HONG KONG (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 15, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had raised its long-term foreign currency counterparty credit ratings on Bank of Communications Co. Ltd. (BoCom) to 'BBB' from 'BBB-'. The outlook is stable. At the same time, the 'C' bank fundamental strength rating on the bank was affirmed. The rating action reflects an increase in the weighting of external support factored into the rating. It follows a government reshuffle of the senior management of BoCom and other state-owned commercial banks, even though the state approved the sale of a minority stake in the bank to Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (HSBC Asia-Pacific, AA/Stable/A-1+). It also reflects improvement in banking industry country risk
