Moody's downgrades 15 major banks globally by one to three notches

Moody's Investors Services, one of the World's top three credit rating agencies on Thursday downgraded the ratings of World's 15 banks by one to three notches on the backdrops of global meltdown, rising risk environment and economic uncertainty in the globe.

Ratings agency Moodys downgraded many of the worlds biggest banks 15 banks and financial institutions globally including Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC in United Kingdom and Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan in United States of America (USA).

"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 and Royal Bank of Canada.

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.

--With ANI Inputs--