Moody’s Review of Bailouts May Dent Banks, JPMorgan Says

A reduction in Moody’s Investors Service’s estimate of how much taxpayer support financial firms will receive in a crisis may result in credit ratings cuts for banks from Wells Fargo & Co. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Moody’s, which placed “negative outlooks” on the holding company ratings of eight systemically important U.S. lenders in June, said last week that it expects to update its “bank holding company support assumptions” by year-end. The firms’ grades are as many as two levels higher because of the potential of a public backstop, according to Moody’s.