Abbey Head office.
2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London, NW1 3AN

Abbey National plc (trading as Abbey) is the United Kingdom's sixth biggest bank, and Europe's second largest mortgage lender, after Halifax (part of the HBOS Group). Abbey is now a subsidiary of Banco Santander. A subsidiary, in business, is an entity that is controlled by another entity. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Terence (Terry) Burns, Baron Burns GCB, generally known as Lord Burns, (born 13 March 1944) is a British economist. ... A Chairman is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization, committee, or other deliberative body. ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ... Finance and Insurance is an industry group that mainly handles the transfer of paper and money, financial assets. These include: Accounting, Asset Management, Electronic Communications Networks, Financial Services Regulatory Agencies, Investment Banking Investment Firms, Investment Funds, Lending, Outsourced Financial Products & Services Marketing, Securities Brokers & Traders, Stock Exchanges, Trade Facilitation, and... Financial services is a term used to refer to the services provided by the finance industry. ... This article is about work. ... A holding company is a company that owns part, all, or a majority of other companies outstanding stock. ... Banco Santander Central Hispano is the largest bank in Spain and now has large scale operations in both the continents of Europe and South America. ... Look up slogan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 1141 KB) Photo of the Abbey National plc head office at 2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London, NW1 3AN taken 3 March 2005 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 1141 KB) Photo of the Abbey National plc head office at 2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London, NW1 3AN taken 3 March 2005 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ... Halifax logo The Halifax is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom, part of the HBOS Group. ... HBOS plc is the holding company of the HBOS Group, formed on the 10 September 2001 by, and named after, the principals involved in the merger of Halifax plc, the former Halifax Building Society, with the Bank of Scotland. ... Banco Santander Central Hispano is the largest bank in Spain and now has large scale operations in both the continents of Europe and South America. ...

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS COMPANY IS UTTERLY USELESS. AVOID ANY DEALINGS WITH THEM IF YOU WISH TO REMAIN SANE AND HEALTHY Abbey's registered office is in London and its main corporate centre is in Milton Keynes. Its savings and banking administration departments are both in Bradford, with a mortgage centre in Thornaby-on-Tees (which is rumoured to be under threat of closure ^[1]). Abbey currently has Banking Contact Centres in Sheffield and Glasgow. Business Banking operations, both administrative and telephony, are also based in Glasgow, having been moved from Taunton and Newport early in 2005. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... , Milton Keynes is a large town in northern Buckinghamshire, in South East England, about 45 miles (75 km) north-west of London, and roughly halfway between London and Birmingham. ... Thornaby-on-Tees is a civil parish within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. ... For other uses, see Sheffield (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. ... For other uses, see Newport (disambiguation). ...

Abbey previously operated contact centres in Derby, Warrington and Gateshead. The Derby and Warrington centres were closed as part of a cost cutting exercise. Those jobs moved to Bangalore and Pune, India. Following the takeover by Banco Santander, the Gateshead operations also closed in March 2005. However, operations then returned to the UK at a later date Derby (pronounced dar-bee ) is a city in the East Midlands of England. ... This article is about the town and Unitary Authority in the north-west of England. ... This article is about Gateshead, England. ... Derby (pronounced dar-bee ) is a city in the East Midlands of England. ... This article is about the town and Unitary Authority in the north-west of England. ... For other uses, see Bangalore (disambiguation). ... , Pune (IPA: , Marathi: पुणे) is a city located in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. ... This article is about Gateshead, England. ...

• Abbey was the first of the UK building societies to demutualise, which it did in July 1989, floating at £1.30 per share on the London Stock Exchange. As a result, Abbey National plc had an unusually large number of small shareholders; approximately 1.8 million initially.
• Abbey National took over the Bradford-based National & Provincial Building Society in 1995.
• Abbey National shares peaked at more than £14 in 2000, before the stock market began a long decline.
• Abbey National changed its trademark to Abbey in 2003, (although it remained registered as Abbey National plc. The name could not be legally changed as the name Abbey plc was already taken by an Irish property development company, also listed on the London Stock Exchange.
• Abbey became part of Grupo Santander on 12 November 2004.

A building society is a financial institution, owned by its members, that offers banking and other financial services, especially mortgage lending. ... The term demutualization (or demutualisation) describes the process by which mutual organizations or companies (mutuals) convert themselves to for-profit (or profit-making) public companies which distribute profits to their shareholders in the form of dividends. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building Paternoster Square. ... A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or company (including a corporation), that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a joint stock company. ... For other uses, see Bradford (disambiguation). ... Abbey Head office. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... A brand includes a name, logo, slogan, and/or design scheme associated with a product or service. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building Paternoster Square. ...

