Erste: Moody’s said Austrian banks’ creditworthiness is still deteriorating because the cost of rising bad debt in eastern Europe is slowing their efforts to raise capital buffers. Moody’s kept its “negative” grade on the Austrian banking system’s outlook for the next 12 to 18 months, it said in a report released today. The nation’s three top banks -- Erste Group Bank, Raiffeisen Bank International and UniCredit Bank Austria face the biggest challenges because they are most exposed to a renewed downturn in countries including Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Slovenia, Moody’s said./Slightly negative/ Erste: The group’s Czech unit Ceska Sporitelna will cut staff by 600 people. The unit plans to cut operating costs by 1 bln. CZK this year (5.5 % down this year.