Fitch cuts American Express deposits

Fitch Ratings said it downgraded American Express Bank, FSB's (AEB) and American Express Centurion Bank's (AECB) short-term deposit ratings to F1 from F1+ and removed them from rating watch negative.

Fitch said that the downgrade relates to a criteria change and does not reflect a change in its view of the fundamental creditworthiness of AECB and AEB.

The agency said the downgrade reflects the revised linkage cited in Fitch's global bank criteria between short-term and long-term deposit ratings for certain rating levels.

The agency said AEB's and AECB's long-term uninsured deposit ratings of A+ continue to be rated one notch higher than American Express Co.'s long-term IDR because U.S. uninsured deposits benefit from depositor preference in the United States.

Fitch said it believes depositor preference in the U.S. gives deposit liabilities superior recovery prospects in the event of default.

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