Moody’s cuts ratings of 10 U.S. banks and puts some big names on downgrade watch

Moody’s cut the credit ratings of a host of small and mid-sized U.S. banks late Monday and placed several big Wall Street names on negative review.

The firm lowered the ratings of 10 banks by one rung, while major lenders Bank of New York Mellon, U.S. Bancorp, State Street, Truist Financial, Cullen/Frost Bankers and Northern Trust are now under review for a potential downgrade.

Moody’s also changed its outlook to negative for 11 banks, including Capital One, Citizens Financial and Fifth Third Bancorp.

Among the smaller lenders receiving an official ratings downgrade were M&T Bank, Pinnacle Financial, BOK Financial and Webster Financial

“U.S. banks continue to contend with interest rate and asset-liability management (ALM) risks with implications for liquidity and capital, as the wind-down of unconventional monetary policy drains systemwide deposits and higher interest rates depress the value of fixed-rate assets,” Moody’s analysts Jill Cetina and Ana Arsov said in the accompanying research note.

“Meanwhile, many banks’ Q2 results showed growing profitability pressures that will reduce their ability to generate internal capital. This comes as a mild U.S. recession is on the horizon for early 2024 and asset quality looks set to decline from solid but unsustainable levels, with particular risks in some banks’ commercial real estate (CRE) portfolios.”

Regional U.S. banks were thrust into the spotlight earlier this year after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank triggered a run on deposits across the sector. The panic eventually spread to Europe and resulted in the emergency rescue of Swiss giant Credit Suisse by domestic rival UBS.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/08/moodys-cuts-ratings-of-10-us-banks-and-puts-some-big-names-on-downgrade-watch.html