London- Alsharq Tribune- Sarah Benkraouda
The head of Santander has quashed rumours that the bank is considering quitting the UK. Recent reports suggested that the Spanish bank was reviewing its presence on the British high street after shedding hundreds of jobs over the past year. But Santander’s boss Ana Botin has insisted the bank will remain operating in the UK.
“The UK is not for sale,” Ms Botin told The Sunday Times. “We love the UK and the UK will remain a core market. We have a strategy review every year
“The UK is profitable, the UK provides diversification to us because it’s a different currency, it’s a low-risk balance sheet and I’m very happy with how the UK is making progress.”
Last week, a report in the Financial Times claimed the company was considering a number of options after the UK arm of the bank saw lower returns than overseas markets.
A former executive said Santander UK had caused “frustrations” in recent years for a number of reasons including “its persistently high cost base, the UK’s ring-fencing regime, its independent board, and the fact that it did not benefit from rising interest rates in recent years as much as its other markets like Spain”.
Spanish owner Banco Santander announced it was cutting more than 1,400 jobs across its UK business last October amid ongoing efforts to reduce costs.
And in November Santander UK revealed profits plummeted in its third quarter as it took a £295 million hit following a major court decision on British car finance commission.
“The UK is a core market for Santander and this has not changed,” Santander insisted in a statement following the report last week.
News of the potential review raised concerns about how consumers could be affected should a major player decide to leave Britain’s high streets.
Douglas Grant, group chief executive of financial services group Manx Financial Group, said it would “deal a significant blow to competition within the banking sector, particularly in the mortgage market”.
“For a Government striving to ensure financial stability and address the housing shortage, such a move could prove highly detrimental,” he said.
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