Outlooks On Australian Major Banks And Strategically Important Subs Revised To Negative On Similar Sovereign Action

Earlier today, we revised the rating outlook on the Commonwealth of Australia to negative from stable (see "Australia Outlook Revised To Negative On Growing Fiscal Vulnerabilities; 'AAA/A-1+' Ratings Affirmed," published July 7, 2016). We are therefore taking similar action on the four major Australian banks--Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Ltd., and Westpac Banking Corp.--and a range of strategically important subsidiaries of these banking groups. The negative outlooks on these banks reflect our view that the ratings benefit from government support and that we would expect to downgrade these entities if we lower the long-term local currency sovereign credit rating on Australia. We are also affirming the issuer credit ratings on these

...+ Earlier today, we revised the rating outlook on the Commonwealth of Australia to negative from stable (see "Australia Outlook Revised To Negative On Growing Fiscal Vulnerabilities; '###/A-1+' Ratings Affirmed," published July 7, 2016). + We are therefore taking similar action on the four major Australian banks--Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Ltd., and Westpac Banking Corp.--and a range of strategically important subsidiaries of these banking groups. + The negative outlooks on these banks reflect our view that the ratings benefit from government support and that we would expect to downgrade these entities if we lower the long-term local currency sovereign credit rating on Australia. We are also affirming the issuer credit ratings on these banks and their strategically important subsidiaries that benefit from government support. + The stable outlooks on Macquarie Bank Ltd. and Cuscal Ltd. are unaffected by the sovereign...

Ratings Action