BB. Bradford & Bing

    RNS Number : 5203E
  Banco Santander S.A.
  29 September 2008
   



    MATERIAL FACT ANNOUNCEMENT


    Bradford & Bingley's direct channels and retail deposits to transfer to Abbey


    Following the announcement by HM Treasury (29 September 2008) to take Bradford & Bingley plc (B&B) into public ownership, the retail
deposits, branch network and its related employees will transfer, under the provisions of the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008, to
Abbey National plc ("Abbey"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Banco Santander S.A. ("Santander").

    As outlined in the HM Treasury statement, all of B&B's customer loans and treasury assets, which includes the �41 billion of mortgage
assets, will be taken under public ownership.  

    The transfer to Abbey consists of:

�         �20 billion retail deposit base with 2.7 million customers;
 
�         B&B's direct channels including 197 retail branches, 141 agencies (distribution outlets in 3rd party premises) and related
employees.



    The acquisition price will be �612 million, including the transfer of �208 million of capital relating to offshore companies.   

    The transfer of the B&B's customers and their retail deposits further strengthens Abbey's retail customer deposit base and franchise. It
also allows Santander to deliver increased critical mass in the UK through greater distribution scale. 

    The combined business of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester (A&L) and B&B will have 1,286 branches with a good geographic spread across the UK.
 In addition, it is also expected that upon completion of the transfer, Santander's UK market share of retail deposits will increase to
around 10%1, and the combined business will also have a customer base of 24 million.
                         




    Anto Horta-Oso, Chief Executive of Abbey, said: "This is good news for Bradford & Bingley's savings customers. They can be certain that
their hard-earned savings are with a bank they can trust as Abbey is part of the Santander Group, one of the world's most successful banks.
It has an AA credit rating and a strong retail focus with more branches worldwide than any other international bank. As such, Santander has
been well-positioned to succeed in the current market turbulence.

    "The transfer of deposits and the branch network further increases the scale of our operations in the UK to around 10% of the market, an
important strategic objective for us. We will significantly increase the potential of our distribution capability through the additional
branches and have brought a further 2.7 million customers to the bank."

    Bradford & Bingley's customers will continue to use their existing channels - branches, telephone and internet - for transactions, as
usual. The Bradford & Bingley brand will also remain.

    1 Retail deposit market share based upon combination of Abbey, A&L and B&B, subject to the successful completion of A&L transaction and
transfer of B&B retail deposits.


    Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) 29 September, 2008


This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
  END 
 
ACQUKSBRWARKURR

Bradford & Bingley (LSE:BB.)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Abr 2024 a May 2024

Bradford & Bingley (LSE:BB.)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De May 2023 a May 2024