...HONG KONG (S&P Global Ratings) May 8, 2017--S&P Global Ratings today assigned its '##' long-term issue rating to a proposed issuance of Basel III-compliant additional tier-1 (AT1) undated non-cumulative subordinated capital securities by The Bank of East Asia Limited (BEA: A/Watch Neg/A-1; cnAA+/Watch Neg/cnA-1). At the same time, we also assigned our 'cnBBB' long-term Greater China regional scale rating to the securities. The issue rating is subject to our review of the final issuance documentation. Our rating on the issuance is four notches below our assessment of BEA's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) of '###+' to reflect our view on the following features: + One notch because the notes are contractually subordinated; + Two notches because we expect the notes to have discretionary and mandatory nonpayment clauses leading to coupon nonpayment, and the regulator classifies them as tier-1 regulatory capital; and + One notch because the notes contain a contractual principal write-down clause....
