Moody's Downgrades Major Global Banks -2-

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 [e-mail]