The UK's Co-operative Bank, Close Brothers and Metro Bank are among 10 lenders hit with a downgrading from Fitch Ratings due to the effects of business interruptions on the back of Covid-19.

The Co-operative Bank was downgraded to a B-, Close Brothers to an A- and Metro Bank to a BB-. The British banks “entered the crisis with less rating headroom or with weaker credit profiles” which resulted in their negative ranking, the agency said in a 20 April report,  ‘Coronavirus Rating Impact: Western European Banks’.