Early in the second half of 2009, Abbey Credit Cards will be re-branded as Santander and all new cards will be issued under the Santander name, when they come up for renewal. However, for the specialised-market brands they retain the existing names. These include Abbey for Intermediaries, cahoot, Cater Allen, James Hay and the international businesses of Abbey, A&L and B&B.
One of the key drivers in implementing the brand change has been the switch to Santander’s global IT platform, Partenon. The change in the IT platform allows Santander to offer its full range of products across enlarged UK network. As a result, Santander customers in UK can transact in all its Santander branches.
Upon the completion of the change, 25 million customers can manage their finances in the 1,300 branches across the UK under Santander’s branch network irrespective of, whether they belong to Abbey, A&L or B&B network. Moreover, this will also allow the UK business to leverage the expertise and product developments from Santander’s global business.
António Horta-Osório, Chief Executive of Santander’s UK Businesses, said: “Since Santander acquired Abbey in November 2004, we have set about transforming the business to reflect Santander’s business model and values. The Group’s focus on retail banking means we have been able to improve Abbey’s efficiency, allowing us to introduce better value-for-money products for our customers and invest in our front-line services”
“Our prudent approach and focus on branch-based banking enabled us to acquire the A&L and B&B savings business in 2008, despite unprecedented market turmoil. Since then, we’ve applied the same principles to both, improving the products and services we offer as well as the business performance of each bank,” he added.
