Position within the diversified Santander group Good asset quality Marked efficiency improvements More limited business diversity than larger U.K. peers Very weak earnings track record Ongoing transformation challenges The ratings on Abbey National PLC--which operates under the trading name "Abbey"--are based upon its position in the Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A. group (Santander; AA/Stable/A-1+), and its solid business and financial profile. Abbey's business diversity is more modest than larger U.K. peers and its earnings track is very weak by comparison, but henceforth Standard&Poor's Ratings Services is expecting Abbey to perform well. Acquired by Santander in 2004, Standard&Poor's considers that Abbey is now making sound progress to improve business flows and earnings measures, after several years of
