On Monday 25 September, Santander UK will officially open its newly designed and refurbished branch on North Road, Durham. It is the latest of Santander’s branches to be re-designed as part of a programme to deliver even better customer service and community-friendly banking.

The new look branch will be officially opened by Jane Robinson, Chief Operating Officer at Durham University and, in support of Santander’s campaign to cut down fraud, Tony Murray, Senior Fraud Officer for Durham Specialist Crime Unit and local police will be in attendance offering advice to customers around fraud and scams.

As part of the bank’s commitment to the community, a cheque will be presented to local charity Henry Dancer Days with funds raised by a number of branch staff who completed the Great North Run. Meanwhile a charity stall including a staff ‘guess the baby’ challenge will raise money for one of Santander’s charity partners, Barnardo’s.

Work on the new branch design took around four weeks to complete and facilities include digital workstations with tablets for online banking, Express Banking with a new ATM wall, counter services for more secure transactions as well as private interview rooms. Customers visiting the branch will be greeted in a reception area and directed to a range of tailored services depending on how they want to bank.

The branch, which employs eight staff, is managed by Branch Manager, Ben Uttley.

Santander’s Head of Retail Distribution, Susan Allen said: “Banking is changing at a rapid pace and we wanted to create a branch that can accommodate the needs of all our local customers. That means combining traditional banking facilities and a focus on delivering great customer service with modern, digital services including free Wi-Fi, customer tablets and digital ATMs.

“Santander branches are an important part of many communities and our investment in this branch reflects our commitment to Durham.”
 

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Notes to Editors

1.      Photos available on request.

Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 30 June 2017, the bank serves around 14 million active customers with c19,500 employees and operates through 826 branches (which includes 61 university branches) and 65 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.

About Us
Banco Santander
(SAN SM, STD US, BNC LN) is a leading retail and commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. It has a meaningful market share in 10 core countries in Europe and the Americas, and is among the world’s top banks by market capitalization. At the end of June 2017, Banco Santander had EUR 1.65 trillion in managed funds, 131 million customers, 13,800 branches and 200,000 employees. Banco Santander made attributable profit of EUR 3.6 billion in the first half of 2017, an increase of 24% compared to the same period last year.

Media Enquiries
Miranda Seymour     T: 020 7756 4518    M: 07713 560 209     E: miranda.seymour@santander.co.uk

The press office operates from 8.00am to 6.00pm. Outside of these hours please call 0800 5877708.