According to a report in The Times, Spanish banking giant Santander is the frontrunner for taking over Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) 318 Williams & Glyn’s branch network since it is believed to be one of the few bidders with enough resources.
Santander 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 & Leicester (A&L), and a few months later, it took ownership of B&B’s savings business and branch network.
The Williams & Glyn’s branch network is being sold under the orders of the European Commission as a punishment of the billions of pounds in state aid it received by the Government.
However, documents sent to prospective bidders of the network indicate that they would have to find about £2 billion of capital to support the loan book - double the amount that had been expected.
Meanwhile, Virgin has made it clear that it is interested in the network of 318 branches.
Williams & Glyn’s disappeared as a brand from the High Street 24 years ago but it has been maintained as a legal entity that files accounts at Companies House.
Its history dates back to 1753 and was the RBS branch network in England before its acquisition of NatWest at the start of the millennium.
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