USA, May 21, 2009 (Info-Prod Research) -- Moody's Investors Service placed all debt anddeposit ratings of Compass Bancshares (senior A3) and its subsidiaries,including its lead bank, Compass Bank (long-term deposits A2 ), underreview for possible downgrade. Compass is wholly-owned by its ultimateparent, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE:BBV PRB) (NYSE:BBV) (bank financial strength B,senior Aa1). The rating action reflects that the ratings of Compass' parent, BancoBilbao Vizcaya Argentaria , S.A. (BBVA), were placed on review forpossible downgrade on May 19, 2009. The long-term debt and depositratings of Compass currently benefit from three notches of lift due toMoody's strong belief that BBVA would support its subsidiary ifnecessary. The short-term rating also benefits from parent support. IfBBVA's ratings were lowered, then the long and short-term debt anddeposit ratings of Compass would also be lowered. Compass' C- bank financial strength rating with a negative outlook was not impacted by this change as it does not incorporate parent support. Moody's last rating action on Compass was on April 14, 2009, when the BFSR was downgraded to C- from B-, and long-term deposits to A2 from Aa3. Following the downgrade, the outlook was negative.