Moody's backtracks on bank upgrades

The climbdown by Moody's over its widely criticised new methodology for banks' credit ratings was greeted by fresh attacks in March. The rating agency announced on March 16 that it would reduce assumptions for the probability of systemic support for banks, following stinging criticism of its 'joint default analysis' (JDA), which first hit the market on February 23. But the emergency move, which will likely involve downgrading some of the newly upgraded entities, failed to pacify critics of the