SINGAPORE (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 4, 2008--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings and outlook on Singapore's DBS Bank Ltd. (DBS; AA-/Stable/A-1+) are unaffected by the bank's announcement that it is the successful bidder in a government auction to acquire the "good bank assets" of Bowa Commercial Bank Ltd. in Taiwan. Bowa is a small Taiwanese bank with 39 branches and has been under regulatory supervision since August 2007. Under the terms of the transaction, DBS will acquire Bowa's good assets of approximately new Taiwan dollars (NT$) 66.3 billion of net loans, NT$92.3 billion of deposits, with a payment of NT$44.5 billion from the Taiwan government. While Standard&Poor's recognizes that this acquisition will expand DBS's
