Moody's downgrades credit rating for 15 major banks

Ratings agency Moody's downgraded the long-term credit ratings of 15 major U.S., Canadian, and European banks today after markets in New York closed.

Of the 15 firms downgraded this afternoon, none were hit more than Moody's originally said was possible when it placed them on review in February.

The action will likely force many of the banks targeted post additional collateral against trades held on their books.

Below, a summary of the major ratings action taken.

Cut One Notch:

    HSBC downgraded to Aa3 from Aa2
    Lloyds TSB downgraded to A2 from A1
    RBS downgraded to Baa1 from A3
    Societe Generale downgraded to A2 from A1

Cut Two Notches:

    Bank of America downgraded to Baa2 from Baa1
    BNP Paribas downgraded to A2 from Aa3
    Barclays downgraded to A3 from A1
    Citigroup downgraded to Baa2 from A3
    Credit Agricole downgraded to to A2 from Aa3
    Goldman Sachs downgraded to A3 from A1
    JP Morgan Chase downgraded to A2 from Aa3
    Morgan Stanley downgraded to Baa1 from A2
    RBC downgraded to Aa3 from Aa1
    UBS downgraded to A2 from Aa3

Cut Three Notches:

    Credit Suisse downgraded to (P)A2 from (P)Aa2

In February, Moody's also placed Nomura and Macquarie credit ratings on watch for downgrade. However, the agency took action before today, lowering Nomura and Macquarie by one level each, to Baa3 and A2, respectively.

Read the rest here.

This is really bad news for the banking sector which was already weak.