Santander to rebrand British lenders

Spanish banking giant Santander is to give all of its UK subsidiaries its global brand name from the first quarter of 2010.

Bradford & Bingley savings, Alliance & Leicester and Abbey will all become known as Santander under the initiative, which will see 1,300 branches bearing the name by the end of next year.

Customers of the lenders will be able to carry out transactions at any Santander branch once the changes have been brought in, a feature that the company’s UK chief executive, Antonio Horta-Osorio, suggests could make debt management more convenient.

“Bringing together the three brands means it will be even easier for customers to manage their finances as they will have access to over 1,300 branches once the change is complete,” he remarked.

Modifications will first need to be made to the company’s computer systems so that the different branches are all compatible.

Santander is not the first global brand to move towards renaming its UK subsidiaries in recent months. Aviva is set to change Norwich Union later this year.

By Chris Trimble