Business Services Industry

S&P Asgns Prlm Rtgs in COBE's 3rd UK Credit Card ABS

Business Wire, June 27, 2003

Business Editors

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 27, 2003

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its preliminary credit ratings to the EUR500 million (equivalent) asset-backed floating-rate notes to be issued by Sherwood Castle Funding Series 2003-1 PLC, a bankruptcy-remote SPE (see list below).

This issuance will be backed by Visa, MasterCard, and American Express receivables on accounts owned by Capital One Bank (Europe) PLC (COBE), the wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Capital One Bank. It is COBE's third public securitization of U.K.-originated credit card receivables after series 2002-1 in April 2002 and series 2002-2 in October 2002.

The notes will be issued out of the receivables trust created on Aug. 8, 2001 and out of which the previous two series were issued. The trust was influenced by the U.S. master trust structure and is essentially designed to remove the requirement to size for any potential documentary tax (stamp duty) after the transfer of receivables to the receivables trustee.

The preliminary ratings on this latest issuance of notes reflect the protection provided by various early amortization triggers, the suitability of the servicer to fulfill its role in this transaction, and the sound payment structure and cash flow mechanics of the transaction.

A further key consideration is the strong protection for the class A and B noteholders provided by a combination of the subordination of each class of notes and excess spread.

Protection is provided to the class C notes through a spread capture mechanism that traps cash into an account with a bank with a short-term rating of at least 'A-1 ' if the average of three months' available spread falls below 5%. Additional protection is provided by excess spread.

The full presale report for this transaction was published today and is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's Web-based credit analysis system, at www.ratingsdirect.com. The presale report can also be found on Standard & Poor's Web site at www.standardandpoors.com. Click on Credit Ratings; then, in the left navigation bar under Browse by Business Line, select Structured Finance; scroll down to Presale Credit Reports to locate the article. Alternatively, call one of Standard & Poor's Ratings Desks: London (44) 20-7847-7400; Paris (33) 1-4420-6705; Frankfurt (49) 69-33-999-223; or Stockholm (46) 8-440-5916. Members of the media may contact the Press Office Hotline on (44) 20-7826-3605 or via media_europe@standardandpoors.com.

RATINGS LIST
Sherwood Castle Funding Series 2003-1 PLC
EUR500 Million (Equivalent*) Asset-Backed Floating-Rate Notes
Class        Preliminary      Preliminary
             Rating           Amount (Mil. EUR)
A            AAA              420
B            A                35
C            BBB              45

*Note that at closing the class A notes may be split into other
currencies with an expected equivalent value of EUR420 million.

ANALYST E-MAIL ADDRESSES

alexandra_gropp@standardandpoors.com

StructuredFinanceEurope@standardandpoors.com