History

The Abbey Road & St. John's Wood Permanent Benefit Building Society was founded in 1874, based in a Baptist church in Kilburn. The society became the Abbey National Building Society following the merger of the Abbey Road Building Society with the National Building Society in 1944.^[2] Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Baptist is... Kilburn is an area of North London on the border of the London Borough of Brent and the London Borough of Camden. ...

During the 1970s and 1980s, Abbey National gained a reputation for innovation and, sometimes disruptive, change. It was an early user of computer systems and in the late 1970s, all branches became on-line to a real-time system that maintained customer accounts. Under Chief General Manager Clive Thornton, new types of savings accounts were introduced as well as a cheque account. The administration of the cheque account was restricted by building society rules and the need to find a partner that could clear Abbey's cheques (the Co-operative Bank). Later, Abbey became a full member of the BACS and APACS. Thornton also acted to break the building societies' interest rate cartel. Clive Thornton is the bad-guy from the movie Kevin of the North, who (of course) gets busted by the police at the and of the movie. ... The Co-operative Bank is a co-operative bank trading in the United Kingdom with headquarters in Manchester, UK. It is an ethical bank, and refuses to invest in companies involved in the arms trade, genetic engineering, animal testing and use of sweated labour as stated in its ethical policy. ... BACS (originally an acronym for Bankers Automated Clearing Services) is a United Kingdom scheme for the electronic processing of financial transactions. ... The Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) is the UK trade association for payment systems provided by financial institutions. ...

In 12 July 1989, the Abbey National Building Society de-mutualised and became a public limited company (Abbey National plc), floated on the London Stock Exchange. At flotation, the share price was £1.30. The de-mutualisation process was marred by the discovery of a large number of undelivered share certificates awaiting destruction at a contractor's premises. is the 193rd day of the year (194th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... The initials PLC after a UK or Irish company name indicate that it is a public limited company, a type of limited company whose shares may be offered for sale to the public. ... The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building Paternoster Square. ...

In the years which followed, Abbey pursued growth and diversification by acquisition:

• By in 1994, Abbey National purchased “James Hay” one of the UK’s foremost independent provider of self-administered pensions and is one of the pioneer development of SIPP’s with the launch of the in 1996 of the James Hay SIPP. James Hay then went on to grow in straight and launched Abbey Wrap, the first Wrap a service in which IFA’s can keep the clients ISA’s, Peps, Offshore bonds and SIPP in one place. Abbey Wrap Managers was FSA approved in 2003. This in 2006 was re-launched as the James Hay Wrap.

• Two life assurance companies were demutualised and acquired, enabling Abbey to pursue the bancassurance model: Scottish Mutual in 1992 and Scottish Provident in 2001.

• In August 1996, Abbey National merged with the National and Provincial Building Society increasing the branch network by almost two hundred and bringing in three million more customers.

• In April 2000 Abbey bought Porterbrook from Stagecoach Bus for £773 million. Porterbrook was one of the three rolling stock operating companies created from by the privatisation of British Rail, leasing rolling stock to the UK train operating companies.

• In June 2000 launched cahoot, Abbey's e-bank.

Abbey also ventured into the wholesale loans business. At first this provided a good profit stream, despite the criticisms of some analysts. This eventually undid the company, however, when Enron turned out to be unsafe and the "9/11" attacks in New York damaged confidence in various financial areas. From this point, Abbey struggled from financial losses and a tarnished image. The Chief Executive, Ian Harley - a long-time Abbey employee, eventually resigned and his post was filled by an outsider, Luqman Arnold. Re-structuring and reassessment followed. Bancassurance is the term used to describe the sale of insurance products in a bank. ... Porterbrook Leasing Company is one of the three major lessors of railway locomotives, multiple units and coaching stock in the UK. It was formed in 1994 by Abbey National on the privatisation of British Rail. ... Stagecoach Bus logo. ... This article is about the defunct entity British Railways, which later traded as British Rail. The History of rail transport in Great Britain is covered in its own article. ... cahoot is an internet bank in the United Kingdom, launched by Abbey, which is now part of Grupo Santander of Spain. ... Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation (formerly Enron Corporation) (former NYSE ticker symbol: ENE) was an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. ...

The brand name was changed on the 25 September 2003 to Abbey along with a new look and the "turning banking on its head" initiative. is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On 26 July 2004 Abbey National plc and Banco Santander Central Hispano, SA announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended acquisition by Banco Santander of Abbey. Following shareholders' approval at the EGMs of Abbey (95 per cent voted in favour, despite vocal opposition from most of those present) and Santander, the acquisition was formally approved by the courts and Abbey became part of Grupo Santander on 12 November 2004. is the 207th day of the year (208th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Currently, Abbey is an utter shambles, riven with incompetence and facing a huge backlash from disatisfied customers. Names as the worst offender in the current 'bank charges debate' (see This is money 30/8/2007), consumers are advised not to touch these people with a bargepole.

