TSB to disappear from high streets after more than 200 years

The TSB brand is to disappear from Britain’s high streets after more than 200 years following a £2.9bn takeover by Santander.The Spanish banking giant will phase out the TSB name and integrate the two businesses under Santander UK as part of plans to save £400m across the two businesses.The lenders combined last week to become Britain’s third largest bank, with nearly 28 million customers.Santander has said there would be no immediate changes for its own customers or those of TSB, who can continue using their accounts and cards in the same way.Customers will not notice any alterations to their current accounts or products for at least 12 months, the Financial Times reported.Santander told the FT that TSB was a “strong consumer banking brand and we recognise the value it has built with customers and within the UK market”.It added: “We will consider carefully how to make the most of the brand value in our model long-term and expect no immediate changes.”Executives at Santander have also reportedly discussed further cost-cutting across its UK division from 2028, which could save as much as £100m.TSB has around 175 branches in the UK. Santander is already in the process of shutting down more than a fifth of its own sites with the loss of hundreds of jobs. It confirmed the closure of 44 branches in January as part of these plans.TSB has launched an internal “listening exercise” to help employees deal with the uncertainty of the takeover.Santander bought TSB from fellow Spanish lender Sabadell, which acquired it from Lloyds Banking Group in 2015.Sabadell initially bought the lender to gain a foothold in the UK as it struggled to grow in Spain, where the economy was still reeling from the impact of the 2008 financial crash.TSB, which has around five million customer accounts and £71.5bn in deposits and lending, traces its origins back to the savings bank movement, which started in 1810.The first self-supporting savings bank was launched in Dumfriesshire to help poor parishioners save for times of hardship.By 1817, more than 80 “trustee savings banks” had been set up in Scotland and England, from which TSB derives its name.A number of these regional banks combined into TSB Group in the 1980s, which then merged with Lloyds in 1995.TSB was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2014 in the wake of the global financial crisis, before Sabadell took control of the lender.The takeover by Santander was revealed last year after Ana Botín, Santander’s chairman, was forced to repeatedly deny the bank was preparing to exit the UK market after setting aside £295m to cover costs related to the car finance mis-selling scandal.Weeks later it announced plans to close 95 branches, putting 750 jobs at risk.Santander did not respond to requests for comment.