Moody's downgrades Popular

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded the ratings of Popular, Inc. following the company's announcement that it will take an impairment charge of up to $175 million related to its web-based E-LOAN platform and an additional charge of up to $165 million associated with the recharacterization of most of its $3.7 billion owned-in-trust U.S. subprime loan portfolio.

Popular's senior debt was lowered to A3 from A2, its short-term debt was downgraded to Prime-2 from Prime-1 and its preferred stock was lowered to Baa2 from Baa1.

This concludes the review for possible downgrade that began on Nov. 17, and the outlook is negative.

While the recharacterization of the subprime loan portfolio reduces Popular's subprime mortgage exposure, which Moody's views favorably, the remaining U.S. subprime exposure, combined with the impairment of the E-LOAN platform and the lackluster profitability of Popular's U.S. branch banking business, highlight significant challenges in Popular's U.S. operations that will take time to resolve, the agency said.

The negative outlook reflects the ongoing credit market disruption, which makes it challenging for Popular to finance its U.S. consumer loan subsidiary, Moody's said.

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