LONDON (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 28, 2003--Standard&Poor's Rating Services said today that its ratings on Abbey National PLC (AA-/Negative/A-1+) are not affected by the release of its 2002 full-year results on Feb. 26, 2003. Although the results were weak (the pretax loss for the year was £984 million), they are in line with Standard&Poor's expectations, and will not in themselves result in a revision of the ratings or outlook on Abbey National. On Nov. 25, 2002, Standard&Poor's revised its outlook on Abbey National, reflecting deteriorating capital flexibility because of the continued weakening of its life operations, and difficult credit and competitive environments, particularly in the wholesale bank. The outlook revision also reflected the challenging
