Press releases

On 21 February 2018, Santander UK will officially open its newly designed and refurbished branch on 93 Fishergate, Preston PR1 2NJ.

• Santander UK, in conjunction with the Food & Drink Federation and the Department of International Trade, took 12 UK food and drink manufacturers to India on a week-long trade mission in January
• Firms that attended included Amber Glen Scotch Whisky Co., Delamere Dairy, Provenance Brands, The English Cheesecake Company, Greene King, Iceland Foods and St James Smokehouse (Scotland)
• Significant opportunities exist for UK food and drink manufacturers in Indian food market forecast to be worth £500 billion by 2020

Santander UK, via its merchant acquiring partner Elavon, will from the spring enable its business customers to join the growing European networks of well-known Chinese payment wallet providers, across e-commerce solutions.

Edinburgh based Ideal Electrical Solutions (UK) Limited (“IES”), one of Scotland’s leading electrical contractors, has secured a funding package from Santander Business Banking to support the expansion of its headquarter in Edinburgh. The firm has seen increased demand for its services and the new premises will allow for further growth.

Heart of England Mencap has received a £5,000 grant to fund a volunteer co-ordinator to help customers find and access volunteering opportunities within the local community.

Soccer Direct FC, the Black Country-based online football teamwear retailer, has secured significant funding from Santander Business Banking to facilitate the purchase of new premises following an extended period of growth and record revenues. The new headquarters – based at Lower Church Lane, Tipton – is double the size of the previous base to cater for a growing demand for its products and a potential increase in employee numbers in 2018.

Cumbria Deaf Association has received £5,000 to fund the cost of providing a development worker to support the deaf community in the Furness area of South Cumbria.

• Unarranged overdraft fees to be removed completely from Santander current accounts that charge monthly account fees: 123, 123 Lite and Select / Private current accounts
• Unarranged overdraft fees to be capped at £50 per month, reduced from £95 per month, on other personal current accounts
• Customers to be automatically registered for unarranged overdraft alerts to help minimise or prevent fees

On 23^rd January 2018, Santander UK will officially open its newly designed and refurbished branch on 28 Broad Street, Seaford.

• Santander mortgages applied for from 23 January onwards will transfer to our new Follow-on Rate (FoR) at the end of the fixed or tracker rate period
• Products applied for prior to this date will continue to move to Santander’s Standard Variable Rate (SVR) at the end of their term
• Santander’s FoR is a variable rate that tracks at 3.25 per cent above the Bank of England Base Rate (currently 0.50 per cent), giving a rate of 3.75 per cent

On Wednesday, 10^th January 2018, Santander UK will officially open its newly designed and refurbished branch on Beeston High Road.

On Wednesday, 10^th January 2018, Santander UK will officially open its newly designed and refurbished branch on Victoria Square, Aberdare.

On Tuesday 9^th January 2018, Santander UK will officially open its newly designed and refurbished branch on 37-39 High Street, Ely.

• Santander ’fake job ad’ experiment¹ convinces one third of Brits² to apply for a job as a money mule. Only fifteen per cent rightly identified the role as that of a money mule.
• Of those who fell for the ad, seven per cent said they would still apply for the job even after they were informed it was a role as a money mule.
• Those aged 18-24 years were most easily duped, while regionally those in Northern Ireland were most likely to fall for the scam.
• 71 per cent of people are unaware of the term ‘money mule’ but even when given an explanation of what it is over a quarter thought it may carry no criminal punishment.

North Devon-based supplier of sustainable building and decorating products Mike Wye & Associates is building a specialist eco property to showcase innovative sustainable products and building skills following £250,000 funding from Santander Business Banking. Two additional members of staff have been hired in preparation for this project.

• Partnership enables Santander’s SME* clients to launch stores on JD.com Worldwide, the cross-border e-commerce platform
• Agreement signed during visit by Rt. Hon. Dr Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade

A father and daughter team of entrepreneurial pharmacists has acquired three pharmacies in Lancashire following a seven-figure funding package from Santander Corporate & Commercial. The acquisitions complement their four other established pharmacies in the UK, including O’Brien’s Chemist at the Fleetwood Health and Well Being Centre.
 

Evolve, a Birmingham-based community programme which provides educational and activity courses to support disadvantaged children, has received £5,000 of matched funding from Santander’s innovative Changemaker Fund.

London-based Battery Energy Storage Solutions Ltd (“BESS”), a leading independent provider of power storage, energy security and energy flexibility services, has secured £28.5 million in funding from Santander Corporate & Commercial to execute its strategy of becoming one of the UK’s largest independent owners and operators of battery storage assets. The short term strategy is to build and operate a portfolio of 100MW of grid scale battery storage assets by the end of 2018.

Santander has today announced a £917million commercial real estate loan securitisation. The deal (which closed on 22 December 2017), a collateralised loan obligation, Red1 Finance CLO 2017-1 Designated Activity Company (Red1), is one of the first post financial crisis synthetic transactions of UK commercial Real Estate assets.