Ratings On Standard Chartered Entities Lowered By One Notch

RATINGS LIST
Downgraded; CreditWatch/Outlook Action
                                        To                 From
Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd.
 Counterparty Credit Rating             A+/Positive/A-1    AA-/Watch Neg/A-1+

Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Ltd.
Standard Chartered Bank Korea Ltd.
 Counterparty Credit Rating             A-/Positive/A-2    A/Watch Neg/A-1

Standard Chartered PLC
 Senior Unsecured                       BBB+               A-/Watch Neg
 Senior Unsecured                       cnA+               cnAA-/Watch Neg
 Subordinated                           BBB-               BBB/Watch Neg
 Junior Subordinated                    BB-                BB/Watch Neg
 Preference Stock                       BB                 BB+/Watch Neg

Standard Chartered Bank
 Senior Unsecured                       A                  A+/Watch Neg
 Senior Unsecured                       Ap                 A+p/Watch Neg
 Subordinated                           BBB                BBB+/Watch Neg
 Junior Subordinated                    BB+                BBB-/Watch Neg
 Junior Subordinated                    BBB-               BBB/Watch Neg
 Preferred Stock                        BB+                BBB-/Watch Neg
 Certificate Of Deposit                 A                  A+/Watch Neg

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd.
 Senior Unsecured                       A+                 AA-/Watch Neg
 Subordinated                           A                  A+/Watch Neg

Downgraded; CreditWatch/Outlook Action; Ratings Affirmed
                                        To                 From
Standard Chartered PLC
 Counterparty Credit Rating             BBB+/Stable/A-2    A-/Watch Neg/A-2

Standard Chartered Bank
Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd.
 Counterparty Credit Rating             A/Positive/A-1     A+/Watch Neg/A-1

Standard Chartered Bank
 Certificate Of Deposit                 A/A-1              A+/Watch Neg/A-1

Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Ltd.
 Counterparty Credit Rating
 Taiwan National Scale                  twAA/Positive/     twAA+/Watch Neg/
                                        twA-1+             twA-1+

Ratings Affirmed

Standard Chartered Bank
 Certificate Of Deposit                 A-1                
 Commercial Paper                       A-1                

Ratings Affirmed; CreditWatch/Outlook Action
                                        To                 From
Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd.
Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd.
  Greater China Regional Scale           cnAAA/cnA-1+       cnAAA/Watch Neg/
                                                           cnA-1+

Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Ltd.
 Greater China Regional Scale           cnAA+/cnA-1        cnAA+/Watch Neg/
                                                           cnA-1

Standard Chartered Bank
 Certificate Of Deposit                 axA-1+             axA-1+/Watch Neg
 Certificate Of Deposit                 axAAA              axAAA/Watch Neg

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd.
 Senior Unsecured                       cnAAA              cnAAA/Watch Neg
 Subordinated                           cnAA+              cnAA+/Watch Neg

"We consider the Standard Chartered group's creditworthiness to have weakened 
considerably when compared with global peers with a similar stand-alone credit 
profile such as major banks in Singapore, Canada, and Australia," said 
Standard & Poor's credit analyst Terry Sham.

We expect the recovery in the group's performance to be protracted amid an 
unsupportive operating environment. We therefore lowered the unsupported group 
credit profile (GCP) by one notch to 'a-' from 'a', which leads to a lowering 
of the issuer credit ratings on SCPLC and the issue credit ratings on SCPLC 's 
senior unsecured issuance and the group's hybrid capital instruments. We 
continue to include only one notch of additional loss-absorbing capacity 
(ALAC) support into the supported GCP, and so lowered our ratings on most of 
the group's operating companies. We lowered the ratings on SCBHK because we 
expect that its creditworthiness will remain closely linked to that of the 
wider Standard Chartered group. 

We recognize the progress that management already made in 2015 and the 
bolstering of capitalization that is likely to prove enduring under our base 
case. Balance sheet strength is improving, but we do not see capitalization as 
a relative strength that fully offsets the pressures on the business.

We have reflected these developments through the following two adjustments to 
the composition of the group's unsupported GCP:



We lowered our assessment of the group's business position to adequate 
from strong. This acknowledges that the group is likely to retain many of 
its key strengths and competitive advantages, but reflects our view that 
the group is no longer a positive outlier in this regard. 
We raised capital and earnings to strong from adequate, but lowered risk 
position to moderate from adequate, leading to no net change across these 
two factors. We now project the group's risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio 
to reach about 11% at end-2016 and to remain close to that level, from 
10.4% at end-2015. However, the group's earnings are likely to remain 
subdued through end-2017 at least.


Standard Chartered's GCP of 'a' remains one notch higher than the unsupported 
GCP to reflect an uplift for ALAC, which is the buffer of instruments that 
resolution authorities would use through bail-in to recapitalize the bank if 
it fails. We expect ALAC to accrue to the benefit of senior creditors of the 
group's main operating companies, but not those of SCPLC--being a 
non-operating holding company whose senior obligations would likely not 
receive full and timely payment in a resolution scenario. We calculate that 
the group's ALAC ratio was close to 7.5% at end-2015.

Our ratings on SCBHK reflect our view of its 'a' SACP and the two notches of 
uplift for potential extraordinary support from the Hong Kong government. In 
our view, SCBHK remains the strongest of Standard Chartered's group operating 
companies, and we have not revised down the SACP at this stage, nor changed 
the support uplift. Nevertheless, while we see some differentiation in credit 
quality with other group companies, we have used a notch of negative 
adjustment to reflect our view that its creditworthiness will remain closely 
linked to that of the wider Standard Chartered group. As a result, SCBHK 
remains rated only one notch above SCB.

Standard Chartered PLC
The stable outlook acknowledges the difficult operating environment and 
work-in-progress nature of management's actions, but reflects our view that 
there are currently limited negative or positive pressures on the rating. 

While unlikely at this time, we could lower the rating if we see a further 
weakening in the group's unsupported GCP of 'a-'. This could result from 
events such as: (1) a sharp adverse development in asset quality; (2) a 
significant weakening in the group's funding or liquidity profiles; or (3) 
factors that will require management to undertake a significantly more 
far-reaching and substantial restructuring to restore the group's 
profitability.

While a remote possibility at this time, we could raise the long-term rating 
if we raise the unsupported GCP. We could do this, for example, if RAC 
improves substantially beyond our current 11% projection, leading us to 
conclude that the group's capitalization provides a substantial buffer against 
possible future losses.  

Standard Chartered Bank
The positive outlook reflects our view that the group's accumulation of ALAC 
is likely to offer increased protection to senior unsecured creditors of the 
group's operating subsidiaries in the next 12-24 months. 

We would likely raise our long-term ratings on SCB once the group accumulates 
8.5% ALAC on a sustainable basis. An upgrade would also need to be supported 
by a view that a higher rating is justified in comparison with similarly 
highly-rated peer. 

If we raised our rating on SCB, we would likely also raise the ratings on 
SCBC, SCBK, and SCBT, as long as we continue to believe that regulators and 
resolution authorities would seek to ensure that these entities' senior 
unsecured creditors continue to be paid on time and in full if the group 
fails.

We would likely revise the outlook back to stable if the group's accumulation 
of ALAC seems set to be delayed or fall short. This revision could also result 
from reduced confidence that a higher rating is justified in comparison with 
similarly highly-rated peers, for example due to mounting downside risks of 
the type envisaged under the downside scenario for SCPLC. 

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd.
The positive outlook on SCBHK mirrors the outlook on SCB. 

We would likely raise our long-term ratings on SCBHK if we raise our rating on 
SCB. This is conditional upon the sovereign rating on Hong Kong staying at 
'AAA' and we continue to see a high likelihood of government support for 
SCBHK.  

We would likely revise the outlook on SCBHK to stable, if we have a similar 
outlook revision on SCB. Alternatively, we could revise the outlook on SCBHK 
to stable if we see a reduced capacity or likelihood of government support in 
Hong Kong. This could happen if we lower our rating on Hong Kong, or we see 
the banking resolution regime in Hong Kong evolves in a way that reduces the 
willingness or flexibility of the government to support banks in a stressful 
situation.