Santander bids for RBS branches

Spanish bank Santander has confirmed that it has made an offer for around 300 British branches of Royal Bank of Scotland.

It is the only bidder for the branches, reportedly worth around 2.2 billion euros.

Santander, which is the euro zone’s biggest bank, diversified away from its home market, economically stagnant Spain, to the United States, Latin America and Britain.

The purchase would significantly boost its UK business, adding 1.8 million retail customers and five percent of the British small and medium size business market that it has targeted for growth.

It bought British lender Abbey in 2004 and has since added Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

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