Santander’s boss has broken her silence over fears the banking giant could quit Britain over ‘excessive red tap’.
There were murmurings the Spanish banking giant was looking to leave after 20 years having grown frustrated by rules introduced after the 2008 financial crisis.
But executive chair Ana Botín dismissed those fears as she spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos as she insisted: ‘We love the UK.’
Speaking on a panel about growth at the millionaires’ summit, Mrs Botín suggested the rumours had been spread by investment bankers.
The Financial Times reported last week that a former Santander executive said it had ‘always been a possibility’ Mrs Botín would sell up because of the banking rules that had led to lower returns.
After the crisis, large banks were required to separate their retail banking from riskier investments and international activities, which the banking giant believes has resulted in lower returns than in other markets, such as Spain.
Insiders say executives want to shift their focus on growth regions like the US after share prices fell by a third in just over 10 years.
But Mrs Botín reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to Britain’s high streets in comments reported in The Express, saying it was ‘a core market and will remain a core market for Santander’.
‘Punto [Spanish for full stop],’ she said. ‘The UK has a huge opportunity. Why? Because it can move faster. The UK does not have to agree with 27 countries now.
‘You know the army of investment bankers that wants to get fees? So if they start, these kind of people start looking at M&A [mergers and acquisitions], they start looking around. It’s definitely not coming from us.’
Mrs Botín did, however, warned Europe was at risk of becoming a ‘museum’ because of the continent’s failure to develop deep capital markets, reported The Times.
However, she could not hide her frustration over the current regulation that she said was ‘constraining growth’ in the banking market.
A Santander spokesperson echoed Ms Botín’s words, telling the Express that it remains ‘focused on providing excellent products and services to our 14 million customers in the UK’.
‘The UK is a core market for Santander, and this had not changed.’
There are some 14 million Santander customers who could be impacted if the alleged plans go ahead, in addition to around 20,000 employees across 444 branches in the UK. It also holds around £200bn in customer lending.
It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the bosses of Britain’s regulators to help revive the UK economy by ‘tearing down the regulatory barriers that hold back growth’.
Last year, Ms Reeves vowed to tear up red tape for the City of London after claiming regulation after the 2008 financial crash had ‘gone too far’.
Meanwhile, more than 100 banks are set to close this year in another blow for UK high streets.
Lloyds Bank has 51 branches which are due to shut this year, while Halifax will close the doors to 46 of its stores.
Seven of TSB’s branches will shut, while 16 Bank of Scotland sites are also set to go.
The closures began this month and will happen all the way through to September.
Banks and Building societies have closed 6,214 branches since January 2005, according to Which? data – the equivalent of 53 a month.