Santander launches attack on the UK
Spanish giant Santander, the owner of Abbey and Bradford & Bingley, is a name which few in the UK would recognise at first glance. Despite the fact it is one of Spain's leading financial institutions it has chosen so far to keep its name out of the UK market and instead concentrated on the Abbey and Bradford & Bingley brand names. However, as of Monday we will see a number of Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches rebranded as Santander.
It is unclear why the company has chosen now to rebrand itself as Santander, effectively doing away with Abbey and Bradford & Bingley, but it may have something to do with the plight of the UK financial sector and the public disdain for recognised UK banks. If this is the case, this could turn out to be a fairly useful change of strategy and could be seen to differentiate Santander from the more traditional UK banking institutions which have upset the UK public.
There is no doubt that the UK financial sector is changing and while a number believe that public disdain for the sector will only be a short term feature, there are some who believe that the trust factor between customers and banks may well have been lost forever.
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