Spain’s Santander bids for RBS 318 UK branches

Grupo Santander, Spain's largest and the world's fourth largest bank by profit said today that it has bid for Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) 318 UK branches, which if successful, would give the Spanish bank a strong foothold in the UK banking sector.

Speaking at a press conference, Matias Rodriguez Inciarte, deputy chairman of Santander said, "We have made an offer for the offices of RBS which fit like a glove."

According to analysts, the 318 branches of RBS subsidiary Williams & Glyn Bank, is worth nearly €2 billion.

The move by Santander, also eurozone's largest bank, had one of the best results from the stress tests conducted last month by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors.

RBS has been forced to sell Williams & Glyn Bank after the European Commission ruled last year that it must sell the unit as condition for Britain's largest bank getting the EU approval for receiving bail out assistance from the UK government. (See: RBS to sell Williams & Glyn's to quell EU competition concerns)

Although Santander said it was not sure when the bidding process would end, UK media reports say that the Spanish bank is the only bidder for Williams & Glyn after National Australia Bank pulled out of the auction last week and Spanish group BBVA opted againsr bidding.
Richard Branson's Virgin Money was also reportedly in the race to buy Williams & Glyn.

Santander already has considerable presence in the UK after it bought Abbey in 2004 and Alliance & Leicester and Bradford and Bingley last year. The acquisitions came with 1,000 branches and 25 million customers of these three UK banks.