Moody's cut the debt ratings of Bank of America, Wells Fargo
and Citigroup yesterday, saying the U.S. government is
getting less comfortable with bailing out large troubled
lenders.
The government is "more likely now than during the financial
crisis to allow a large bank to fail should it become
financilly troubled:.
Moody's decision hit Bank of America hardest as it cut both
the long-term and short-term debt of the holding company
and long-term deposits at its lead bank. The ratings agency
cut only the short-term debt of Citigroup and limited the
Wells' cut to it senior debt and to deposits at it lead
bank.
Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank company, is
struggling with billion of dollars of mortgage losses,
litigation and stresses from the need to raise capital to
meet regulatory obligations.
Sheila McKinney
