Santander may leave UK

Rob5342

kev2009 said:

What do you think will happen to existing mortgages if they do leave? Will the fixed term be honoured by whoever takes it over or will everyone simply be put on a variable mortgage and then be free to sign up to a fix with the new provider or move elsewhere?

I had a fixed term Alliance and Leicester mortgage that moved to Santander. That carried on as it was, when the fixed rste ended it moved to a standard variable rate and the only renewal option was to move it to a Santander one.

Maybe Monzo or Starling could buy the current accounts and get rid.of the branches. 

steven141

Rob5342 said:

kev2009 said:

What do you think will happen to existing mortgages if they do leave? Will the fixed term be honoured by whoever takes it over or will everyone simply be put on a variable mortgage and then be free to sign up to a fix with the new provider or move elsewhere?

I had a fixed term Alliance and Leicester mortgage that moved to Santander. That carried on as it was, when the fixed rste ended it moved to a standard variable rate and the only renewal option was to move it to a Santander one.

Maybe Monzo or Starling could buy the current accounts and get rid.of the branches. 

I was hoping that if it was sold it would be rebranded back to Abbey or Abbey National. I think that’s also why it Monzo or Starling purchased them, they could use some of the branches to actually gain a high street presence. Close off the ones which are too close together and keep the rest. I feel that it would boost customer numbers for them as lots of people wouldn’t touch online only banks. 

Hoenir

kev2009 said:

What do you think will happen to existing mortgages if they do leave? 

Sold on. Then be allowed to run their full term or alternatively borrowers remortgage to another lender with a new product. 

born_again

steven141 said:

Rob5342 said:

kev2009 said:

What do you think will happen to existing mortgages if they do leave? Will the fixed term be honoured by whoever takes it over or will everyone simply be put on a variable mortgage and then be free to sign up to a fix with the new provider or move elsewhere?

I had a fixed term Alliance and Leicester mortgage that moved to Santander. That carried on as it was, when the fixed rste ended it moved to a standard variable rate and the only renewal option was to move it to a Santander one.

Maybe Monzo or Starling could buy the current accounts and get rid.of the branches. 

I was hoping that if it was sold it would be rebranded back to Abbey or Abbey National. I think that’s also why it Monzo or Starling purchased them, they could use some of the branches to actually gain a high street presence. Close off the ones which are too close together and keep the rest. I feel that it would boost customer numbers for them as lots of people wouldn’t touch online only banks. 

Why would a healthy online bank, want to have branches. They are pitched at their market. 

They make more profit by not having to fund bricks & mortar that are just money pits.

Clearly given the rate that branches are being shut, the number of people wanting them is falling.

jbrassy

steven141 said:

Rob5342 said:

kev2009 said:

What do you think will happen to existing mortgages if they do leave? Will the fixed term be honoured by whoever takes it over or will everyone simply be put on a variable mortgage and then be free to sign up to a fix with the new provider or move elsewhere?

I had a fixed term Alliance and Leicester mortgage that moved to Santander. That carried on as it was, when the fixed rste ended it moved to a standard variable rate and the only renewal option was to move it to a Santander one.

Maybe Monzo or Starling could buy the current accounts and get rid.of the branches. 

I was hoping that if it was sold it would be rebranded back to Abbey or Abbey National. I think that’s also why it Monzo or Starling purchased them, they could use some of the branches to actually gain a high street presence. Close off the ones which are too close together and keep the rest. I feel that it would boost customer numbers for them as lots of people wouldn’t touch online only banks. 

There's close to zero chance Monzo or Starling are going to buy Santander UK business and operate high street branches. Monzo and Starling were deliberately set up without branches because branches are anachronistic and costly to operate. Customers which rely on branches aren't nearly as profitable as those which are online only.

Further, once you open branches, it's a PR disaster when you choose to close them. Best not to have them at all and avoid the newspaper headlines.

Swipe

I was once an Alliance and Leicester customer. That's how I ended up with Santander.

WillPS

I'm pretty sure that Santander UK adopted Alliance & Leicester's backend when they took them over? Certainly the personal ID and the picture/secret word stuff was stuff A&L did beforehand; I'm pretty sure none of my details changed either.

That being the case I would have thought Santander UK could be rebranded back to (probably to Abbey?) and either sold or floated, all with no changes necessitated to accounts.

The pool of buyers would be limited as they are large enough that the only high street competitors who could afford to take it on probably would be blocked from doing so by the Competition Commission. A digital bank could take it on, perhaps, or a foreign bank (although that'd be pretty ironic given the circumstances Santander are threatening to pack up). So probably a floatation is the most likely escape route.

All in all I don't really see it as that likely - just seems like an empty threat to me. Time will tell.

As an aside - I have been working under the assumption that the 123 and 123 Lite schemes will be going imminently for the last couple of years; ever since the accounts went NLA. Presumably migration to Edge, Edge Up or a plain old current account will be offered at that junction. In the meantime I'll happily keep taking fivers off them every month!!

alanrowell

wmb194 said:

A way to 'sell' it would be to list it on the stockmarket with or without a new name and branding.

Call it Abbey National

wmb194

alanrowell said:

wmb194 said:

A way to 'sell' it would be to list it on the stockmarket with or without a new name and branding.

Call it Abbey National

Nah, Bradford & Bingley.

Theleak250

I don’t think Monzo or Sterling or any other digital bank would touch it with a barge pole. Perhaps Chase bank if they wanted to suddenly obtain a chunk of the market. But I really don’t think they would either. I think it will be one of the current banking giants if anyone. Perhaps it will just become a stand alone bank and be branded Abbey National, or perhaps it will be wound down with customers transferred out.