Strong retail franchise among domestic peers. Funding base supported by above-average level of retail and low-cost deposits. Likely to receive government support, if needed, due to CMB's moderate systemic importance to China's banking system. Large exposure to off balance-sheet wealth management products. Asset quality affected by slower domestic economic growth. The stable outlook on China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. (CMB) reflects our expectation that the bank can maintain its strong retail franchise, above-average asset quality, and resilient capitalization and earnings over the next 24 months. We may downgrade CMB if the bank's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) weakens, in our view. This could occur if: (1) CMB's credit growth significantly exceeds our forecasts, such that we believe that its risk-adjusted capital
