CHICAGO, Oct. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE:HBC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS).
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Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:
Fitch Affirms Ratings for GTUBs
Providing great relief to the financial sector, Fitch Ratings has reiterated the long and short term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 12 Global Trading and Universal Bank (GTUB) peer group (formed last October and includes 13 major securities trading and universal banks). Only the review of HSBC Holdings plc's (NYSE:HBC) ratings has yet to be completed, which would be done in the forthcoming two months.
Among the GTUBs whose ratings have been affirmed are
JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM),
Bank of America Corporation BAC),
Citigroup Inc. C) and
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS).
Moreover, Fitch has re-affirmed the respective outlook for all, except JPMorgan. JPMorgan's outlook was revised to 'Stable' from Rating Watch Negative.
As per Fitch's rating methodology, a bank's IDR is either its Viability Rating (VR), or its Support Rating Floor (SRF), whichever is higher. VR reflects the company's inherent creditworthiness while SRF is Fitch's view on the probability of a bank receiving sovereign support.
The rating agency stated that of the 13 GTUBs, seven have their SRFs higher than VRs. Therefore, this makes their IDRs susceptible to the changes in Fitch's perception regarding chances of government support in case of failure.
Determinants of VRsNevertheless, Fitch stated that GTUBs are likely to face challenging macro economic conditions and volatile capital markets (mainly in Europe) along with increasing regulatory burden and ambiguity. All these are expected to continue to pressurize earnings in the next couple of years. Though GTUBs are trying to streamline their businesses through restructuring and cost reduction initiatives to somewhat mitigate the pressure, investment in high growth areas continue.
Further, given the size and complexity of their operations, GTUBs also face legal, operational and reputation risks. Though these are difficult to be quantified, they continue to adversely impact the banks' earnings. Moreover, Fitch commented that GTUBs' overall capital base continues to improve. Though the leverage ratio for U.S. banks remains strong as compared to their European counterparts, the latter is now trying to improvise.
Underlying Principles for SRFThough Fitch is closing watching the developments pertaining to continuing discussions related to providing support and bail-in, at present it has given 'A+' SRFs for German and French GTUBs while it furnished 'A' SRFs for GTUBs based in U.S., UK and Switzerland. The slightly lower SRFs for U.S., UK and Switzerland banks signifies that there is less political will in these countries to provide government support to banks in case of default.
Our Viewpoint
This is the second major ratings affirmation/revision announcement this year. Earlier in June, Moody's Investor Services announced the credit ratings revisions for major global banks that dealt a blow to the already stressed financial industry.
Though the economic situation is still the same (challenging global economy recovery and uncertainty in the Euro-zone along with signs of slowdown in major emerging economies like India and China), the news of the rating affirmation by Fitch is a big relief for the banks. For GTUBs already facing higher funding costs and operating expenses, this reiteration will be a positive catalyst.
Further, this will enhance investors' confidence in the overall financial sector. Also, this might help the financial institutions to brace themselves better for another financial crisis. Most importantly, this could ultimately result in less involvement of taxpayers' money in the bailout of troubled financial institutions.
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