May 6--CUMBERLAND -- Several area banks are included in a review by credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's on whether to cut the ratings of 23 regional and national banks.

The firms were placed on CreditWatch Negative on Monday, which means there is a 50 percent chance the ratings will be cut in the next three months. S&P said it expects the results of the reviews by the end of May.

The banks being reviewed for a potential downgrade include Associated Banc Corp.; Astoria Financial Corp.; BB&T Corp.; Bank of America Corp.; Capital One Financial Corp.; Carolina First Bank; Citigroup Inc.; Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc.; Comerica Inc.; Fifth Third Bancorp; First National Bank of Omaha; Huntington Bancshares Inc.; KeyCorp; M&T Bank Corp.; PNC Financial Services Group Inc.; Regions Financial Corp.; Susquehanna Bancshares Inc.; Synovus Financial Corp.; U.S. Bancorp; Webster Financial Corp.; Wells Fargo & Co.; Whitney Holding Corp.; and Wilmington Trust Corp.

The negative watch is tied to an ongoing industrywide review S&P is conducting on the financial services sector, which has been battered for nearly two years by the credit crisis and ongoing recession.

S&P will look at potential mounting loan losses and earnings for the financial firms. The ratings agency will also try to determine how loan losses would affect a bank's cash cushion, possibly leading to a costly capital raise.

The 23 banks S&P placed on watch were identified in an initial review as likely to underperform compared with their peers amid the weakening credit and economic environment. They will now face a more detailed review.

S&P said the ratings cuts could be multiple-notch de-clines, but some banks could also keep their same ratings after the review. A ratings downgrade makes it more expensive and sometimes more difficult to borrow money.

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