Standard & Poor's Corp. announced Monday that it has lowered its counterparty credit ratings on the bank subsidiaries of Citizens Financial Group Inc. of Providence, R.I., by one notch, to A-minus/A2, from A/A1.
The outlooks on the subsidiaries — RBS Citizens NA and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania — are negative.
"The downgrade reflects the fact that we will no longer incorporate a one-notch ratings uplift related to implied support from" Citizens' parent, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Barbara Duberstein, a credit analyst for Standard & Poor's, said in a press release.
Royal Bank of Scotland's "stand-alone financial profile," S&P said, "has weakened considerably, to a level below Citizens' own, and it became majority-owned by the U.K. government in October 2008. We believe this casts increased uncertainty about RBS's, or more particularly the U.K. government's, commitment to Citizens — as a non-U.K. business — for the longer term."
