Santander to end ‘overlap’ with closures

Spanish bank Santander is closing 56 branches in Britain to remove overlap in its network after it bolted together three separate businesses, which left it with two branches side by side in some places.

Santander’s purchase of Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley during the 2008 financial crisis came four years after it bought Abbey National and left it with multiple branches in some towns. It is now closing sites on high streets where there is a clear overlap.

The lender, which is preparing to spin off and float its British business next year, said the process should be completed by the end of this year and there will not be any job cuts.

The bank has 1,378 UK branches. Last year it bought 318 outlets from Royal Bank of Scotland, but the integration of those has been delayed and they are not included among the branches being shut down.