LONDON (Standard&Poor's) March 24, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its ratings on various hybrid capital securities (Hybrids) issued by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBSG; A/Stable/A-1) by one notch to 'BB-' from 'BB', and Hybrids issued by its main operating entity The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS; A+/Stable/A-1) by one notch to 'BB' from 'BB+'. At the same time, we lowered the ratings on preference shares with voting rights (Preference Shares) of RBSG and National Westminster Bank PLC (A+/Stable/A-1) by two notches. Furthermore, the ratings on RBSG and RBS Hybrids and Preference Shares were removed from CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on Jan. 19, 2009. Our counterparty