We foresee potential extraordinary negative group intervention from Bank of China Ltd. (BOC) in Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd. (BOCHK), and therefore we made a one-notch negative adjustment to rate BOCHK one notch above the rating on BOC. We expect BOCHK to continue benefitting from the Hong Kong government's extraordinary support, if needed, due to the bank's high systemic importance to the Hong Kong banking sector. We are affirming our 'A+' long-term and 'A-1' short-term issuer credit ratings on BOCHK. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that BOCHK will maintain its strong stand-alone credit profile (SACP), high systemic importance in Hong Kong, and close link with BOC over the next two years. On Oct. 29, 2020, S&P Global Ratings
