Greek crisis 'could spread to Irish banks'

The Greek debt crisis could spread to hit the banking systems of other countries such as the Republic of Ireland, the UK, Portugal, Italy and Spain a leading credit ratings agency said today.

Moody’s Investor Service said that although banks in some countries, such as Portugal and Italy, were not heavily affected by the past years’ financial crisis, they could be hurt if the fiscal crisis intensifies outside Greece.

The agency said that “a key factor determining whether contagion risk continues in this case will be the market’s view of the likely success or otherwise of the recently agreed International Monetary Fund and European Union support package for Greece.”