Macquarie ratings trimmed by Fitch

Fitch Ratings overnight said it cut the long term credit rating for Macquarie Group to A- from A. Fitch also cut the long term credit rating on Macquarie Bank to A from A+.

The ratings agency placed the credit rating of Macquarie on review a month ago. It said the review "stemmed from Fitch's broad review of the largest banking institutions in the world" and that "these actions do not reflect any developments specific to Macquarie, but result from this broad global review."

Fitch said that it expected that "absolute returns" from a number of Macquarie's business units were "likely to be subdued" and "have a more volatile earnings profile than traditional commercial banking businesses."

It also said that Macquarie "has a reliance on wholesale funding relative to peers.... Although Macquarie manages this exposure well, this reliance, when combined with a more volatile earnings profile relative to that of commercial banks, is better reflected at the new rating levels".