CBC News Posted: Nov 29, 2011 5:41 PM ET

Standard & Poor's has cut the ratings of 37 big global banks.

Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, BNY Mellon were among the institutions the bond rating agency downgraded Tuesday.

Top U.K. downgrades included Barclays, HSBC Holdings, Lloyds Banking Group and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Ratings for several big European banks, including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, ING and Societe Generale were unchanged.

The move was based on new criteria S&P published earlier in November, reflecting the reduced prospects that the banks would be bailed out by governments if there was another financial crisis.

In after-hours trading, Goldman Sachs lost 1.8 per cent and Bank of America was down 3.2 per cent.

No Canadian-based banks were affected, but the Canadian units of UBS and HSBC were downgraded.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/11/29/s7p-downgrades-banks.html