Moody's downgrades 15 major banks globally

London, June 22 (ANI): Credit ratings agency Moody's Investors Services has downgraded 15 banks and financial institutions globally.

Some of the biggest banks downgraded in UK included Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC.

In the US, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are among those that have been marked down.

"All of the banks affected by today's actions have significant exposure to the volatility and risk of outsized losses inherent to capital markets activities," Moody's global banking managing director Greg Bauer said.

According to the BBC, banks were concerned by the downgrading as it may make it harder for them to borrow money commercially.

The other institutions that have been downgraded are Credit Suisse, UBS, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and Morgan Stanley.

Moody's said that it recognized, "the clear intent of governments around the world to reduce support for creditors", but added that they had not yet put the frameworks in place that would allow them to let banks fail.

In a statement, RBS responding to its downgrade said: "The group disagrees with Moody's ratings change, which the group feels is backward-looking and does not give adequate credit for the substantial improvements the group has made to its balance sheet, funding and risk profile."

Of the banks downgraded, four were cut by one notch on Moody's ranking scale, 10 by two notches and one, Credit Suisse, by three notches. (ANI)