S&P lowers Citigroup

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its ratings on Citigroup Inc. and units, including lowering the senior unsecured debt ratings to A from AA-, and removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications on Sept. 29.

The outlook is stable.

The agency said these rating actions were taken within the context of a larger global sector review. In particular, S&P believes that the U.S. banking sector will continue to experience credit deterioration, banks will need to rebalance their funding profiles and macroeconomic weakness could be protracted.

Citi enjoys extraordinary external support from the U.S. government for highly systemically important U.S. financial institutions, S&P said, but the market downturn has affected Citi to a greater extent than others. The agency believes Citi faces the prospect of another tough year and possibly a second annual loss in 2009.

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