Moody's also cut its ratings on France's three largest-listed
banks. Moody's downgraded the long-term debt ratings of BNP Paribas
SA (BNP.FR, BNPQY) and Credit Agricole SA (ACA.FR, CRARY) by two
notches to A2. The two banks have negative outlooks. Societe
Generale SA (GLE.FR, SCGLY) was downgraded by one notch to A2 with
a stable outlook.
Credit Suisse was downgraded by three notches to A1 with a
stable outlook. Deutsche Bank AG (DB, DBK.XE) was downgraded by two
notches to A2 with a stable outlook. Moody's lowered its ratings on
UBS AG (UBS, UBSN.VX) by two notches to A2 with a stable outlook.
Royal Bank of Canada (RY, RY.T) was downgraded by two notches to
Aa3 with a stable outlook.
In its statement, Citi said it was "especially surprised by
Moody's disproportionately adverse treatment of U.S. firms relative
to banks in Europe...Citi believes that the U.S. financial system
is stronger, not weaker, than it was before the crisis. Actions by
legislators, regulators and firms themselves have substantially
enhanced the stability, and resilience, of the system. Moody's
actions ignore this fact."
HSBC, Barclays and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.
--Andrew R. Johnson, Matthias Rieker, Brett Philbin, Liz Moyer,
Ben Fox Rubin, Nathalie Tadena, Max Colchester and Laura Stevens
contributed to this article.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@dowjones.com