Barclays-Santander UK is a matter of when, and how.
Jerry
If Banco Santander’s (SAN.MC), Ana Botín wants to sell her British retail business, there’s an obvious buyer: Barclays (BARC.L) boss C. S. Venkatakrishnan. The biggest questions would be when the 42-billion-pound ($51 billion) UK bank decides to pounce – and whether its relatively new CEO, known as Venkat, can get his buyback-hungry investors on side.
The Spanish banking giant is reviewing its UK presence. Santander, worth 75 billion euros ($77 billion), said in a statement that Britain was a core market. The group took full control of building society Abbey National in 2004, and current executive chair Ana ran the local division from 2010 to 2014.
Performance has often lagged larger rivals, however. In 2023, Santander UK managed a 14.4% return on tangible equity, compared with 16.5% on average for NatWest (NWG.L) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), using Visible Alpha data. Its performance took a dive last year after the bank set some money aside over an ongoing UK motor-finance regulatory saga.
Source: REUTERS
