Moody's cuts ratings on 15 financial firms

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)
Moody's Investors Service downgraded the ratings late Thursday of 15 financial firms with global capital-markets operations from one to three notches
Among those affected were Bank of America Corp. , Barclays PLC , Citigroup , Credit Suisse Group AG , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. , HSBC Holdings PLC , J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. , Morgan Stanley , Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC , Credit Agricole SA , BNP Paribas , Deutsche Bank AG , Royal Bank of Canada , Societe Generale and UBS AG
"All of the banks affected by today's actions have significant exposure to the volatility and risk of outsized losses inherent to capital markets activities", said Greg Bauer, Moody's global-banking managing director, in a statement