BANCO SANTANDER CENTRAL HISPANO

'Banco Santander Central Hispano' ('BSCH'), (IBEX-35:SAN) is the largest bank in Spain and is part of the Santander Group which has large scale operations in the continents of Europe and South America.

Contents

Five Pillars

Banking in Spain

Banking in the United Kingdom

History

Five Pillars

As part of the Santander Group, Banco Santander Central Hispano bases its strategy on its own business model, based upon a five pillar system. These are:

★ Customer-focused management

★ Efficiency

★ Credit risk quality

★ Capital discipline

★ "Multilocal" management with a global vision

Banking in Spain

Within Spain BSCH operates under a range of brand names including:

★ Santander Central Hispano

★ Openbank

Banking in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, Abbey (bank) is a wholly owned subsidiary of BSCH. Prior to its takeover by BSCH, it was known as Abbey National, the first of the UK building societies to demutualise. It also operates as Cahoot for online banking.

History

BSCH was created in 1999 following the merger of 'Banco Santander' (founded in 1857) and 'Banco Central Hispano' (BCH), founded in 1991 following the merger of Banco Central (est. 1919) and Banco Hispanoamericano (est. 1900).
On 26 July 2004 Abbey National plc (in the United Kingdom) and Banco Santander Central Hispano, SA announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended acquisition by Banco Santander of Abbey. Following shareholders' approval at the EGMs of Abbey (95 per cent voted in favour, despite vocal opposition from most of those present) and Santander, the acquisition was formally approved by the courts and Abbey became part of Grupo Santander on 12 November 2004.
In June 2006, the Banco Santander Central Hispano purchased almost 20% of Sovereign Bank (in the United States) for $2.4 billion. As Banco Santander owns 25% of Sovereign, it has the right to buy the bank for $40 per share for one year beginning in the middle of 2008.[1]
In May 2007 Banco Santander Central Hispano announced that in conjunction with Royal Bank of Scotland and Fortis a proposed offer for ABN Amro. The offer was in part to outbid Barclays. Banco Santander Central Hispano share of the offer added up to 28% and the offer would have to be made up of a capital increase through a new share issue.