AAA Ratings

Moody's Investors Service has warned it may cut the credit ratings of 17 global banks and 114 European financial institutions in response to Europe's debt crisis. HSBC, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds are amongst the banks whose existing credit ratings Moody's said did not reflect the challenges that they were facing in the market. Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and UBS have been warned they could see their credit ratings cut by up to three notches, while Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC Holdings, JPMorgan Chase, Macquarie and Royal Bank of Canada face a possible two notch cut. Bank of America, Nomura, Royal Bank of Scotland and Societe Generale may be downgraded by one notch. "Capital markets firms are confronting evolving challenges, such as more fragile funding conditions, wider credit spreads, increased regulatory burdens and more difficult operating conditions," said Moody's. "These difficulties, together with inherent vulnerabilities such as confidence-sensitivity, interconnectedness, and opacity of risk, have diminished the longer term profitability and growth prospects of these firms." Earlier in the week the agency downgraded six European nations and warned Britain, France and Austria they could lose their AAA rating.

Source: Moneyfacts