London -- Standard&Poor's CreditWire 8/20/98 -- Standard&Poor's today placed its double-'A'-minus long-term and 'A-1'-plus short-term ratings on Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (Royal Bank) and related entities on CreditWatch with negative implications (see list below). This action follows the announcement that it is in discussions with Bank of Ireland (BOI) to buy the 23.5% of U.S. subsidiary Citizens Financial Group (CFG) that it does not already own. This is the result of BOI exercising a "put" option it acquired at the time of the April 1996 merger of the two banks' respective U.S. operations which comprise the present CFG. The price of the minority, whose book value at March 1998 was UK148 million, is not yet
