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Santander to put £1bn into Abbey, A&L
13.10.08
Spanish banking giant Santander today moved to shore up the finances of its UK High Street financial services chains Abbey and Alliance & Leicester with a £1 billion cash injection.
While other leading British banks Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB, HBOS and Barclays went cap in hand to the Government or the City to shore up their financial strength, the Spanish group said it would be using its own resources.
Santander said the £1 billion it is putting into Abbey and A&L will mean its UK operations will have a tier one capital ratio of core funding of 8%, in line with new Government demands on the level of financial viability among banks.
HSBC and Standard Chartered have also said they will not need Government money. Santander is said to be close to a $2.5 billion (£1.4 billion) bid for troubled Sovereign Bancorp, America's largest building society-equivalent.
