LONDON (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 28, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services stated today that its ratings on The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBSG; AA-/Stable/A-1+) and related entities are unaffected by RBSG's announcement today that it will buy back up to £1 billion of its shares through a buyback program over the next 12 months, and will increase its ordinary dividend payout ratio to 41%. Although RBSG runs its capital base very tightly, it has rebuilt its capitalization in line with expectations following its 2004 acquisition of U.S.-based Charter One, and Standard&Poor's expects RBSG to pace its buybacks in line with profit generation to ensure that capitalization remains stable compared with year-end 2005 levels. Group profitability remains
