MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Sept. 7, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has placed its ratings on 38 hybrid capital instruments issued by eight Australian banking groups and their subsidiary companies on CreditWatch with positive implications (see list). This follows a statement by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), on Sept. 4, 2012, concerning Basel III capital requirements. The ratings affected by this announcement include those on preference shares, junior subordinated debt, and other hybrid instruments issued by Australian financial institutions. Our counterparty credit ratings on these institutions are unaffected, because our view of their overall risk profiles, excluding affected hybrid capital instruments, is unchanged. APRA intends to remove the requirement for its approval of payments by
