SINGAPORE (Standard&Poor's) July 22, 2002--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it affirmed the counterparty credit ratings on Singapore's three remaining domestic banks, United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB; A+/Stable/A-1), Development Bank of Singapore (A+/Stable/A-1), and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd. (A/Stable/A-1). With the completion of a series of mergers and acquisitions last year, the three surviving local banks have a dominant position in domestic banking. At year-end 2001, the three local banks combined commanded more than two-thirds of the domestic system assets, with UOB the largest player, with more than a 30% share. As expected, the industry consolidation has resulted in all three banks being less capitalized after assuming all goodwill arising from the acquisitions was charged-off against shareholders
