Santander to take over High Street banking names

It has been revealed that a number of well known financial names will disappear from the High Streets in the UK from next year, when they are rebranded in the name of the Spanish financial institution that owns them.

The names that will disappear from the High Street are Abbey, Bradford & Bingley, and Alliance & Leicester, and this results from the decision of Santander, the Spanish financial institution that owns the lenders, to rebrand them in its own name.

The individual brands of these lenders date back as far as the late 1800s, but the individual brands will cease to exist from next year, when they all become Santander branches. The aim of the Spanish bank Santander is to get all of these banks rebranded by the end of next year. The first to be rebranded will be Abbey and Bradford & Bingley.

Abbey was acquired by Santander in 2004 and the savings arm of Bradford & Bingley was acquired in 2008.

Abbey and Bradford & Bingley are set to be rebranded in the first quarter of next year, according to reports. Finally, the Alliance & Leicester will be rebranded later on in the year.

However, customers will have to start getting used to the name Santander from this year, as it will start rebranding Abbey credit cards from this year. It is thought that the total cost of the rebranding process for Santander will come to around £12 million.

An official from the Santander group stated: ‘Customers trust us as a global brand and they feel very safe about their savings. It’s important for customers who travel around the UK to have 1,300 branches to transact with – and they will have the same product and the same people facing them in the branches.‘

Tags: santander, Street banking names, bradford & bingley, individual brands, abbey, spanish bank santander, rebranded, uk