Santander wins bigger share of banking market
Feb 4 2010 By Kelly Macnamara
SANTANDER said today it has captured more of the UK banking market after seeing a rise in new bank accounts and mortgage lending last year.
The lender, which has recently completed the rebranding of its Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches, posted a 30% rise in annual trading pre-tax profits to £1.54 billion in the year to December 31.
Santander has launched a fee-free Zero current account for existing customers and said it had opened an extra 1.1 million new bank accounts last year, slightly above its target.
Its share of the gross mortgage market rose to more than 18% in 2009, from around 14% the previous year, as net home lending climbed to £7.6 billion.
Santander will continue to take on the existing retail banking establishment by increasing the number of accounts each customer holds.
It said it plans to launch more products like the Zero current account "to reward" its existing 25 million customers.
The account, which is only available to Santander mortgage customers, has no overdraft fees and pays interest of 6% for the first year on balances of up to £2,500, providing at least £1,000 is paid into the account each month.
Santander, which is in the process of absorbing the Alliance & Leicester business, said after the rebranding its customers now had access to about 1,000 branches - rising to 1,300 after A&L is added.
Growth in net deposits was said to be strong, with gains of £14.9 billion from retail, corporate and private banking customers, which it said showed the bank was seen as a "safe haven" for savers.
