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Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the credit ratings of the Big Six banks late Wednesday reflecting “expectation of a more challenging operating environment for banks in Canada for the remainder of 2017 and beyond, that could lead to a deterioration in the banks’ asset quality, and increase their sensitivity to external shocks.”

This downgrade was prompted by weakening credit conditions in Canada, led by a surge in household debt, Moodys said, noting it was now at a record high of 167.3 per cent of disposable income, as of the fourth-quarter of 2016.

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It is the second time in the past five years that the banks’ exposure to increasingly indebted Canadian consumers and elevated housing prices has led the credit rating agency to downgrade their debt en masse. But Moody’s noted that the county’s banks remain among the highest rated globally.

In January of 2013, Moody’s downgraded the long-term ratings of the senior debt of six of the country’s largest banks by one notch.