SINGAPORE (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) May 16, 2001--Standard&Poor's today assigned its single-'A'-minus long-term issue rating to The Development Bank of Singapore Ltd's (DBS Bank) proposed Singapore dollar (S$) 700 million perpetual noncumulative preference shares. At the same time, Standard&Poor's placed the new rating on CreditWatch with negative implications, where the single-'A'-plus long-term counterparty credit and single-'A'-minus debt ratings on DBS Bank, as well as the single-'A'-minus rating on DBS Capital Funding Corp.'s preferred stock, guaranteed by DBS Bank, were placed on April 11, 2001. The 'A-1' short-term counterparty credit rating on the bank is not on CreditWatch negative. The proposed preference share issue is a component of DBS Bank's wider capital restructuring plan, which is designed
