Ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded several U.K. and German banks, including Deutsche Bank and Barclays, saying it considers government support for these banks to be uncertain.
The rating arm of McGraw Hill Financial downgraded Germany's Deutsche Bank and the U.K.'s Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland to "stable" and Commerzbank to "negative".
Deutsche Bank, the largest German lender, has struggled to restore an image tarnished by a raft of regulatory and legal problems. The bank's co-CEOs, Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen, resigned earlier this week.
S&P downgraded Barclays by one notch to "A negative" and Deutsche Bank to "BBB positive," three notches above junk territory.
The agency also affirmed its ratings on Lloyds Bank and HSBC and said the outlooks are stable.