Santander rebrands Abbey and Bradford & Bingley

Santander will rename 1,000 Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches in January, with the total rising to 1,300 by the end of the year.

The first official Santander branch will be launched today in Tottenham Court Road, along with 300 branches across the South East. The remaining 700 will be rebranded by the end of January.

The Santander Zero Current Account, which charges no fees even if the account if overdrawn, is also available from today. Anyone who currently holds a mortgage with the bank or opens one is eligible for the account.

As an additional incentive, Santander UK current account customers will be able to use any Santander ATM in Spain free of charge, including foreign exchange fees.

The rebranding in the UK is in line with Santander's policy of operating under the Santander name and brand image in all markets in which it is present.

António Horta-Osório, chief executive of Santander UK, says: "The success of our UK business has given us the confidence to move to the Santander name now and with it deliver the next phase of our transformation programme and make 1300 branches available to our 25 million customers in the UK."

The Spanish banking giant bought Abbey in 2004. In 2008 it acquired Alliance & Leicester and later that year rescued Bradford & Bingley's savings, business and branch network after the former building society collapsed, bringing its share of UK retail banking to 11%.