A&L takeover set to secure Mersey jobs

Jul 15 2008 by Bill Gleeson, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Spanish bank that yesterday revealed a £1.25bn deal to buy Alliance & Leicester said it was keen to retain the British group’s Bootle-based commercial banking arm.

The news will offer re-assurance to about 2,000 local people after Santander, which already owns Abbey, was forced to confirm it had struck a deal to buy Alliance & Leicester (A&L) once the news was leaked to the Stock Market.

The takeover, expected to be completed in October, will mean greater financial security for A&L staff. A&L has struggled more than most British banks to raise funds in the current difficult credit conditions. Santander, on the other hand, has no exposure to the sub-prime crisis in the US.

But unions are raising concerns about job losses at high street branches across the country.

A spokesman for Santander said breaking into commercial banking was a long-standing ambition for the group which the A&L deal would help become a reality. The Santander spokesman told the Daily Post: “It’s a very complementary fit to Abbey for three reasons.

“Their branch network is quite complementary to ours, with no great crossover. We have about 700 branches already and they have 250. We announced earlier this year that we wanted to add 300 branches to our network over the next five years. This accele-rates that plan by several years.