DBS Bank Ltd.

Market leadership in Singapore. Strong deposit funding, resulting in higher margins in a rising interest rate environment. Management's proven record. Sizable direct exposure to Greater China, where economic prospects have become less certain and credit risk is rising. The stable outlook on DBS Bank Ltd. reflects our expectation that the bank will maintain its high systemic importance in Singapore and that its stand-alone credit profile (SACP) will remain 'a' over the next one to two years. We believe both positive and negative rating actions are unlikely over the next one to two years, given DBS' strong stand-alone creditworthiness. The bank's SACP needs to decline by at least two notches before the rating is affected. We may revise the SACP downward

...Sizable direct exposure to Greater China, where economic prospects have become less certain and credit risk is rising. Outlook: Stable The stable outlook on DBS Bank Ltd. reflects our expectation that the bank will maintain its high systemic importance in Singapore and that its stand-alone credit profile (SACP) will remain 'a' over the next one to two years. We believe both positive and negative rating actions are unlikely over the next one to two years, given DBS' strong stand-alone creditworthiness. The bank's SACP needs to decline by at least two notches before the rating is affected. We may revise the SACP downward if DBS' asset quality weakens substantially, possibly due to a material deterioration in its mainland China portfolio as the country deleverages and rebalances its growth model. A lower SACP will lead to downgrades of the bank's hybrid securities that we notch down starting from the SACP. However, this is not our base-case scenario. We may revise the SACP upward if we assess...

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