UPDATE 1-Standard Bank headline EPS slips, liquidity sound

* Headline EPS down 0.2 pct, headline earnings up 9 pct

* Liquidity, capital adequacy healthy

* Sees lower FY headline EPS

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 23 (Reuters) - South Africa's Standard Bank (SBKJ.J) posted a 0.2 percent slip in nine-month headline EPS after it issued new shares, but headline earnings rose, and it said liquidity was healthy despite the financial crisis.

Standard Bank said headline EPS for the nine months to end September was 673.8 cents, down from 685.6 cents. Normalised headline earnings rose 9 percent to 10.057 billion rand ($906.8 million).

The company said operating conditions in its corporate and investment banking division were challenging, and revenues in South Africa were "constrained", though margins had improved in the rest of Africa.

Non-performing loans at its personal and business banking operations had risen in line with the trend seen in the first half and was expected to continue along the same trajectory.

But it said its capital adequacy and liquidity profile remained healthy and "in excess of regulatory requirements".

South African banks have so far escaped the worst of the global banking crisis thanks to exchange controls that limit foreign exposure and relatively conservative lending practices.

The company expects normalised headline earnings for the full year to be similar to or slightly higher than in 2007, while headline EPS would be lower than the previous year due to the issue of new shares. (Reporting by Rebecca Harrison, editing by Will Waterman)