LONDON (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) Feb. 8, 2001--Standard&Poor's today assigned its single-'A'-plus rating to the proposed issue of reserve capital instruments (RCIs) by Abbey National PLC (Abbey National; AA/Watch Neg/A-1+). As is already the case for all other long-term debt issues of Abbey National, the rating on the RCIs has been placed on CreditWatch with negative implications. The RCIs are perpetual bonds (albeit callable early in certain conditions, subject to regulatory approval) that are direct obligations of Abbey National. In the unlikely event of liquidation of the bank, the RCIs will be treated as a class of preference shares in Abbey National. Abbey National has constructed the RCIs to bear a mix of the characteristics of preference shares
