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Santander UK

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Santandayeerr UK plc
Company typePublic limited company
IndustryFinance and Insurance
Founded2010 (London, United Kingdom)
Comprising:
1985 (Alliance & Leicester)
1964 (Bradford & Bingley)
1944 (Abbey National)
earliest components
1852 (Leicester Permanent Building Society)
1851 (Bradford Equitable Building Society & Bingley Permanent Building Society)
1849 (National Permanent Mutual Benefit Building Society)
HeadquartersLondon, England, UK
Key people
Lord Burns, Chairman
Ana Patricia Botín, CEO[1]
ProductsFinancial Services
Number of employees
20,000+
ParentSantander Group
SubsidiariesAlliance & Leicester International
Cahoot
Cater Allen
Santander Private Banking
Websitewww.santander.co.uk

Santander UK plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Spanish Santander Group, based in the United Kingdom. Santander is the third largest bank in the UK in terms of deposits,[2] the second largest in terms of mortgages held,[3] and the fourth largest in terms of branches operated.[4] As of June 2012, Santander has over 25 million customers in the UK.[5]

In October 2011, Moody's Investor Service downgraded the credit rating of 12 UK financial firms including Santander UK, blaming financial weakness.[6]

Santander is frequently ranked the worst bank in the UK for customer service.[7] Between 2007 and 2010 it was ranked as worst bank for customer service in the JD Power UK Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, however in the 2011 survey it improved to second worst.[7][8]

History

Origins

A rebranded branch of Santander in Peterborough

The three constituent companies—Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley—had roots dating back to 1849 as mutual building societies.

The National Freehold Land Society was established by two Liberal Members of Parliament, Sir Joshua Walmsley and Richard Cobden, in 1849. The Abbey Road & St. John's Wood Permanent Benefit Building Society was founded in 1874, based in a Baptist church on Abbey Road in Kilburn. The Abbey National Building Society was formed following the merger in 1944 of what had become Abbey Road Building Society (already the second largest) and National Building Society (at the time the sixth largest).[9] It was the first to demutualise in 1989.

Bradford & Bingley Building Society was formed in 1964 as a result of the merger of the Bradford Equitable Building Society and the Bingley Permanent Building Society, both of which had been established in 1851.[10] It was the last to demutualise, against the board's recommendation, in 2000.

Alliance & Leicester Building Society had its roots in the formation of the Leicester Permanent Benefit Society in 1852 [11] which had changed its name to the Leicester Permanent Building Society by the time it started trading in 1853.[12] The Leicester Building Society (which it had become in 1974 on its merger with the Leicester Temperance Building Society) merged with the Alliance (originally Brighton and Sussex) Building Society in 1985 and subsequently demutualised in 1997.[13]

Formation

Abbey National plc, trading as Abbey, was purchased by the Santander Group in 2004 for £9 billion. Santander purchased Alliance & Leicester in mid-September 2008,[14] followed by the branches and savings business of Bradford & Bingley which had been nationalised by HM Government during the 2008 banking crisis.[15]

Santander UK plc was formed by the renaming of Abbey National plc which also included the branch network and savings business of Bradford & Bingley plc on 11 January 2010.[16] Alliance & Leicester plc merged into the bank on 28 May 2010,[17] and was rebranded by the end of 2010.[18]

Santander UK head office, Triton Square, London

The bank retained the London headquarters of Abbey National and renamed other regional buildings under its own name.[19] The Abbey name was retained initially for Abbey International (now Santander Private Banking), and remains for Abbey for Intermediaries, a division of the bank offering Abbey branded mortgages provided by Santander UK plc.[20]

Recent developments

On 11 January 2010, Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton—Santander's advertising spokesperson—opened the first rebranded Santander branch in central London. Another 300 former Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches in London and the South-East of England were rebranded that same day, with the rest following by the end of January, by which time there were 1,045 Santander branches.[21] Once the remaining branches were rebranded by the end of 2010, the bank had a total of 1,300 branches.[22]

Due to the three-way merger, Santander has the unusual position of having more than one branch in many British high streets. In Northumerland Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, for example, there are three branches, which were formerly Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley respectively. Plymouth city centre has four branches within 300 metres, two of which are adjacent to each other.

