...High, albeit well-managed, exposure to the Hong Kong property sector. Outlook: Stable The stable outlook reflects our expectation that The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (HSBC Asia Pacific) will maintain its leading position in Hong Kong, strong capital and earnings, sticky customer deposit base, and strong liquidity over the next 24 months. It also reflects our view that the bank will continue to benefit from potential extraordinary support from the Hong Kong government in times of stress. We believe that an upgrade is unlikely over the next two years because HSBC Asia Pacific is already rated highly compared with global peers. We also believe a downgrade is unlikely. We may lower the rating on HSBC Asia Pacific if: (1) the bank's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) weakens, in addition to a sovereign downgrade or declining likelihood of government support; or (2) we see the likelihood of government support diminishing drastically to low....
