks downgraded on Friday were National Bank of Greece (NBG) bank, EFG Eurobank Ergasias, Alpha Bank, Piraeus Bank, the Agricultural Bank of Greece and Attica Bank.

A subsidiary of French bank Credit Agricole, called Emporiki bank, and a subsidiary of French bank Société Generale, called Geniki, suffered less, and were attributed ratings of "B3" instead of "B1".