Santander launched the UK's first current account without fees (including unauthorised overdrafts) for its current and future mortgage customers.[23][24] Also, all Santander customers are levied no fees when using Santander's automated teller machines in Spain, thus "avoiding the usual fees for taking out cash or for doing so in a foreign currency".[22]

The bank merged the charitable sections of Abbey, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester together as the Santander Foundation.[25]

On 4 August 2010 it was confirmed that Santander would be purchasing the ex-Williams & Glyn's Bank branded English branches of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, as well as the National Westminster Bank branches in Scotland, after much speculation.[26] The deal collapsed on 12 October 2012.[27]

It was also reported that Santander was considering bidding for the Allied Irish Bank (GB) business of Allied Irish Banks.[28]

Santander has frequently been rated the worst bank in the UK for customer service,[29] although by July 2011 had sought to improve, notably by returning call centre operations to the UK from India.[30]

Sponsorships

On 1 December 2008, Santander announced that their Formula One sponsorship deal with McLaren would end in 2010, when Santander would become Ferrari's main sponsor. However, in September 2009, Santander announced it would continue its sponsorship with Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes due to its brand awareness in the UK rising from 20 to 82 percent.[31]

References

  1. ^ "Ana Botín, Chief Executive Officer". Santander UK plc.
  2. ^ "About the Group". Santander. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  3. ^ "Botín quiere convertir el Banco Santander en la institución financiera "número uno" de Reino Unido" (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 11 Jan 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  4. ^ Wilson, Elliot (5 August 2010). "Small business loan boost at Santander". London: The Daily Mail. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  5. ^ "About us". Santander UK plc. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  6. ^ UK financial firms downgraded by Moody's rating agency, BBC News Online (October 7, 2011)
  7. ^ a b "Santander Britains Worst Bank?". The Guardian. 26 Feb 2011.
  8. ^ "2011 UK Retail Banking Satisfaction Survey".
  9. ^ Extract from Building Societies Yearbook 2009/10 (pp.126 & 152) Building Societies Association (retrieved 17 November 2009)
  10. ^ "Bradford & Bingley History". Bradford & Bingley. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
  11. ^ "Santander scraps UK bank brands". BBC News Online. 27 May 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  12. ^ 1881 HENRY THOMAS CHAMBERS Leicester City Council (retrieved 30 January 2010)
  13. ^ Extract from Building Societies Yearbook 2007/8 (pp.131, 126 and 148) Building Societies Association (retrieved 29 January 2010)
  14. ^ "A&L shareholders approve takeover". BBC News Online. 16 September 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  15. ^ "Spanish bank giant to acquire B&B". BBC News Online. 28 September 2008. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  16. ^ "Santander: Abbey, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester are coming together to become Santander". Santander. Archived from the original on 2009-12-27. Retrieved 27 December 2009.
  17. ^ [1]
  18. ^ Santander's decision to rename Alliance & Leicester 'disappointing' This is Business - East Midlands. 28 May 2009
  19. ^ "Website legal". Santander UK plc. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  20. ^ "Questions and Answers" (PDF). Abbey for Intermediaries. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  21. ^ Santander rebrands Abbey and Bradford & Bingley BBC News Online. 11 January 2010
  22. ^ a b Ian Pollock (10 January 2010). "Will Santander challenge the big banks?". BBC News Online. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  23. ^ Santander launches current account with no fees or penalty charges Jacquie Bowser. Brand Republic. 20 November 2009
  24. ^ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b38ab4d6-fe11-11de-9340-00144feab49a.html
  25. ^ "About us". Santander Foundation. 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  26. ^ "Santander pays £1.65bn for 318 RBS branches". London: The Daily Telegraph. 4 August 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  27. ^ "RBS sale of 316 branches to Santander collapses". BBC News Online. 12 October 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  28. ^ Dey, Iain; Lyons, Tom; Coffey, Aine (28 March 2010). "Santander eyes Allied Irish Banks deal". London: The Times. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
  29. ^ "Santander Britains Worst Bank?". The Guardian. 26 Feb 2011.
  30. ^ "Santander brings call centres back to UK". BBC News Online. 8 July 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
  31. ^ http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/9/9931.html
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