OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has completed its review of its U.S. midtier regional bank peer group. At the review, which generally covers banks with assets between $10 billion and $50 billion, Fitch revised the Outlooks for UMB Financial (UMBF) and BOK Financial (BOKF) to Negative from Stable. Moreover, the Outlooks of First National of Nebraska (FNNI) and Cathay General Bancorp. (CATY) were revised to Positive from Stable. The ratings of these four banks were affirmed.

Fitch also affirmed the ratings and maintained the Stable Outlooks for the following other banks within the midtier regional peer group:

--BankUnited Inc. (BKU)
--East West Bancorp, Inc. (EWBC)
--First Horizon National Corp. (FHN)
--First Republic Bank (FRC)
--Fulton Financial Corp (FULT)
--Hilltop Holdings (HTH)
--Synovus Financial Corp. (SNV)
--TCF Financial Corp. (TCB)
--Trustmark Corp. (TRMK)
--Wintrust Financial Corp (WTFC)

Fitch has published Rating Action Commentaries for each of the midtier regional banks, which are available on www.fitchratings.com.

These include each issuer's key rating drivers and rating sensitivities and lists of all rating actions taken.

For further discussion of the midtier regional bank sector in general, refer to the special report title 'U.S. Banks: Periodic Midtier Regional Peer Review: Outsized Growth Points to Potential Risks for Group' to be published in the near future.