A Fitch Ratings analyst warned on Tuesday that the rating agency may have to cut the credit ratings of numerous American banks, including major lenders such as JPMorgan Chase.
Fitch analyst Chris Wolfe told CNBC that Fitch would have to look into over 70 US banks' ratings in case it decided to downgrade the industry's score from AA- to A+. "If we were to move it to A+, then that would recalibrate all our financial measures and would probably translate into negative rating actions," Wolfe stated.
In June, the rating agency cut the operating environment score for American banks from AA to AA-, citing "downward pressure on the US sovereign rating, gaps in the regulatory framework and structural uncertainty around the normalization of monetary policy." Earlier this month, Fitch downgraded the US government's debt rating from AAA to AA+, which JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon described as a "ridiculous" move.
