The Australian Financial Markets Association has confirmed that the Big Four banks will retain their status as AFMA prime banks, despite their ratings downgrades. However, JP Morgan Chase has been removed.On November 30, Standard & Poor's announced the results of a review of 37 financial institutions, after applying new ratings criteria.JP Morgan Chase Bank NA was downgraded from AA- to A+. Under the AFMA's rules, a bank must have a minimum S&P rating of AA- for eligibility as a prime bank. JP Morgan Chase was removed from an amended list of prime banks that was issued by the AFMA on November 30.Then, on December 1, S&P announced the results of its ratings review of banks in the Asia-Pacific region. The Big Four banks were all downgraded from AA to AA-.The AFMA's executive director, Duncan Fairweather, said there was some confusion about whether the four banks would retain their prime bank status. On Friday, the AFMA issued a statement saying that the banks still met the threshold for eligibility. There are five AFMA prime banks: ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Westpac and BNP Paribas (Australia Branch).