Core member of the HSBC group. Strong franchise in its key markets, including the U.K. Good business diversity. Large and stable deposit base. Uncertain economic environment in main markets. Volatility in investment banking earnings. Moderate capitalization level compared to the group. Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' outlook on HSBC Bank PLC is negative, mirroring that on HSBC Holdings PLC. Any rating action on HSBC Holdings would likely trigger the same rating action on HSBC Bank. In addition, we could lower the ratings on HSBC Bank if we no longer consider the company to be "core" to HSBC under our group methodology criteria. We consider this to be a remote possibility, however. We expect that the performance of HSBC Bank's U.K.
