SINGAPORE (Standard&Poor's) Sept. 21, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it assigned its 'AA' issue ratings to the US$5 billion retail note issuance program of HSBC Structured Notes (Cayman) Ltd. (the issuer). The notes under the program may be in Singapore dollars, U.S. dollars or other currencies, and will be direct, unconditional, unsubordinated, and unsecured obligations, ranking pari passu among themselves and with all other outstanding, unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of the issuer, unless it is specified differently in the pricing statement. The payments due to be made under each series of notes are unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (HSBC Asia-Pacific; AA/Stable/A-1+). This guarantee under the program by HSBC Asia-Pacific
