Shares in the big Irish banks fell sharply in Dublin today after downgrades from broker UBS this morning.
UBS cut its rating on Bank of Ireland from 'buy' to 'neutral', and its ratings on both AIB and Anglo Irish Bank to 'sell' from 'neutral'.
AIB and Anglo Irish Bank both lost more than 4% of their value, while Bank of Ireland was down 2%. European banking shares were generally lower due to worries about the fall-out from the losses at Societe Generale.
UBS analyst Ross Curran said there was a risk that commercial property values in Ireland could fall by another 30%, which would represent a 'significant risk to earnings' over the next two years for the Irish banks.
As the World Economic Forum wound up in the Swiss city of Davos yesterday, bank chiefs said the worst might yet be to come in the financial crisis.
Bankers said there were few cures for a financial system faced with hundreds of billions of dollars in investments which have turned bad.
