Fitch lifts State Street

Fitch Ratings said it upgraded the ratings for State Street Corp. to AA- from A+ and revised its outlook to stable from positive.

State Street’s upgraded ratings include its long-term issuer default rating to AA- from A+, viability rating to AA- from A+, long-term subordinated notes to A+ from A, junior subordinated debt to BBB+ from BBB, preferred stock to BBB from BBB- and long-term senior debt to AA- from A+.

Fitch also said it affirmed the ratings for Bank of New York Mellon Corp. at AA-, Northern Trust Corp. at AA- and Brown Brothers Harriman at A+.

The ratings affirmed include Bank of New York Mellon’s long-term issuer default rating at AA-, long-term senior debt ratings at AA-, long-term subordinated debt ratings at A+, short-term issuer default rating at F1+, viability rating at AA- and preferred stock rating at BBB.

Northern Trust’s long-term issuer default rating was affirmed at AA-, long-term senior unsecured debt rating at AA-, short-term issuer default rating at F1+, short-term commercial-paper rating at F1+, viability rating at AA-, subordinated debt rating at A+ and preferred stock rating at BBB.

Brown Brothers Harriman’s long-term issuer default rating was affirmed at A+, short-term issuer default rating at F1 and viability rating at A+.

The outlook for those three banks remains stable.

The upgrade and affirmations were taking in conjunction with the agency’s U.S. trust and processing bank peer review, Fitch said.

The rating actions equalize the ratings of the largest standalone trust and processing banks in the United States at AA- and F1+. Brown Brothers, a privately held partnership, remains one notch lower at A+ and F1, given its smaller scale and comparatively less financial flexibility than the larger, publicly traded companies, the agency said.

The upgrade on State Street reflects the company’s improved and more seasoned risk-management practices and procedures and continued conservative balance sheet posture, Fitch said.

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