HONG KONG (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 23, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it assigned its 'BBB-' issue rating on The Bank of East Asia, Limited's (A-/Negative/A-2) proposed U.S. dollar-denominated stapled securities. The differential of three notches between the counterparty credit rating on BEA and the proposed stapled securities reflects the subordination of the issue to the claims of senior creditors (one notch), the interest payment deferral option (one notch), and the heightened risk of deferral due to mandatory nature of the deferral trigger, which is based on two consecutive half-year profits, and the near full-year loss reported by the bank in 2008 (one notch). If the deferral trigger is activated, the regulator may still allow BEA to pay
