On Friday 14 February 2020, Santander UK will officially open its newly redesigned branch at 116 London Road, Headington, OX3 9AS.  The new-look branch has been designed to deliver even better customer service and community-friendly banking. 

The branch will be opened by Santander’s Community Hub Director for Oxford and longstanding team member of 25 years, Fleur Gallagher, who will cut the ribbon on Friday morning. 

Visitors to the branch will be able pick up a sweet treat from an in-branch bake sale. All money raised from the sale will be donated to Santander’s partner charity, the Alzheimer’s Society. 

The new branch design includes facilities such as: Express Banking with a new ATM wall; counter services for more secure transactions and; private interview rooms for anyone who might need additional time or privacy to discuss their financial affairs.  

It will also be equipped with talking ATMs giving customers the option to plug in headphones and be guided through their transaction by voice assistance, with or without the use of the ATM screen. 

The branch, which employs five staff and is managed by Fhozie Islam, will also feature a picture wall to display local community initiatives, such as Santander Foundation grants.
 
Santander’s Head of Branches, Adam Bishop 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 Oxford.”

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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. At 30 December 2019, the bank had around 23,500 employees and serves around 14 million active customers, via a nationwide branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking. 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’ eligible deposits are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK. 

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 presence in 10 core markets in Europe and the Americas, and is the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization. Its purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way. Santander is building a more responsible bank and has made a number of commitments to support this objective, including raising over €120 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2025, as well as financially empowering more than 10 million people over the same period. At the end of 2019, Banco Santander had EUR 1.05 trillion in total funds, 145 million customers, of which 21.6 million are loyal and 37 million are digital (52% of active customers), 12,000 branches and 200,000 employees. Banco Santander made underlying profit of EUR 8,252 million in 2019, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year.