HONG KONG (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 17, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd. (SCBHK, A/Stable/A-1) are not affected by the bank's announcement of improved net profit. The bank's proforma net profit increased by 30.9 % in 2004 to Hong Kong dollar (HK$) 3.7 billion from HK$2.9 billion in 2003. The growth was mainly generated by a HK$1.3 billion decrease in loan loss provision expenses, which is very unlikely to be repeated in 2005. SCBHK's proforma operating profit before provisions decreased by 3%, reflecting a 3.8% increase in operating expenses. An improvement in SCBHK's asset quality enabled the bank to decrease its loan loss provision expenses, which resulted in a
