The ratings on U.K.-incorporated HSBC Bank PLC reflect its stand-alone credit profile, which benefits from its excellent liquidity, solid capitalization, and robust earnings capacity. The bank's strong franchise is based upon its position as a U.K. clearing bank, albeit the smallest of the "big four", while the acquisitions in 2000 of CCF (AA-/Stable/A-1+) and HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) S.A. (AA-/Stable/A-1+) benefited its geographic and product diversity. A key strength of the bank--and the wider HSBC Group--is its comfortable liquidity and funding profiles, as evidenced by the bank's 84% loan-to-deposit ratio at year-end 2003. Asset quality is good, and the growth of the customer loan book has been less aggressive than several U.K. peers. Statutory pretax profits have stagnated at
