High street banking giant Santander is looking ‘to quit Britain over excessive red tape’ – a decision which would hit millions of customers and tens of thousands of staff.
According to reports, the Spanish financial company is thinking about leaving the UK as it evaluates its upcoming commercial dealings.
According to the Financial Times, it is believed the possible exit from the British Isles is down to frustrations over UK rules introduced after the 2008 financial crisis, which has led to lower returns for the bank than in other markets.
Large banks were forced to keep their retail banking separate from riskier assets and foreign operations following the crisis, which the banking behemoth claims has led to lower profits than in other markets, such as Spain.
The Financial Times reported that a former Santander executive said it had ‘always been a possibility’ that executive chair, Ana Botín, would sell up as a result.
Insiders say executives want to shift their focus on growth regions like the US after share prices fell by a third in just over 10 years.
The plans call for the bank to withdraw from retail and commercial banking in the UK while keeping some business interests and investment, and it has hired TV stars Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly as part of an advertising campaign.
There are some 14 million Santander customers who could be affected if the apparent plans go ahead, in addition to approximately 20,000 employees across 444 branches in the UK. It also holds about £200 billion in customer lending.
It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the bosses of Britain’s regulators to help revive the UK economy by ‘tearing down the regulatory barriers that hold back growth’.
Last year, Ms Reeves promised to tear up red tape for the City of London after claiming regulation after the 2008 financial crash had ‘gone too far’.
In her first Mansion House speech last November, she said: ‘While it was right that successive governments made regulatory changes after the global financial crisis, to ensure that regulation kept pace with the global economy of the time, it is important that we learn the lessons of the past.
‘These changes have resulted in a system which sought to eliminate risk-taking. That has gone too far and, in places, it has had unintended consequences which we must now address.’
Let’s be honest, Santander has an extremely low interest rate for businesses and customers. They also have very short opening hours, and you could probably shop elsewhere, but it is a real rigamarole because you have to switch everything over, direct debits, standing orders et cetera, and for those that have a mortgage with the said bank your mortgage will usually be sold to another lender, but again it’s a total pain in the posterior.
Who caused the issue or how it happened is irrelevant. Finding alternate banking arrangements is currently an issue for Santanders’ clients, which adds to people’s worries.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 