London -- Standard&Poor's CreditWire 12/14/1998 -- Standard&Poor's today lowered its long-term counterparty credit ratings on Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (Royal Bank) to single-'A'-plus from double-'A'-minus. At the same time, Standard&Poor's lowered its short-term counterparty credit ratings on the entities to 'A-1' from 'A-1'-plus. The ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed on Aug. 20, 1998. The outlook is stable. (See list below for all ratings.) The bank's ratings had been placed on CreditWatch with negative implications after the announcement that Royal Bank was to acquire the minority interest in U.S. subsidiary Citizens Financial Group (Citizens). The likely size of the purchase, combined with Royal
