Moody's Downgrades 10 Regional Banks
NEW YORK (
) -- Moody's downgraded 10 regional banks late Monday to reflect the fact that it's no longer assuming the federal government would step in and prop them up if need be now that the worst of the financial crisis has passed.
The agency telegraphed the move back in July, placing the ratings on review for possible downgrade. In Monday's statement announcing the downgrades, it cited the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act over the summer as a key event in changing its stance, saying that through the legislation "the government signaled its intent to limit support for individual banks."
The call affects the deposit ratings of bank subsidiaries of the holding companies of
BB&T Corp.
(BBT) - Get Report
,
Capital One
(COF) - Get Report
,
Fifth Third Bancorp
(FITB) - Get Report
,
KeyCorp
(KEY) - Get Report
,
PNC Financial
(PNC) - Get Report
,
Popular Inc.
(BPOP) - Get Report
,
Regions Financial
(RF) - Get Report
,
Suntrust Banks
(STI) - Get Report
,
U.S. Bancorp
(USB) - Get Report
, and
Zions Bancorp
(ZION) - Get Report
.
"The downgrades reflect our view that the likelihood of government support for these 10 institutions is lower now that the U.S. banking system has moved beyond the depths of the financial crisis," said Robert Young, Managing Director for Moody's North American Bank Ratings, in a statement. "The failure of any one of these banks therefore would be unlikely to trigger contagion and systemic risk."
The specifics of the downgrades differ for the various banks. For example, BB&T's long-term ratings were placed on review as well while SunTrust also received an upgrade of its stand-alone bank strength rating to C from C-. Regions experienced a two-notch downgrade of its bank-level debt and deposit ratings and a one-notch cut it its holding company rating.
Moody's added that its ratings outlook for the subsidiaries of
American Express
(AXP) - Get Report
also changed, going to negative from stable to reflect the removal of the assumption of government support for the financial system.
The ratings outlook for four of the banks remains negative -- Regions, Popular, and U.S. Bancorp -- while Zions still has a positive outlook. For Capital One, Fifth Third and KeyCorp, the outlook went to stable from negative, while for PNC it went to positive from stable and for SunTrust it went to stable as part of the upgrade mentioned earlier.
"These outlook changes reflect the banks' improving credit metrics and strengthened capital profiles relative to our previous expectations, particularly at PNC and SunTrust," said Allen Tischler, Moody's Vice President and Lead Analyst for Fifth Third, KeyCorp, SunTrust, and PNC, in the statement.
Moody's noted that it took the government's TARP-related investments in a number of the banks impacted into consideration when making its call and said it concluded the probability of federal support of these institutions -- Fifth Third, KeyCorp, Popular, Regions, SunTrust, and Zions -- was still limited.
"Although the TARP investments are significant, all of these banks are currently devising plans to repay the government and are unlikely to keep the TARP in place over the long term," Young, the managing director, said.
Shares of BB&T closed Monday down almost 3% at $22.74; Capital One's stock added 4 cents to close at $37.31; Fifth Third shares were down 1.4% to $12.38; KeyCorp's stock rose 3 cents to $8.23; PNC Financial lost 1.4% to $53.17; Popular's stock added 2 cents to $2.75; shares of Regions fell 1.1% to $6.23; SunTrust's stock gave back 1.4% to $24.65; U.S. Bancorp shares fell 1.1% to $23.93; and Zions' stock lost 1.4% to $20.46.
--
Written by Michael Baron in New York.
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