Australian Major Bank Hybrid Issues Upgraded As Economic Risks Ease

In our view, the economic risks facing banks operating in Australia have reduced, reflecting the orderly decline in house prices over the past two years following a period of rapid growth. Consequently, we consider that the stand-alone credit quality of the four major Australian banks and two other Australian banks has improved. Therefore, we are raising our ratings on each of the regulatory tier 1 and tier 2 hybrid instruments issued by the four major Australian banking groups by one notch. We are affirming our issuer credit ratings on the four major Australian banks and two other Australian banks. The outlook on all six of these banks remains stable. We are also affirming our ratings on the senior debt issued

...October 24, 2019 - In our view, the economic risks facing banks operating in Australia have reduced, reflecting the orderly decline in house prices over the past two years following a period of rapid growth. - Consequently, we consider that the stand-alone credit quality of the four major Australian banks and two other Australian banks has improved. Therefore, we are raising our ratings on each of the regulatory tier 1 and tier 2 hybrid instruments issued by the four major Australian banking groups by one notch. - We are affirming our issuer credit ratings on the four major Australian banks and two other Australian banks. The outlook on all six of these banks remains stable. - We are also affirming our ratings on the senior debt issued by each of the four major Australian banking groups. - Our ratings and outlooks on all the other banks and finance companies that we rate in Australia remain unchanged. MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) Oct. 24, 2019--S&P Global Ratings today said that the economic...

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