HSBC and Goldmans under fire as S&P downgrades big banks

Standard & Poor's has downgraded a raft of US and UK banks including HSBC, Barclays, and Goldman Sachs following an overhaul of its ratings criteria.

Barclays, HSBC, RBS and UBS have all seen their long-term credit ratings cut one notch in a move which will shake investor sentiment and could increase the banks’ funding costs. In the US, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldmans, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup also saw their ratings cut by a single notch. However, S&P upgraded Bank of China and China Construction Bank Corp from A- to A and held the A rating on Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, rating them more highly than the major US banks. Asian fund managers warned recently that China’s state-owned banking sy...