Brussels, 16/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has granted clearance, under the Merger Regulation, to the proposed acquisition of the 6th biggest UK bank, Abbey National, by Banco Santander Central Hispano S.A of Spain. The takeover raises no competition concerns since the two banks presently operate mostly in different countries. Banco Santander is Spain's leading banking and financial services group. In Europe, however, the group operates mostly in Spain and Portugal which means that there are either no geographical overlaps with the activities of Abbey - itself mostly a UK player - or they are insignificant. When notifying the bid to the Commission, Banco Santander indicated that it had agreed with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to terminate certain aspects of their 1988 alliance. RBS is one of the four big banks in the UK. One such aspect concerns the reciprocal representation on each other's boards, or cross-directorships.
The deal will create the tenth biggest bank in the world, and the first bank in the eurozone in terms of stock market value (51 bn euros). The Commission comments that it has never taken issue with cross-border mergers in the banking sector as it remains largely fragmented along national lines and foreign banks have yet to acquire significant market share outside their borders. (See Competition Commissioner Mario Monti's comments in Europe of 7 September, p.11)