Santander confirms Royal Bank of Scotland branch offer
Spanish giant Santander has today confirmed a potential £1.8 billion for the 318 Royal Bank of Scotland branches which are up for auction. It is believed that Santander is the only firm bidder for the branches despite the fact that a number of parties came forward when the auction process began. The branches are being sold because of an EU ruling in relation to state aid for Royal Bank of Scotland when the company was on the verge of collapse.
Santander has been picking up UK assets for some time now having bought Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and the savings arm of Bradford & Bingley. If the Royal Bank of Scotland offer is successful, as seems likely, the company will have a 14% share of the UK mortgage market and 10% share of the retail savings market. In many ways Santander has been ahead of the game having changed a number of well-known UK brands to the "Santander" brand thereby escaping some of the growing consumer disdain aimed at the UK banking arena.
Many people expect further consolidation in the UK banking sector with the potential for retail banking and investment banking arms to be separated at companies such as Barclays bank.
Share this..
Related stories
Do you really need an overdraft?
As the UK banking sector looks to recover lost income from various rulings by the UK government and the regulatory bodies, it would appear that overdrafts are very high on the agenda. While many banks have announced an increase in their 0% barrier between a credit and debt balance on your account, many have also hiked interest rates outside of the buffer zone and also introduced significant fines...
Read MoreTSB planning to open up to 30 new branches
09/09/2014 TSB have confirmed that they are planning to open up to 30 local branches in the UK. The bank has declined to confirm where the new branches will be, as they are still negotiating the acquisition of the new sites, but experts say they’re most likely to be in the Midlands and the South East. The move is quite surprising, given that the current trend across the banking sector i...
Read MoreDoes Loyalty Pay In The World Of Finance?
In many areas of life we are taught the value of loyalty, none more so than the world of finance with the majority of UK savers and borrowers remaining with the same bank for much of their working lives. While this trend has changed a little with the onset of the internet, there is still a great resistance to change for many people, but are you rewarded for that loyalty? Do you still receive the...
Read MoreIrish government claims banks will honour their obligations
The Irish government has today confirmed that it fully expects Irish banks to honour their obligations because a failure to do so would seriously jeopardise the government's ability to raise finance in the future. There is no doubt that concern regarding the Irish banking situation continues to grow and with Anglo Irish Bank's senior debt downgraded by three notches today it is easy to see why som...
Read MoreBanks to appeal overdraft charges decision
Banks are today expected to formally challenge the recent High Court ruling which cleared the way for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to investigate overdraft charges. The High Court has ruled that the OFT can scrutinise the charges levied by bank accounts providers when their customers go overdrawn or when their cheques bounce. However, at a case management meeting between the two parties today,...
Read More