Santander, which took over Abbey and
Alliance & Leicester, is set to make tracks in the
business banking sector after a 16 per cent jump in lending to small firms last year.
Representatives for the Spanish bank say their lending to small businesses went up to £6.7 billion in 2009, amid speculation they're set to acquire
business banking assets being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland on the orders of the European Commission. Santander currently holds around three per cent of the
business banking market.
In a statement, the bank said it had demonstrated its commitment to the UK small business sector by participating in initiatives like the government's Enterprise Finance Guarantee and putting in place £100 million of the European
Investment Bank's funding for small business customers.
A spokesperson also confirmed Santander "certainly" wants to grow its small business lending operations, noting that
Alliance & Leicester had provided a push by providing 20 regional
business banking centres.
In its analysis of last year's activity, the bank also revealed it had opened an extra 1.1 million new
bank accounts last year, slightly above its target, with the fee-free Zero
current account proving popular with existing
mortgage customers.
