Santander takes bigger market share

Feb 4 2010 By nebusiness

Santander said today it has captured more of the UK banking market after seeing a rise in new bank accounts and mortgage lending last year.

The lender, which has recently completed the rebranding of its Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches, posted a 30% rise in annual trading pre-tax profits to £1.54bn in the year to December 31.

Santander has launched a fee-free Zero current account for existing customers and said it had opened an extra 1.1 million new bank accounts last year, slightly above its target.

Its share of the gross mortgage market rose to more than 18% in 2009, from around 14% the previous year, as net home lending climbed to £7.6bn.