Abbey National and Bradford & Bingley to rebrand as Santander

Abbey National and Bradford & Bingley to rebrand as Santander

From the 11th January, customers will have seen the signs on the front of Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches change to Santander, and Alliance & Leicester will also make the switch later in 2010.

As part of the name change, customers will be able to use any of the 1,300 Santander rebranded branches.

There will be some administrative amendments as part of the switch-over, and customers will be provided with new account details when they next make a transaction, but Santander have reiterated that customers do not personally need to take any action in connection with the name change, and that any existing payments, such as Standing Orders or Direct Debits, will not be affected.

Existing accounts and products from Abbey and Bradford & Bingley have been rebranded with the Santander name - for example the old Abbey eSaver Issue 2 is now the Santander eSaver Issue 2, an instant access savings account paying 2.5% AER, and the Abbey Direct ISA Issue 3 is now the Santander Direct ISA Issue 3, which pays 2% APR.

Some customers may already have seen the impact of the name change with the introduction of products like the Santander Zero credit card, which is popular for its 0% foreign exchange fee, and the Santander Zero current account which offers mortgage customers a fee-free overdraft, no fees for using your debit card abroad and 6% AER on account balances of up to £2500 for 12 months.

The name change will affect some 25 million customers, and comes after the Spanish banking giant's purchase of Abbey in 2004 and Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester in 2008.

Founded in 1857, Santander is one of the largest and strongest banking groups in the world, with over 90 million customers, 170,000 employees and more branches than any other international bank.