MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 21, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its 'BBB+/A-2' ratings and stable outlook on Bank of Queensland Ltd. (BoQ) are unaffected by the bank's announcement that it has raised its provisioning levels by A$45 million, as a result of the recent natural disasters and economic conditions in Queensland. In our view, BoQ's financial-risk profile, which has historically been a rating strength, has moderated but remains consistent with the ratings. This said, we expect that BoQ would have the financial flexibility, and board and management commitment, to respond to emerging financial pressures to ensure its financial profile supports the current ratings. The ratings also factor in our expectation that the bank will continue to
