UMB Financial Will Drop Moody's Ratings

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bank holding company UMB Financial Corp. said Wednesday it will no longer use Moody's Investors Service to rate its credit, nor that of its UMB Bank NA subsidiary.

The Kansas City, Mo.-based company said it will continue to use Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's for credit ratings services. UMB said it does not have any public debt outstanding so it believes that two ratings agencies are sufficient.

Moody's could not immediately be reached for comment.

However, on Tuesday the firm withdrew its ratings for UMB Financial and UMB Bank, citing business reasons. It did not elaborate.

UMB Financial's senior debt was rated "A3," six notches below the top triple-A rating and four notches above junk status. UMB Bank is rated an investment-grade "A2" for deposits and "C+" for bank financial strength.

The last rating action on UMB was on March 12, when Moody's affirmed the company's ratings with a stable outlook.

UMB Financial reported total assets of $10 billion as of June 30. It shares rose 20 cents to close earlier at $40.74.