Spanish bank Santander is buying the Scotland-based high street rival TSB for £2.65bn which could see the historic brand disappear.
Following market speculation, a proposed deal was announced last night as fellow Spanish banks Sabadell and BBVA are engaged in a takeover tussle.
Sabadell decided to sell TSB to help fend off an €11bn (£9.4bn) hostile approach from BBVA.
Santander emerged as the winner in the battle for TSB and attention has turned to how it will integrate TSB in the Santander UK group” given its history of wiping out other brands it has acquired, such as Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester.
The takeover will create Britain’s third largest bank by share of personal current accounts.
A Santander spokeswoman said: “For now it is business as usual for Santander UK and TSB colleagues,” but she did not rule out branch closures, and said there would be job cuts.
“There will be duplication, particularly in back office roles,” she said, adding: “Where there is an impact on people this will be communicated directly to affected colleagues and their representatives as is right and proper.”
TSB has 175 branches in the UK and 5,000 employees while Santander has around 349 branches. There are likely to be more closures, particularly where the two brands overlap.
The deal is expected to complete in the first three months of 2026, and its value could rise to £2.9bn.
On the future of the TSB brand, Santander said: “This kind of detail will be provided once the deal is completed.”
Ana Botin, executive chair of Santander Group, said buying TSB shows the Spanish bank’s confidence both in its strategy and the UK market.
TSB has undergone a lot of change in recent years. Currently headquartered in George Street, Edinburgh, it was split off from Lloyds under orders from the European Commission Lloyds received a £20bn bailout during the global financial crisis in 2008/09.
TSB was briefly traded on the stock market before Sabadell acquired it for £1.7bn in 2015.
It suffered an IT meltdown in 2018 which left customers unable to access online accounts for several weeks and saw its CEO Paul Pester step down.
Marc Armengol, TSB CEO, said today: “TSB is a truly special bank, run by a first-class team that deliver trusted service and support for customers, day in and day out.
“Today’s announcement represents the next exciting chapter for this successful business, as part of Santander, a highly regarded banking group. I believe this will prove to be an excellent fit for our loyal customers.”
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