Santander ‘considering quitting the UK’ after two decades on the high street

Santander is reportedly reviewing its presence on the British high street after shedding hundreds of jobs in the last year.

The UK arm of the bank has seen lower returns than overseas markets, according to the Financial Times, and the company is said to be considering a number of options.

A former executive said Santander UK had caused ‘frustrations’ within the wider group in recent years for a number of reasons including ‘its persistently high cost base, the UK’s ring-fencing regime, its independent board, and the fact that it did not benefit from rising interest rates in recent years as much as its other markets like Spain’.

Spanish owner Banco Santander announced it was cutting more than 1,400 jobs across its UK business last October amid ongoing efforts to reduce costs.

And in November Santander UK revealed profits plummeted in its third quarter as it took a £295 million hit following a major court decision on British car finance commission.

Scaling back Santander’s business in Britain is one of several options, an anonymous source told the FT, but no deal or announcement was imminent it added.

“The UK is a core market for Santander and this has not changed,” Santander insisted in a statement on Sunday.

It comes as data revealed the UK lost a millionaire every 45 minutes since Labour came to power as experts said the exodus was being driven by Rachel Reeves’ controversial Budget.

Britain lost a net 10,800 millionaires last year, a 157 per cent increase on 2023, including 78 centi-millionaires (worth at least £100 million) and 12 billionaires. They left for other countries mainly in Europe, such as Italy and Switzerland, as well as the United Arab Emirates.