...HONG KONG (Standard & Poor's) Oct. 8, 2014--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its '##-' issue rating to the noncumulative preference shares of Bank of China Ltd. (BOC; A/Stable/A-1; cnAA+/cnA-1). We also assigned our 'cnBB+' Greater China regional scale rating to the preference shares. We have classified the instruments as having "intermediate" equity content, according to our rating criteria. The debut offshore issue is part of BOC's plan to raise up to Chinese renminbi (RMB) 100 billion in preference shares onshore and offshore. The Basel III-compliant issue qualifies as regulatory additional Tier-1 capital. The rating assigned to the new issue reflects the application of Standard & Poor's new hybrid capital criteria published on Sept. 18, 2014 (see "Bank Hybrid Capital And Nondeferrable Subordinated Debt Methodology And Assumptions, " published Sept. 18, 2014, on RatingsDirect). The rating has taken into account issue-level risks determined in part by the...
