LONDON (Standard&Poor's) April 20, 2007--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it announced a change in the application of its notching criteria for certain hybrids issued by Australian regulated financial institutions and insurers. These instruments contain narrow earnings tests, which link the payment of a coupon to the existence of profits in the previous financial year. "For investment-grade issuers, we previously rated these instruments three notches below the senior debt rating on the issuer," explained Standard&Poor's credit analyst Michelle Brennan. "However, we will now typically assign a rating two notches below the issuer senior debt rating." This change has led to the upgrade of several existing hybrid issues, which are detailed in the list below.
