Moody’s changes U.S. bank outlooks

Moody’s Investors Service said it affirmed the ratings of several large U.S. banks but changed their outlooks to negative from stable. The actions follow the affirmation and change in the outlook for the U.S. government to negative on Friday.

The banks, rated Aa1 or Aa2, are Bank of America Corp., Bank of America NA, Bank of America Sydney Branch, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

“Moody's said that, should the creditworthiness of the government of the United States of America deteriorate resulting in a downgrade of its Aaa rating, the Government of the United States of America would have less ability to support systemically important U.S. banks,” the agency said in a press release.

The outlook on Citigroup, rated Aa3, and its subsidiaries remains stable.

“The maintained stable outlooks for the Aa3 ratings on the deposit, issuer and senior unsecured debt obligations of the rated bank subsidiaries of Citi reflect the likelihood that even in the event of a one-notch downgrade of the U.S. sovereign rating, that rating would still be high enough to support the existing notch of government of the United States of America support ratings uplift for those Aa3 ratings,” Moody’s said.

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