Oil, Gas Loans Not Likely to Choke Big U.S. Banks, Moody's Says

Losses from souring oil and gas loans at the largest U.S. banks are probably manageable, even if fuel prices remain low, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

At the six biggest banks, funded exposures to the industry amount to 2.3 percent of total loans, Moody’s said Friday in a report. Morgan Stanley is at the high end, with about 5 percent of its funded loans to the sector, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. is at the low end, with 1.5 percent, the analysts wrote. Trading exposures are smaller and likely to have cash or securities as collateral, or they’ve been hedged, according to the report.