RBS branch sale may be back on with Santander

Paul_1977

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/16/santander-royal-bank-scotland-bid-rbs-branch-takeover-williams-glyn

The sell-off of the branches is much delayed, and was originally supposed to take place before the end of 2013 under terms agreed with the EU at the time of the RBS bailout. But that timetable was abandoned when Santander pulled out of buying the branches in 2012, forcing RBS to then pursue the stock market offering.

However, Santander appears to be back in the running. While not commenting on the speculation directly, a spokesperson for the bank said: “We will continue to analyse opportunities in our core 10 markets where they add value and benefit to our customers and shareholders. That said, we do not comment on rumours.”

Virgin Money, which bought part of Northern Rock off the government in 2011, is also regarded as a potential contender. It declined to comment.

Make your mind up Santander.

chambta

That better not be the case. I'll be very angry (as a staff member primarily and on behalf of my customers).

colsten

why?

characters characters

chambta

colsten wrote: »

why?

characters characters

RBS in England and Wales has been messed about for years and during this time customers have by and large been hugely resilient & loyal to their branches and my colleagues in them.

Santander's purchase was an unpopular move at the time and it's demise widely welcomed so a resurrection of it after the impact of a previous collapsed move would not generate any positivity at all.

Just when some certainty seemed to here (with W&G's impending introduction) it's almost back to square one how many years down the line? Is it five or six? I can't barely recall what it was like before!

Furthermore, how would a purchase by Santander improve competitiveness in the UK banking sector which, apart from punishing RBS, was seemingly the entire aim of the sale directive?

Flugelhorn

I was one of the customers who moved accounts to Scotland, began to wonder why as nothing was happening. Looks like might have been good move

colsten

chambta wrote: »

Santander's purchase was an unpopular move at the time and it's demise widely welcomed so a resurrection of it after the impact of a previous collapsed move would not generate any positivity at all.

why?

chambta wrote: »

Furthermore, how would a purchase by Santander improve competitiveness in the UK banking sector which, apart from punishing RBS, was seemingly the entire aim of the sale directive?

given that Santander UK is a fraction of the size of the RBSG behemoth, it would certainly be an improvement. Similar would apply if the purchaser was Virgin Money, or some other smaller bank.

chambta

Good question. I don't really know. But it's something I hear every day from customers, even now.

'If you'd gone to Santander I'd have moved my account'. And variations thereof.

Their service reputation locally as opposed to ours? At the time they had three branches already in my town after purchasing A&L and Bradford Bingley branches that were immediately rebranded - two next door to each other. Both are now closed.

Good old fashioned dislike of anything 'foreign'?

I dunno.

SnowTiger

chambta wrote: »

Good question. I don't really know. But it's something I hear every day from customers, even now.

'If you'd gone to Santander I'd have moved my account'. And variations thereof.

Few people really would move their account.

RBS is hardly the best bank to be with. It was the worst run bank in the UK; perhaps the world. And it's had numerous technical problems.

If those things aren't enough to encourage customers to move elsewhere, nothing will.

colsten

chambta wrote: »

'If you'd gone to Santander I'd have moved my account'. And variations thereof.

Their service reputation locally as opposed to ours? At the time they had three branches already in my town after purchasing A&L and Bradford Bingley branches that were immediately rebranded - two next door to each other. Both are now closed.

Some people do like to live in the past. Santander UK have been offering a fine service and great accounts for at least the last 4 years. They have attracted tens of thousands more current account customers than the next nearest contender, Halifax. All that whilst RBS/Natwest have been bleeding customers in their tens of thousands.
http://www.bacs.co.uk/Bacs/DocumentLibrary/CASS_dashboard_-_published_21_October_15.pdf (you can find older stats on the BACS website, showing similar movements).

chambta wrote: »

Good old fashioned dislike of anything 'foreign'?

Possible. Very possible. Even though Santander UK is about as british as you can get.

System

I closed my long standing NatWest account as it was due to be moved the Santander.
The staff were always efficient and pleasant enough.
Santander doesn't appeal at all.

SnowTiger wrote: »

Few people really would move their account.

RBS is hardly the best bank to be with. It was the worst run bank in the UK; perhaps the world. And it's had numerous technical problems.

If those things aren't enough to encourage customers to move elsewhere, nothing will.

PeacefulWaters

If Virgin Money could get hold of it that would be positive for competition.

Santander? They're much better than they were but having grown the size of their quality customer base I'd suggest they're about to start squeezing profit from those customers now.

I'd still prefer the new bank to remain independent though.