S&P's Australian sovereign outlook revision threatens major banks' double-A status [UPDATED]

Australia's major banks are the latest issuers to suffer collateral damage from S&P Global Ratings (S&P)'s decision to revise its outlook on the Australian sovereign's triple-A rating to negative. S&P placed negative outlooks on the big four's AA- ratings on July 7, following similar outlook changes for the sovereign and a raft of semi-government and government-sector borrowers.