LONDON (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) Dec. 18, 2000--Standard&Poor's today placed its long-term counterparty credit ratings on Abbey National PLC and related entities on CreditWatch with negative implications. The short-term ratings on these entities are affirmed. At the same time, Standard&Poor's placed its ratings on Bank of Scotland (BoS) and related entities on CreditWatch with positive implications excluding short-term ratings on Bank of Western Australia Ltd. (See list below for all rating actions.) The rating actions follow the announcement on Dec. 15, 2000 by Abbey National that it and BoS are continuing to proceed with discussions regarding a merger of the two groups and that Abbey National, with the agreement of BoS, had submitted a draft Merger
