Spanish banking giant Banco Santander has been awarded the accolade of being named Bank of the Year in Latin America by The Banker magazine. Santander has firmly established itself in the burgeoning Latin American market, and now derives 40% of its profits from the continent. Two years ago the bank acquired ABN Amro’s business in [...]
The appointment earlier this month of Santander UK chief executive, António Horta-Osório, to succeed Eric Daniels as group chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group has been followed by reports that two other Santander executives will be making a similar switch. Juan Colombás, currently executive director of risk at Santander UK, is said to be taking [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has imposed certain requirements on Alliance and Leicester Personal Finance Limited (part of Santander), American Express Services Europe Limited, HFC Bank Limited (part of the HSBC Group) and Welcome Financial Services Limited (part of Cattles plc), regarding their use of charging orders. A charging order is a court order [...]
Lloyds Banking Group’s appointment of António Horta-Osório to succeed Eric Daniels as group chief executive has been swiftly followed with the news that Ana Patricia Botín will replace Mr Horta-Osório as head of Santander’s UK operations. Ms Botín, who is the daughter of Santander chairman, Emilio Botín, currently heads the group’s Banesto retail operations. The [...]
Lloyds Banking Group has announced the appointment of António Horta-Osório to succeed Eric Daniels as group chief executive. He will join the group early in 2011 and take up the post on 1st March. Mr Horta-Osório has been chief executive officer of Santander UK since 2006, and according to Lloyds “has led the successful expansion [...]
Santander recorded a 9.8% year-on-year fall in profit over the nine months to the end of September, to €6.08 billion, having recently accommodated a one-off charge of €472 million with regard to new rules on debt provision introduced by Bank of Spain. Before the impact of Bank of Spain’s actions, attributable profit for the first [...]
Which? believes that Britain’s savers are missing out on more than £12 billion a year by keeping their money in accounts that pay “miserly” rates. According to research from the consumer group, almost half of the 1,200 plus savings accounts available in the UK pay 0.5% interest or less, with one in four accounts paying [...]
Santander is creating 400 jobs across the UK, in addition to the 600 new branch-based posts announced in August. Liverpool, Glasgow and Leicester will benefit from the recruitment drive, which will bolster the group’s call centre operations. The Spanish bank expects to open one million new accounts in the UK in 2010, having hit the [...]
Banco Santander is to acquire 70.36% of the shares of Bank Zachodni WBK from Allied Irish Banks for PLN11.666bn (equivalent to €2.938bn). The deal is subject to regulatory approval, and to a vote of the AIB shareholders. BZ WBK is the third largest bank in Poland according to net profit and branch network size. Last [...]
Santander has issued a formal apology to UK customers who have experienced poor levels of service. The Spanish banking group, which has undertaken a spate of acquisitions in the UK in recent years (namely Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley’s savings book) has admitted to basic failures in setting up accounts and processing [...]
Spanish banking giant Banco Santander is to acquire 318 branches from Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), for an estimated cost of £1.65bn (around €1.99bn), lower than the £2bn RBS had been hoping for. The deal is expected to be concluded in 15-18 months, subject to the necessary regulatory green lights. Santander will acquire 311 [...]
Santander is to create 600 new jobs in the UK, in a recruitment drive that will support growth across its 1,300-strong branch network. The Spanish banking group, which owns Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley’s savings business, expects to open one million new accounts in the UK in 2010, having hit the half-million [...]
Banco Santander has released its financial results for the first six months and second quarter of 2010. In the first six months the Spanish banking giant made net income of €4.45bn, down 1.6% from the same period last year, with pre-tax profits recorded at €6.3bn. However, in Q2 Santander enjoyed net profits of €2.23bn, the [...]
Banco Santander and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB Group) have agreed a deal whereby Santander Consumer Bank AG will acquire SEB Group’s retail banking business in Germany. The agreement is expected to be completed in 2011, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals. The deal, thought to be worth around €555m, will double Santander’s network of branches, [...]
Santander has emerged as the sole bidder for the 318 branches put up for sale by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). RSB needs to sell the network to appease the EU Competition Commission with regard to its level of taxpayer support. However, it has until 2013 to make its divestment and Santander is understood to [...]
Banco Santander has announced that it has reached an agreement with Bank of America to acquire the 24.9% stake Bank of America presently holds in Santander Mexico, in a deal worth $2.5bn in cash. After the transaction, which requires regulatory approval and is hoped to be complete within 90 days, is complete Santander will hold [...]
Santander is challenging the lethargy that underlies the reluctance of Britons to save money by switching bank accounts. Research from the Spanish banking giant indicates that 70% of UK adults (or over 34 million people) have not switched their main current account since 2000. Furthermore, 74% of those questioned said they had no plans to [...]
Santander is extending the scope of its much publicised ZERO current account. The fee-free account was launched in January for those with a Santander mortgage and from 8th March, it will also be available to those holding a Santander investment product, or prepared to set one up. The bank reckons around 2.5 million customers who [...]
