LONDON (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) Feb. 13, 2001--Standard&Poor's announced that its long-term ratings on Abbey National PLC and related entities remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on Dec. 18, 2000 pending the outcome of Abbey National's merger discussions with Bank of Scotland (A+/Watch Pos/A-1). The short-term ratings also remain unaffected. This follows today's announcement of Abbey National's proposed joint venture with Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS: A+/Negative/A-1). The joint venture will provide administration services for Abbey National's residential mortgage lending (including securitized mortgages) and other parts of its personal lending portfolio. These services will also be offered to third parties. Standard&Poor's considers that the joint venture should, over time, contribute to improvements
