Outlook On The Bank of East Asia And Its China Subsidiary Revised To Negative Due To Rising Economic Risks

In our view, BEA group faces rising economic risks in its main markets of Hong Kong and China. We see at least a one-in-three chance that the economic risk in both regions may heighten such that the group may find it hard to sustain its credit profile over the next one to two years. We are therefore revising our outlook on BEA and BEA China to negative from stable. At the same time, we are affirming our 'A' long-term and 'A-1' short-term issuer credit ratings on the banks because we expect the group to maintain adequate capital despite some pressure on earnings, and to focus on managing risks rather than growth. HONG KONG (Standard&Poor's) Sept. 21, 2015--Standard&

...+ In our view, BEA group faces rising economic risks in its main markets of Hong Kong and China. We see at least a one-in-three chance that the economic risk in both regions may heighten such that the group may find it hard to sustain its credit profile over the next one to two years. + We are therefore revising our outlook on BEA and BEA China to negative from stable. + At the same time, we are affirming our 'A' long-term and 'A-1' short-term issuer credit ratings on the banks because we expect the group to maintain adequate capital despite some pressure on earnings, and to focus on managing risks rather than growth. HONG KONG (Standard & Poor's) Sept. 21, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today said that it has revised its outlook on the long-term issuer credit ratings on The Bank of East Asia Limited (BEA) and its Chinese subsidiary The Bank of East Asia (China) Limited (BEA China). At the same time, we affirmed our 'A' long-term and 'A-1' short-term issuer credit ratings on both...

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