Capital Economy, Business and Finance
Santander is considering quitting the UK market as part of its strategic review. That’s according to the FT, which says the review is at an early stage and no announcement from the Spanish group is imminent.
Santander UK is one of the country’s leading banks, serving 14 million customers and holding more than £200 billion in customer lending.
It operates 444 branches and employs about 21,000 people in the UK. Last October it said it would cut 1,400 jobs to reduce costs.
The bank’s frustrations reportedly include Britain’s ringfencing rules, which force large banks to separate their retail and investment operations.
Introduced to improve resilience in the wake of the global financial crisis, ringfencing has been criticised for being expensive and discouraging growth.
Santander issued a statement at the weekend saying the UK was a “core market” and “this has not changed”.
