Massive DBRS Stealth-Downgrade of Banks

While reviewing material for this month’s edition of PrefLetter, I happened to look at a DBRS issuer rating page for one of the banks and noticed …

… all the preferred shares had been downgraded, not just the CM issues previously reported (or the discontinuation of RY.PR.W, for that matter).

Bank of Montreal: downgraded to Pfd-2(high)

Bank of Nova Scotia: downgraded to Pfd-2(high)

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce: downgraded to Pfd-2(high)

Toronto-Dominion Bank, The: downgraded to Pfd-2(high)

Royal Bank of Canada: downgraded to Pfd-2(high)

Somewhat surprisingly, National Bank of Canada appears to have got off scot-free.

There are no press releases. All there is is a reference to a Subscribers Only report titled DBRS: Ratings Impact of Updated Criteria on Bank Preferred and Preferred Hybrids in Canada.

Affected issues are
BNS.PR.A, BNS.PR.B, BNS.PR.K, BNS.PR.L, BNS.PR.M, BNS.PR.N, BNS.PR.O, BNS.PR.P, BNS.PR.Q, BNS.PR.R, BNS.PR.T, BNS.PR.X, BNS.PR.Y, BNS.PR.Z

BMO.PR.J, BMO.PR.K, BMO.PR.L, BMO.PR.M, BMO.PR.N, BMO.PR.O, BMO.PR.P, BMO.PR.Q, BMO.PR.R

CM.PR.K, CM.PR.L, CM.PR.M

RY.PR.A, RY.PR.B, RY.PR.C, RY.PR.D, RY.PR.E, RY.PR.F, RY.PR.G, RY.PR.I, RY.PR.L, RY.PR.N, RY.PR.P, RY.PR.R, RY.PR.T, RY.PR.X, RY.PR.Y

TD.PR.A, TD.PR.C, TD.PR.E, TD.PR.G, TD.PR.I, TD.PR.K, TD.PR.O, TD.PR.P, TD.PR.Q, TD.PR.R, TD.PR.S, TD.PR.T, TD.PR.Y, TD.PR.Z

I have directed an inquiry to DBRS asking whether there will be press releases, as is the normal procedure when a rating changes.

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