SYDNEY (Standard&Poor's) June 8, 2012—Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had raised its long-term issuer credit rating on Australian-based Bank of Queensland (BoQ) to 'BBB+' from 'BBB'. The rating upgrade reflects Standard&Poor's revised assessment of the bank's capital and earnings position to "strong" from "adequate", underpinned by our expectation that the capital ratio will be maintained within a range of 14%-15% over the medium term. At the same time, we removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where they were placed with positive implications on Feb. 24, 2012. The short-term rating is affirmed at 'A-2'. The outlook is stable. "The stable outlook reflects our view that BoQ's risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio will stabilise within the
