Rating agency Standard & Poor's has cut its ratings on AIB's debt, saying that the bank's reputation has deteriorated further due to the need for increased capital from the Government to support it.
S&P cut the company one notch from A- to BBB+, its third lowest investment grade. The outlook is negative, indicating an additional downgrade is more likely within the next two years.
The rating agency said the negative outlook was due to uncertainty about how quickly AIB's financial position would recover and its expectation that 'AIB's significant reliance on funding and liquidity support from the authorities will persist for the foreseeable future'. S&P also said there was some uncertainty over AIB's plans to sell off assets.
The agency said AIB was unlikely to return to an A rating for a number of years.
