European Commission clears acquisition of Abbey by Banco Santander

The European Commission granted clearance today for the proposed acquisition of UK bank Abbey National plc by Banco Santander Central Hispano SA of Spain. Abbey is the UK's sixth largest banking group. Banco Santander is the largest banking and financial services group in Spain. When notifying its bid to the Commission, Banco Santander agreed to terminate certain aspects of its alliance with Royal Bank of Scotland Group, including reciprocal board representatives. Frontier (London) advised Abbey on the bid.