"Turning banking on its head"

The change brought about by the former Chief Executive Luqman Arnold was named as "turning banking on its head" and was an initiative where the organisation returned to basics in a way. The name was shortened, the couple under an umbrella logo was dropped and literature regarding accounts and information was simplified.

Logos past and present

The takeover by Santander

• In 2004, Banco Santander Central Hispano, Spain's largest bank, acquired Abbey for £9.5 billion (or £6.50 per share). Shareholders approved the takeover of Abbey in October 2004 at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
• Abbey National plc was delisted and removed from the FTSE 100 Index on 12 November 2004 at close of trading, having successfully completed the takeover by the Spanish bank. It had been listed for more than 15 years on the London Stock Exchange (previously listed as LSE:ANL). Abbey National shareholders swapped one share in Abbey National for one of the Spanish bank's shares, and got paid a special cash dividend of 31 pence per share on 14 December 2004.
• As of November 2004 the Chief Executive was Francisco Gomez-Roldan, with Luqman Arnold leaving with a rumoured £5 million, made up of pay off and share options.
• Santander listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange as a secondary listing in July 2005.
• Francisco Gomez-Roldan died suddenly in July 2006 - 3 weeks before being due to hand over as Chief Executive to António Horta-Osório who is now installed in the position.

Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An Extraordinary General Meeting, commonly abbreviated as EGM, is a meeting of members of an organisation, shareholders of a company, or employees of an offical body, which occurs at an irregular time. ... The FTSE 100 Index (or just the FTSE, pronounced footsie) is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. ... is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building Paternoster Square. ... The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building Paternoster Square. ...

Sale of Life Business

In June 2006 Abbey agreed to sell its life businesses to Resolution plc. The businesses sold to Resolution were Scottish Mutual Assurance, Scottish Provident Limited and Abbey National Life, two offshore life companies, Scottish Mutual International and Scottish Provident International Life Assurance Limited. Abbey retained all of its branch based investment and asset management business, James Hay, Abbeys self-invested personal pension company and James Hay Wrap. June 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Extraordinary renditions. ... Resolution plc (LSE: RSL) is a UK insurance company headquartered in the City of London. ...

Abbey errors in the 1980s

In July 2007 Abbey admitted that errors that it made in the 1980s have contributed to many borrowers mortgage terms being extended by up to 15 years. During this period- which saw considerable turbulance in interest rates- Abbey extended the terms on customers repayment style mortgages without their knowledge. July 2007 is the seventh month of that year. ...

The Financial Ombudsman Service has stated that Abbey customers may be eligible for compensation. ^[3]

External links

• Abbey retail banking website
• About Abbey
• Information about Abbey's association with Sherlock Holmes
• Yahoo! - Abbey National plc Company Profile

References

1. ^ "Concern for 700 call centre jobs with Abbey cutbacks", The Northern Echo, 2006-02-09. Retrieved on 2007-07-29. 
2. ^ Brewer's Britain and Ireland, compiled by John Ayto and Ian Crofton, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005, ISBN 030435385X
3. ^ Abbey Mortgage Errors Could Hit Consumers

