Bank of Queensland may have to husband its capital if it is to achieve a lift in its credit rating. Standard & Poor's said yesterday that it had placed the BBB+ long-term issuer credit rating of the Bank of Queensland on CreditWatch with positive implications. S&P said the CreditWatch reflects "our view that future capitalisation could be stronger than current and historic levels, even considering that our economic trend on Australia is negative and that the bank's profitability is recovering after enduring significant and more recent asset quality difficulties."  S&P said driving "the resolution of the CreditWatch… will be further clarity concerning the capacity and willingness of the bank to sustain capital levels consistent with a higher long-term rating."S&P noted that its underlying view remained that there was "a negative trend on Australia [that] could eventually translate into a weaker assessment of the economic risk environment.""A primary consideration that will contribute to the resolution of the CreditWatch is further assessment of BoQ's capacity and willingness to maintain a 'very strong' regulatory adjusted capital ratio sustainably [at] above 15 per cent."In July 2012, Moody's Investors Service cut the senior unsecured debt rating of BOQ to Baa1, from A3.