Fitch Warns It Might Downgrade Dozens of US Banks After Slashing America’s Credit Rating

A senior analyst at Fitch warned on Tuesday that the credit rating agency may be forced to slap dozens of American banks with downgrades amid ongoing woes in the U.S. banking industry.

The Fitch Ratings logo is seen at its offices in London, on March 3, 2016. Reinhard Krause/Reuters

A senior analyst at Fitch has warned that the credit rating agency may be forced to slap dozens of U.S. banks, which could include JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, with downgrades amid ongoing concerns in that industry.

Chris Wolfe, head of North American banks at Fitch Ratings, told CNBC in an Aug. 15 interview that if Fitch reduces its score for the overall operating environment of U.S. banks by another notch—to A+ from AA-—that would force a series of downgrades of individual banks.