Fitch: Aussie banks remain on downgrade watch

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Yep. Via Fitch:

Fitch Ratings has maintained the Negative Outlook on the ratings of Australia’s four largest banks to reflect the downside risk to its base case; the four banks are Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ, A+/Negative/a+), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA, A+/Negative/a+), National Australia Bank Limited (NAB, A+/Negative/a+) and Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC, A+/Negative/a+).

We do not expect to resolve the Negative Outlook until early to mid-2021, when there should be greater clarity on the banks’ asset quality and other core financial metrics. An outcome that is aligned with or better than our base case is likely to result in a revision of the Outlook to Stable. A rating downgrade of any bank would only occur if the bank’s credit profile deteriorated more rapidly and was significantly weaker than our base case in light of the sound buffers at the current rating level of all the banks; see ‘Negative Australian and New Zealand Bank Outlooks Unlikely to be Resolved Until 2021’ at www.fitchratings.com/site/pr/10130404

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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.