Santander abandons separation plans post Brexit
(29 November 2016 – Europe) Following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, Spanish banking giant, Banco Santander is forgoing plans to separate its consumer lending operations from large corporate and institutional banking in the UK.
The lender is discussing fresh proposals with the Bank of England to meet the regulator’s ringfencing rules, which force major lenders to isolate riskier commercial business from retail operations.
Santander is the fifth-largest retail bank in Britain behind Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Barclays.
The reversal, which comes after years of preparations to meet the rules due in 2019, may give Santander greater flexibility to move some operations out of the UK, if necessary after Brexit.
Chairman of the bank’s British unit Shriti Vadera has been vocal in warning Brexit could damage the nation’s status as a hub for investment banking and international finance.
Santander UK Chief Executive Officer Nathan Bostock was preparing to place £173 billion (A$295 billion) of retail and small business banking activities within the ringfence under the leadership of his deputy, Javier San Felix. Last year, he appointed former RBS executive Chris Sullivan to head the corporate bank outside of the ringfence with about £28 billion of commercial loans.
“A strength for Santander is having many options, due to our unique model,” a spokesman for the bank in London said in a statement.
“Santander is the only scale challenger to the big four banks in the UK We are committed to supporting our customers in the U.K. and growing our business presence here.”
Subscribe