Bradford & Bingley jobs to go as Santander wields axe

SPANISH bank Santander is to axe 1,900 jobs in its three UK businesses – Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley – it has announced.

The bank said that the jobs would be cut in 2009 to reduce costs and did not rule out compulsory redundancies.

Bradford & Bingley employs thousands of people across the Yorkshire region in branches and at its headquarters in Bingley, West Yorkshire. 

Santander agreed earlier this year to buy Bradford & Bingley’s £20bn savings business and branch network for £612m.

Unions reacted with dismay to the announced cut, which represents 8% of Santander’s British workforce.

Santander is one of eurozone’s largest banks by market capitalisation and second-biggest in the world after HSBC.

Antonio Horta-Osorio, chief executive of the combined UK business, said: “Today’s announcement shows we are on track to fulfil the commitment we made at the time of the Alliance & Leicester acquisition to grow our UK business whilst ensuring we meet our cost-saving targets.”

The bank said it did not plan to close major sites in the UK, but it might consolidate some smaller offices into larger sites.

Santander plans to save £180m ($270m) by the end of 2011.