Sydney, November 17, 2009 -- Moody's Investors Service has published its revised methodology on the  way it rates the hybrid securities and subordinated debt instruments issued  by banks. The new methodology is in line with changes proposed  by the rating agency earlier this year and largely removes previous assumptions  of systemic support for these securities. In addition, the  ratings will differentiate among hybrid instruments based on certain features  that affect the risk to investors. The ratings of securities potentially  affected by this methodology change will be placed under review for possible  downgrade and announced via a separate press release within the next two  days. 
  
  Before the current financial crisis, Moody's had assumed that any  support provided by national governments and central banks to shore up  a troubled bank and restore investor confidence would not just benefit  the bank's senior creditors but -- at least to some extent  -- investors in its subordinated and preferred securities. 
  
  "In some cases, government bank interventions throughout the  crisis have not benefited, and have even hurt the holders of those  instruments," says Moody's Senior Vice President Barbara  Havlicek. "By analyzing the lessons learned from these cases,  our ratings will now better capture this risk." 
  
  In addition, support packages have been contingent upon the bank's  suspension of coupon payments on these instruments as a means to preserve  capital. Certain types of hybrids have been more at risk for these  government and regulatory actions than others because of their features  -- for example, those that allow for coupon payments to be  skipped and on a non-cumulative basis (i.e. they  do not need to be repaid in the future). 
  
  "While there is uncertainty as to how the various types of hybrids  will absorb losses in a given situation, it is clear that hybrids  are highly susceptible to losses due to their unique equity-like  features," Moody's Havlicek says. "Going  forward, we expect governments and regulators to focus on the equity-like  features of hybrids and, to the extent contractually and legally  possible, support coupon skips and/or principal write-downs  for hybrids issued by troubled banks." 
  
  While Moody's revised methodology provides a broad framework for  rating hybrid capital and subordinated debt, the analysis will be  complemented by country-specific and case-specific credit  considerations.  
  
  Moody's proposed changes to its rating methodology in a request  for comment published June 17, 2009, and has since received  a broad range of comments from investors, intermediaries,  issuers and regulators.  
  
  "Moody's Guidelines for Rating Bank Hybrid Securities and  Subordinated Debt" is available on moodys.com. In  conjunction with the new methodology, the rating agency has also  published a Frequently Asked Questions to address some of the issues that  were raised during the comment period. 
  
  Moody's will be holding teleconferences about the methodology on  Thursday 19 November at 12pm Hong Kong/ 1pm Tokyo/ 3pm Sydney time for  the Asian markets and at 10am EST/ 3pm GMT for the Americas and Europe.  For more information or to register, go to 
www.moodys.com/events. 
  
  Moody's says it is also looking at the need to revise the equity  credit it attributes to hybrids in its capital calculations. As  part of this review, greater equity credit may be given for deeply  subordinated, non-cumulative instruments while less may be  given for hybrids without these features. Moody's intends  to issue a Request for Comment on this issue in the coming weeks.   
  
  Moody's revised methodology for rating bank hybrids is applicable globally,  except for Mexico. This methodology will become applicable in Mexico  on 30 November 2009, after a requirement to file new methodologies  with local regulators for a period of ten days prior to their effective  date has been satisfied.