Hong Kong: Fitch Affirms Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation at 'AA'.

Section: Rating - Fitch Ratings has affirmed The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited's (HKB) Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'AA' with Stable Outlook. A full rating breakdown is provided below.

The IDRs reflect HKB's sustained robust underlying profitability, operational diversity, strong asset quality and liquidity profiles as well as solid capitalisation considering its low risk appetite. Given that HKB is the largest locally incorporated bank in Hong Kong and one of the three banks issuing Hong Kong's banknotes, Fitch expects an extremely high probability of support for HKB, if needed, from the Hong Kong government.

HKB's …