S&P Strips U.K.'s AAA Credit Rating On Brexit Vote

The U.K. was stripped of its AAA credit rating by S&P Global Ratings on Monday after British voters last week voted to pull the country out of the European Union. S&P lowered the rating to AA. "In our opinion, this outcome is a seminal event, and will lead to a less predictable, stable, and effective policy framework in the U.K.," S&P said, in a news release. The downgrade also reflects worries about the risks of a "marked deterioration" in the U.K.'s external financing conditions given the country's already elevated gross external financing requirements, S&P said. Competing ratings firms Moody's and Fitch had lowered the U.K. credit rating ahead of last week's referendum. S&P also said it was maintaining its negative outlook on the U.K.'s credit rating, citing the risk to the country's "economic prospects, fiscal and external performance, and the role of sterling as a reserve currency, as well as risks to the constitutional and economic integrity of the U.K. if there is another referendum on Scottish independence."