FRANKFURT (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 4, 2004--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that HVB's report of third-quarter 2004 results reveal the need to take further restructuring measures. While the bank's transformation program has gradually improved year-on-year earnings, operating profit remains unsatisfactory compared with higher rated peers. HVB will likely fail to achieve its forecast for full-year 2004, which in Standard&Poor's view was very optimistic, however. Nevertheless, Standard&Poor's expects HVB to achieve operating profit of about €1 billion including absorbed losses from unconsolidated entities, which would be at the low end of Standard&Poor's expectations for 2004. Standard&Poor's believes that a new round of cost-cutting will be required to improve domestic earnings as
