Shares in Alliance & Leicester (A&L) have rocketed 47% this morning after it has been revealed that Spanish bank Santander has agreed a deal to buy the former building society in a deal worth £1.3 billion. Shares in A&L suffered, particularly last year, after many believed it would follow in the footsteps of Northern Rock [...]

More: Santander to boost UK presence with Alliance & Leicester takeover

What I would be interested to know is how many banks are british are british owned? It feels that we are becoming owned by other countries which in the long term surely can't be a good thing?