Important Announcement from Alliance & Leicester International Limited

PR Log (Press Release) – Oct 23, 2008 – As at the close of business on the  Alliance & Leicester plc became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Banco Santander Group.

Alliance & Leicester International Limited, the Isle of Man based http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/savings/index.aspx savings Bank, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alliance & Leicester and, as a result, we can confirm that our ultimate parent company has now changed to Banco Santander, S.A.

Santander has more than 150 years’ experience in International banking, is one of the 10 largest banks in the world and runs the largest branch network of any International bank, looking after 80 million customers in over 40 countries. Santander is one of the world’s 10 largest banks by market capitalisation and holds an AA Credit Rating*.

Together, Alliance & Leicester International and Santander remain committed to serving our customers. It remains business as usual for all Alliance & Leicester International customers. Our internet, telephone, branch, fax and telephone services continue to operate as normal, and customers can continue to make deposits and withdrawals as normal.

Following the completion of the acquisition, S&P have upgraded Alliance & Leicester plc’s long term rating, to AA from A and FitchRatings have upgraded the rating to AA- from A+.

Further information about our products and services, including our market leading ‘eSaver Offshore’ Savings Account range, as well as Banco Santander, can be found on our website www.alil.co.im.

Notes to Editor:

*Credit Rating as per Standard & Poor’s long-term issuer rating (domestic) as at 17 September 2008.

Alliance & Leicester and Santander:

Alliance & Leicester is now part of the Santander Group.  Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N) is the one of the world's largest banks.  Founded in 1857, Santander employs 140,000 staff serving 80 million customers through 13,000 branches in 40 countries. It is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America, and is the fifth largest bank in the United Kingdom, through its Abbey, Bradford & Bingley savings and Alliance & Leicester businesses, and is the third largest banking group in Portugal. Through Santander Consumer Finance, it also operates in 12 European countries and the United States. In 2007, Santander registered €9,060 million in net attributable profits, an increase of 19% from the previous year.  

Alliance & Leicester plc,
Carlton Park,
Narborough,
Leicester,
LE19 0AL.
mediacentre@alliance-leicester.co.uk
08000 688 638
website: http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk