LONDON (Standard&Poor's) May 29, 2007--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it affirmed its 'AA-' long- and 'A-1+' short-term counterparty credit ratings on Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBSG) and its related subsidiaries (the main operating banks are rated 'AA'). This follows today's announced proposed offer for ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (AA-/Watch Pos/A-1+) by an RBSG led consortium of banks, which also includes Fortis group (Fortis; the banking division, Fortis Bank, is rated AA-/Stable/A-1+) and Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A. (Santander; AA/Stable/A-1+). The outlook is stable. RBSG is playing the lead role in a consortium that has offered €71.1 billion for ABN AMRO, which represents a premium of about 13% to an existing offer from Barclays