v • d • e Banks of the United Kingdom

Abbey • Adam and Company • Airdrie Savings Bank • Alliance & Leicester • Allied Irish Bank (GB) • Anglo Irish Bank • Arbuthnot Latham • Bank of Ireland • Bank of Scotland • Barclays • Birmingham Midshires • Bradford & Bingley • Bristol and West • Cahoot • Cheltenham and Gloucester • Clydesdale • Co-operative Bank • Coutts & Co • Drummonds • Egg • first direct • First Trust Bank • Halifax • Harrods Bank • HSBC • Intelligent Finance • Islamic Bank of Britain • Julian Hodge Bank • Lloyds TSB • National Savings and Investments • National Westminster Bank • Northern Bank • Northern Rock • Reliance Bank • Royal Bank of Scotland • Sainsbury's Bank • Standard Chartered Bank • Tesco Personal Finance • The Woolwich • Ulster Bank • Yorkshire Bank The Northern Echo is a regional newspaper serving the north-east of England. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the. ... is the 210th day of the year (211th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Weidenfeld & Nicholson is a British publisher of fiction, an imprint of the larger Orion Publishing Group ... // The table shows the main independent British banks. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... Adam and Company is a private bank based in the United Kingdom, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. ... Airdrie Savings Bank Limited is a small commercial bank operation in the Lanarkshire and Glasgow areas of Scotland. ... Alliance & Leicester plc (LSE: AL.) is an awful British bank, formerly a building society. ... Allied Irish Bank (GB) is a commercial bank operating in Great Britain. ... Anglo Irish Bank Corporation plc (ISEQ: ANGL), (LSE: ANGL), (Xetra: CKL), is a bank based in Ireland, listed on both the Irish Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, and headquartered in Dublin. ... Arbuthnot Latham & Co is a small private bank (a merchant bank) based in Moorgate in the City of London in the UK. It achieved status as one of the twelve accepting houses. ... My wife and I went to visit our daughter in the UK. I used my Ulster Bank credit card and wasnt charged any extra fees. ... -1... The Barclays Group is based in One Churchill Place, Canary Wharf Barclays plc (LSE: BARC, NYSE: BCS, TYO: 8642 ) is a global financial services provider and sportswear consultancy operating in Europe, the United States, the Middle East, Latin America, Australia, Asia and Africa. ... Birmingham Midshires logo Birmingham Midshires is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom, a subsidiary of Halifax plc (part of HBOS). ... Bradford & Bingley plc (LSE: BB.) is a British bank headquartered in the Yorkshire town of Bingley. ... Bristol and West plc (B&W) is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom, a division of the Bank of Ireland. ... cahoot is an internet bank in the United Kingdom, launched by Abbey, which is now part of Grupo Santander of Spain. ... Cheltenham and Gloucester Cheltenham and Gloucester (C&G) is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom, a subsidiary of Lloyds-TSB Bank plc. ... The Clydesdale Bank PLC (Scottish Gaelic: ) is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom, a subsidiary of the nab Group. ... The Co-operative Bank is a co-operative bank trading in the United Kingdom with headquarters in Manchester, UK. It is an ethical bank, and refuses to invest in companies involved in the arms trade, genetic engineering, animal testing and use of sweated labour as stated in its ethical policy. ... For other uses, see Coutts (disambiguation). ... Type - Private Bank Motto - Prius Mori Quam Fidem Fallere Parent company - The Royal Bank of Scotland Founder - Andrew Drummond Established - 1717}} Drummondsis an English private banking housewho origins can be traced back over 290 years to 1717. ... Egg Banking plc is a British internet bank, with headquarters in Derby, Dudley and London, England. ... Logo First Direct is a telephone and internet based commercial bank in the United Kingdom, a division of HSBC Bank. ... of Britains Best Business Bank from the Forum of Private Business, being ranked top for customer service and maintaining its lead over other major banks. ... Halifax logo The Halifax is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom, part of the HBOS Group. ... Harrods Bank Limited is a private personalized banking service which operates from the Harrods store in Knightsbridge. ... HSBC Bank plc is a Clearing Bank in the United Kingdom, and is one of the Big 4 high street banks. ... Intelligent Finance (IF) is a telephone and internet based commercial bank in the United Kingdom, a division of Halifax plc which is part of HBOS plc. ... The Islamic Bank of Britain plc (LSE: IBB) is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom, established in August 2004 to offer Sharia compliant financial service products to British Muslims. ... Julian Hodge Bank is a small commercial bank in the United Kingdom. ... Lloyds TSB Group plc is a group of financial services companies, based in the United Kingdom, which was created in 1995 following the merger of the TSB Group and the Lloyds Bank Group. ... NS&I National Savings and Investments (NS&I), formerly called the National Savings Bank, is a state owned savings bank in the United Kingdom. ... Old NatWest logo NatWest (formerly the National Westminster Bank) is the United Kingdoms third biggest bank. ... Northern Bank, is a commercial bank in Northern Ireland. ... Northern Rock (LSE: NRK) is a British bank based at Regent Centre near Newcastle Upon Tyne in northern England. ... Formerly known as The Salvation Army Bank, Reliance Bank Limited was founded in 1890 by William Booth. ... The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: [1]) is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, which together with NatWest, provides branch banking facilities in the UK. Royal Bank of Scotland has around 700 branches, mainly in Scotland though there are branches in... Sainsburys Bank is a UK based bank operated by J Sainsbury plc and HBOS plc (Halifax Bank of Scotland), with 55% and 45% shares respectively. ... Standard Chartered Bank (LSE: STAN, SEHK: 2888) is a British bank headquartered in London with operations in more than fifty countries. ... Historic The first self service Tesco, which is in in St Albans Tesco PLC is a United Kingdom based international supermarket chain. ... The Woolwich was the trading name of the Woolwich Building Society, founded in 1847 as one of the first permanent building societies. ... Ulster Bank (Irish: Banc Uladh[1]) is a large commercial bank, one of the Big Four in both the Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. ... Yorkshire Bank is a British regional retail bank, mainly operating in Northern England. ...