A man walks into a Royal Bank of Canada branch in TorontoMARK BLINCH/Reuters
Moody's Investors Service cut the credit ratings of 15 of the world's biggest banks, including Royal Bank of Canada, on Thursday in an expected move that was part of a broad review of major financial institutions.
Among the moves, Moody's cut JPMorgan's long-term senior debt to A2 from Aa3 and assigned it a negative outlook negative.
It also cut Morgan Stanley's long-term senior unsecured debt to Baa1 from A2 and also assigned it a negative outlook.
Morgan Stanley had been viewed as the U.S. bank that could suffer the most from a Moody's downgrade, because of its relatively large trading operation and because of the extent of the cut that Moody's threatened.
Moody's announced the review on Feb. 15, saying these global investment banks' ratings did not capture the evolving challenges of more fragile funding conditions, wider credit spreads, increased regulatory burdens and more difficult oprating conditions.
More to come