Four agencies announced last Friday that despite a downgrade of the U.S credit rating by credit rating agency Standard & Poor's, all banking organizations in the country should maintain the same treatment of all federal debts issued by the U.S. government and federal agencies.

In a joint statement released last Friday, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency made the directive order addressed to all banking organizations in the country following S&P's unexpected move to downgrade the country's stellar long-term debt rating from AAA to AA+.

“With regard to this action, the federal banking agencies are providing the following guidance to banks, savings associations, credit unions, and bank and savings and loan holding companies (collectively, banking organizations),” the federal agencies said in a statement.

The guidance published by the agencies includes:

For risk-based capital purposes, the risk weights for Treasury securities and other securities issued or  guaranteed by the U.S. government, government agencies, and government-sponsored entities will not change

The treatment of Treasury securities and other securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, government agencies, and government-sponsored entities under other federal banking agency regulations, including the Federal Reserve Board's Regulation W, will also be unaffected