Moody’s Investors Service conducted a detailed analysis of several U.S. banks whereby it downgraded ratings on four largest financial institutions in the country. Such banks as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. saw their long-term senior unsecured ratings slashed to A3, Baa1, Baa2, and A1 correspondingly. The ratings of four other major banks – Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., and State Street Corp. - were kept in place, i.e. Moody’s confirmed the ratings on these financial institutions as well as on their daughter companies. It is worthy of note that the debt rating is determined bearing in mind the scale of the government support for banks. Last week, thanks to the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, which is aimed at strengthening the nation’s financial regulations, prompted the rating agencies to review the estimations they made previously. Moody’s relates such a turn of events to a possible cutback in the public support, which was previously intended to repair and enhance the U.S. financial system.
