MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) July 17, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said that it affirmed the 'AA/Stable/A-1+' ratings on the four major Australian banks— Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB), and Westpac Banking Corp. (WBC)—despite the recent New Zealand High Court judgement on tax liabilities in relation to certain transactions of Bank of New Zealand (BNZ, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of NAB). At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed the 'AA/Stable/A-1+' ratings on the major Australian banks' core subsidiaries, including the four major New Zealand banks: ANZ National Bank Ltd. (ANZ National), ASB Bank Ltd. (ASB), Bank of New Zealand, and Westpac New Zealand