"As a result, the long-term debt and deposit ratings for six groups and one German subsidiary of a foreign group have declined by one notch, while the ratings for one group were confirmed," it said.

The banks included the New York and Paris branches of Commerzbank (CBKG.DE), Germany's second-largest lender. Commerzbank U.S. Finance Inc, Dresdner Bank AG, its New York branch as well as Dresdner Finance B.V. also had their ratings cut.

Moody's also said that further to these actions, it had assigned stable outlooks to the ratings of most German banks.

Moody's said the ongoing rating review for Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) and its subsidiaries will be concluded together with the reviews for other global firms with large capital markets operations.

It noted that that several factors have caused the ratings of many German banks to decline by less than for other European banks, including below-average unemployment, low household and corporate debt levels and the general resilience of the German economy.

(Reporting by Ian Chua; Editing by Paul Tait and Edwina Gibbs)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency