Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said March 31 that itlowered several ratings on StandardChartered Plc, StandardChartered Bank and their subsidiaries. Where relevant, the agency alsoremoved ratings from CreditWatch with negative implications, where it had them on Feb. 26.In addition, the agency lowered the group's unsupported group credit profile byone notch to a- from a.

Standard Chartered Plc's counterparty credit rating was downgradedto BBB+/A-2 with a stable outlook from A-/A-2 with a negative outlook.Standard Chartered Bank's certificate of deposit was downgraded to A/A-1 with apositive outlook from A+/A-1 with a negative outlook.

In addition, the counterparty credit rating of was downgraded to A+/Positive/A-1 from AA-/Watch Neg/A-1+, while that of was lowered to A/Positive/A-1 from A+/ Watch Neg/A-1 and that of both and Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan)Ltd. was downgraded to A-/Positive/A-2 from A/Watch Neg/A-1.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said the downgrades weredriven by the weakened creditworthiness of the group when compared with other majorbanks. The agency added that it expects the recovery in the group's performanceto be protracted because of the unsupportive operating environment.

S&P Ratings and GlobalMarket Intelligence are owned by McGraw Hill Financial Inc.