Global Banks’ Credit-Driven Rating Momentum Set to Cool in 2026 in World Economy News 02/02/2026 Global bank rating upgrades are likely to again outnumber downgrades in 2026, Fitch Ratings says in a new report. This partly reflects ongoing structural improvements, mainly in southern Europe. However, the positive balance is set to be weaker than in recent years, as risks to banks’ performance mount. Bank rating upgrades substantially outnumbered downgrades globally in 2025, by 131 to 28, continuing the trend of 2023-2024. This was partly due to financial performance improvements following interest rate increases in 2022-2023. It also reflected positive sovereign rating momentum in 2025, which flowed through to stronger operating environments and to bank ratings driven by sovereign support or capped by Country Ceilings. Southern European banks’ continued post-eurozone crisis recovery was another important driver. However, global banking sector financial performance may already be at or near its cyclical peak. The boost to bank profitability from higher interest rates is levelling off in most markets. Slightly slower global economic growth may also weigh on loan growth and asset quality in 2026, even as risks mount relating to geopolitics, deregulation, the expanded use of AI and crypto assets, and the rise of private credit. This more balanced picture is reflected in our banking sector rating Outlooks. Negative and Positive Outlooks across our bank portfolio were broadly in balance at end-2025. At end-2024, about 2% more of the portfolio was on a Positive Outlook than on a Negative one. Bank Outlooks are most skewed to Positive in western Europe. Central and eastern European banks have the greatest skew towards Negative Outlooks. Source: Fitch Ratings 2026-02-02 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share