Our bank criteria use our Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) economic and industry risk scores to determine a bank's anchor, the starting point in assigning an issuer credit rating. Our anchor for a bank operating only in the U.S. is 'bbb+'. Our economic risk of '3' for the U.S. reflects our view that the U.S. has a highly competitive, resilient, and diverse economy. However, the economic recovery remains weak, and private-sector leverage is still high despite four years of deleveraging. Our industry risk score of '4' reflects the U.S. financial system's considerable regulatory challenges and the competition from a large and active shadow banking segment. However, we view funding risk favorably because U.S. banks typically benefit from a high
