Barclays and Santander face risk from "Fragile 8" - Fitch

Several European banks including Britain's Barclays and Spain's Santander may be at risk from problems in more vulnerable emerging markets dubbed the "Fragile 8", rating agency Fitch claims.Fitch said Barclays, Santander, BBVA, Standard Chartered and Unicredit all have material exposure to one or more countries including Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkey, South Africa, Argentina, Russia and Chile.Fitch said it believed the risks were manageable, but said they could be worse than expected if there was contagion to other closely connected emerging and developed countries.Santander is most exposed to more fragile emerging markets through its major presence in South America, Fitch said.But the agency added: "Santander is in a good position to absorb credit shocks from more fragile EM operations because it has geographically diversified and profitable retail franchises and a strong track record."BBVA is exposed to Turkey through its 25% stake in Garanti Bank and has majority-owned subsidiaries in Chile and Argentina.Standard Chartered operates in India and Indonesia. Barclays is exposed through its South African majority-owned subsidiary, ABSA Bank. Unicredit has operations in Turkey and Russia.Fitch said it had already included inherent volatility from those exposures into its ratings.But it added that risks may be understated as its methodology did not take into account the interconnectedness of many countries to emerging markets.It said HSBC's risks in Hong Kong from the territory's close links with other emerging markets were not reflected."Risks may also be understated for similar reasons at Standard Chartered and some other European banks," Fitch said in a note.PW