With Abbey, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester all coming together under the Santander brand in 2010, we take a look at how these changes will affect you.
As you may already know, Abbey, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester are undergoing a change of name to Santander within the next year or so. But what will this mean for you and your finances if you bank with them?
We look at how these changes will affect you as a customer.
What is Santander?
Santander Group, a Spanish banking giant, is currently the seventh largest bank in the world. It acquired Abbey back in 2004, going on to add Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley to their books in 2008. It now plans to bring together all 3 of these banks under the umbrella name of Santander.
Santander have in fact been trading in the UK for over 60 years, and with 24 million customers nationwide, they are the UK’s 3rd largest bank. They have an imposing presence globally too, with branches throughout 40 countries around the world.
When will the changes happen?
If you’re an Abbey customer you’ll be the first to notice changes to your bank. Throughout July and August 2009 Abbey credit cards will be rebranded Santander, with all new credit card accounts being issued with Santander plastic. Re-issued or replacement cards will also bear the Santander name.
Abbey and Bradford & Bingley are set to fully change their names (including store exteriors and interiors, literature etc) to Santander in early 2010. Alliance & Leicester will follow on a little later, and be known as Santander from mid-2010 onwards.
Santander state that if you are an Abbey customer you will enjoy access to twice as many branches once the name-change has taken place. If you bank with A&L or B&B, you’ll be able to access up to 4 times as many branches. Throughout the latter part of 2009 and into 2010, you’ll start to notice the name Santander appearing across more products, posters, literature and so on.
Santander aim to make the changes as smooth as possible. They have assured their customers that they will not have to take any action themselves while the changes are taking place. Also, all customers will be written to with detailed information before things like account numbers are set to change.
How will this all affect me?
The most significant way in which this re-brand will affect customers is that all financial products including credit cards, savings accounts and so on across the 3 respective banks will be merged to create new products offered by the parent Santander.
One of the more beneficial implications of this is that whether you bank with Abbey, A&L or B&B, you’ll soon be able to transact across all 3 banks, as they will all be under the same name and on the same computer network. This means that you’ll have access to more branches and cash machines than before, and Santander’s products will be offered across all 3 banks.
As Santander’s intention is to offer a blanket set of products under the same name, you may notice some changes to rates of interest on credit cards, savings, or your overdraft balance. Some rates may go up and some down as Santander attempt to iron out the differences between the 3 banks’ current product rates. In the coming months it’s worth keeping an eye on changes such as these, though Santander will of course write to you with any alterations before they are implemented.
Santander are yet to make clear all the changes set to happen, but recently announced that the interest rate on current accounts for A&L and Abbey will be boosted to 6%, an extremely competitive figure in today’s market. This is set to be fixed for a period of a year, after which rates will again be evaluated.
Will my savings be protected?
The first £50,000 saved per person per institution is protected by the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) in case a bank goes under. But what will happen when the now separate institutions of A&L, B&B and Abbey become one institution?
In fact at the moment Abbey and B&B are already under one license while A&L remains under a separate license, so the 3 banks count as only 2 institutions under FSCS regulations. This means that if you have savings with all 3 banks respectively, only £100,000 of your savings are protected by the FSCS (the combination of the two separate license allowances).
The 2 separate licenses are due to remain legally distinct from each other until the end of 2010, and Santander are yet to announce whether they will indeed be merged together into one institution (meaning a limit of £50,000 protected per person) or remain separate after that time. So if you hold savings with one or more of these banks, it’s worth keeping an eye on them over the next year to see what emerges.
Santander’s website has plenty of information about the re-brand, and offers you the opportunity to ask questions should you be concerned about what will happen to your finances.
