Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on April 8 loweredits long-term Turkey national scale rating on to "trAA-" from"trAA".

The agency, at the same time, affirmed the "trA-1"short-term Turkey national scale and BB/B counterparty credit ratings of thebank.

The outlook on the long-term counterparty credit rating wasrevised to negative from developing.

The ratings actions follow 's recent that it would retainand restructure its Turkish subsidiary.

The negative outlook indicates a one-in-three chance that theagency could lower the long-term counterparty rating of the unit over the next12 months. This reflects S&P's negative view of the operating environmentfor banks in Turkey and its implications for HSBC. It also reflects the bank'sweak operational performance and resulting pressure on its business andearnings stability, which S&P expects will continue in 2016.

S&P Ratings andGlobal Market Intelligence are owned by McGraw Hill Financial Inc.