News Tag: A&L
February 4, 2010
Spanish banking giant Santander has today revealed a 13% rise in fourth-quarter net profit to €2.2 billion (£1.9 billion).
Meanwhile the bank, which is the second largest banking group in the world after HSBC, said gross income grew almost 24% to €10 billion.
For the 2009 year as a whole, net profit was up 1% to €8.94 billion, with good performances in continental Europe, Latin ...
Santander profit grows 13%
by Kay Murchie
January 11, 2010
Spanish banking giant Santander is to begin its integration of UK High Street banks - Abbey and Bradford & Bingley (B&B).
Santander, which is the second largest banking group in the world after HSBC, became a household name in the UK when it acquired Abbey for £9.5 billion, back in 2004.
In July 2008, it rescued troubled mortgage lender, Alliance ...
Santander begins rebranding of Abbey and B&B
by Kay Murchie
January 8, 2010
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) replaced HSBC as the UK's most consistently competitive mortgage lender during the final quarter of 2009.
According to research by mortgage search software firm, Evaluate Technologies, A&L surged ahead despite having failed to register any of its home loans in best buy tables during the previous quarter.
The lender, which is to be rebranded Santander later this year, managed ...
A&L most consistently competitive mortgage lender
by Gill Montia
September 7, 2009
Abbey and Alliance & Leicester (A&L) are offering new customers a £100 incentive to switch to their current accounts.
The Santander-owned banks are offering the bonus to new customers opening an Abbey Preferred Overdraft Rate account or an A&L Premier Account from today.
To receive the cash bonus, customers must fund the account with a minimum of £500 per month at A&L, or ...
Santander offers £100 to new customers
by David Masters
April 26, 2009
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has launched a two-year tracker at 2.45% above base rate (currently 2.95%).
The mortgage is available to both homebuyers and remortgagers who can stump up a deposit of at least 25%. It comes with a fee of £499 and the maximum loan size is £250,000.
According to the lender's director of mortgages, Nici Audlam-Gardiner, research shows that among remortgagers, ...
A&L launches two-year tracker at 2.95%
by Gill Montia
March 20, 2009
Many people in the UK find individual savings accounts (ISAs) confusing, according to new research by Alliance & Leicester.
The building society found that 71% of Brits did not know that the current Cash ISA allowance is £3,600.
One in five (19%) of those questioned believed that the allowance was still £3,000.
Nearly half of those polled (43%) didn't have any money in ...
Alliance & Leicester: ISAs are too complicated
by David Masters
December 3, 2008
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has unveiled a new range of fixed-rate mortgages, available from 4th December.
The lender, which is part of the Santander group, is reducing rates by up to 0.90%.
Its offering includes a two-year deal at 4.94% (previously 5.79%), fixed until 31st December 2010.
Customers can borrow up to 75% of a property's value and the maximum loan size is £250,000; ...
A&L cuts rates on two-year fixes
by Gill Montia
October 22, 2008
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has cut its Standard Variable Rate (SVR) from 7.19% to 6.94%.
The 0.25% reduction applies from 30th October; existing customers on the lender's SVR and those with SVR discounted loans will see their monthly payments change from 2nd November.
The bank is also advising borrowers with base rate tracker loans that rates will fall by 0.50% from 1st ...
A&L cuts standard variable rate by 0.25%
by Gill Montia
October 7, 2008
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has given Alliance & Leicester (A&L) a record fine of £7 million for mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI).
The FSA found that the bank had trained its staff to put pressure on customers who questioned the inclusion of optional PPI in a loan.
During the period January 2005 to December 2007, A&L sold around 210,000 ...
Record fine for A&L for mis-selling PPI
by Kay Murchie
August 27, 2008
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) is reducing interest rates for most of its mortgage products, with immediate effect.
Cuts of between 0.10% and 0.55% across all but one of the bank's home loans are accompanied by the launch of a two-year fixed-rate deal at 5.99%, which is available to both new and existing customers.
A 1% arrangement fee applies and loan-to-value (LTV) ...
A&L launches new deals and cuts rates
by Gill Montia
August 19, 2008
Former building society, Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has sent information to its 564,000 shareholders on the £1.3 billion proposed takeover by Spanish bank, Santander.
Roy Brown, acting A&L chairman, is strongly encouraging shareholders to vote for the deal and has warned if the move is rejected by shareholders, the bank would be exposed to the worsening economic slowdown.
The bank ...
A&L encourages shareholders to vote for Santander deal
by Kay Murchie
August 1, 2008
UK mortgage lender, Alliance & Leicester (A&L), has announced that half-year profits have nearly been wiped out after taking a £209 million hit on risky assets and higher funding costs.
Pre-tax profits for the first half of 2008 plummeted to £2 million, compared with £290 million in the same period of 2007.
The worldwide credit crisis was responsible for the ...
Half-year profits at A&L almost wiped out
by Kay Murchie
July 14, 2008
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 as out ...
Santander to boost UK presence with Alliance & Leicester takeover
by Kay Murchie
June 4, 2008
Alliance & Leicester has revamped its mortgage offering and is providing a range of new loans that became available from 3rd June.
The range comprises a two-year base rate tracker at 5.89% (BBR +0.89), reverting to base rate +1.49%. The loan-to-value ratio is 75% and the arrangement fee is 2% of the loan. Maximum loan £1 million. No early repayment charge.
Two-year ...
Alliance & Leicester launches new mortgage range
by Gill Montia
May 14, 2008
Alliance & Leicester (A&L), has announced it will write-down £391 million on treasury investments as well as on its exposures to structured investment vehicles and collateralised debt obligations, of £192 million.
Furthermore, treasury investment fair-values declined £199 million in the first 4 months, against a fall of £147 million in the same period last year. This fair-value impact is taken against ...
Alliance & Leicester in £391m write-down
by Kay Murchie
