Debt ratings unchanged at A2/P-1
London, 05 July 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service has today changed the outlook on the C-/
baa2 standalone bank financial strength rating (BFSR) of Barclays Bank
plc to negative from stable. The C-/ baa2 standalone BFSR
as well as the A2 long-term and Prime-1 short-term
debt ratings remain unchanged. The A2 senior debt and deposit rating
already has a negative outlook due to Moody's expectation that the
UK government will reduce its support for large UK banks over the medium
term. Today's action extends this negative outlook to Barclays'
standalone BFSR rating and the bank's subordinated debt and junior
capital instruments, which are notched off the standalone rating.
RATIONALE FOR NEGATIVE OUTLOOK
Moody's decision to change the outlook on Barclays's C-/
baa2 standalone rating to negative from stable reflects the rating agency's
concerns that the senior resignations at the bank and the consequent uncertainty
surrounding the firm's direction are negative for bondholders.
Specifically, the shareholder and political pressures on Barclays,
which resulted in the resignation of the bank's CEO, COO (previously
the head of the investment bank) and the stated intention of the Chairman
to resign, could lead to broader pressure on the bank to shift its
business model away from investment banking and reform perceived failures
in its business culture. Although this could have potentially positive
implications over the longer term, the uncertainty surrounding such
a change in direction is credit negative in the short term. In
addition, Moody's believes that the bank could be challenged
to replace the three senior staff and in particular find a new CEO who
not only has a sufficient understanding of the investment banking business
to run Barclays, but also has the credibility and ability to swiftly
address the weaknesses that the LIBOR incident revealed and stakeholders'
perceptions of the investment bank.
Moody's believes that these concerns are mitigated to some extent
by Barclays's broad and strong management team, which provide
the firm with stability and continuity whilst a new CEO and subsequently
a Chairman are appointed, and limit the scope of today's action
to a change in outlook.
More broadly, Moody's incorporated the investment banking
industry's propensity for failures in the control environment into
the rating actions taken on 15 large firms with global capital markets
operations on 21 June 2012, including the two-notch downgrade
of Barclays to A2 from Aa3 (please refer to "Moody's downgrades
firms with global capital markets operations"). Moody's
also commented on the industry-wide nature of the breakdown of
controls highlighted by the ongoing investigations into the manipulation
of the Libor rate in "Moody's Comments on Barclays'
LIBOR Settlement", published on 29 June 2012. With
Barclays' standalone rating at baa2, the bank's ratings
are positioned to absorb a certain amount of volatility. Consequently
it is the disruptive management changes facing Barclays, rather
than the outcome of last week's LIBOR investigations, that
are the key driver for today's rating action.
WHAT COULD MOVE THE RATINGS UP/DOWN
Moody's says that Barclays' senior debt and standalone ratings
could experience further downward pressure if the bank proved to be unable
to restore a stable management structure over the coming months;
or if there are indications that the current developments were to have
a financial impact sufficiently large to put pressure on capital ratios
and/ or negative implications for the bank's business model.
Given the negative outlook, any upward ratings movement is currently
unlikely; however, the standalone rating could be stabilised
if Barclays is restores a stable management structure.
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGIES
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Moody's Consolidated
Global Bank Rating Methodology published in June 2012. Please see
the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this
methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
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or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
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to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
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Moody's changes outlook on Barclays' standalone rating to negative