“When a consumer’s credit score drops, it is hard to recover financially. Wall Street firms could face the same fate.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup all suffered credit ratings cuts on Thursday. The rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said that, even though these banks had moved to strengthen their operations, their core trading businesses contained structural weaknesses.

In other words, the downgrades reflect the new sober era for Wall Street.”

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“”The banks already have every incentive to use their bank subsidiaries, but it’s even greater after the downgrades,” said Dennis Kelleher, president of Better Markets, a lobbying group that is pushing for stricter financial regulations. “That’s why regulators need to be on guard and scrutinize everything the banks are doing, or moving into, these subsidiaries.””

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