All of the press analysts have concentrated upon the mortgage assets of A&L as being the main driver of the acquisition and debated at length as to whether the deal will be good for the UK consumer.

By acquiring A&L, Santander will have taken control of two of the bigger mortgage providers in the UK, having taken over Abbey a few years ago. Both Abbey and A&L were previously Building Societies and have significant retail customer bases.

However, I think the real purpose of the A&L acquisition is for Santander to gain a foothold into the business market. A&L have a much more developed commercial proposition than Abbey and although Abbey have been trying to develop their business proposition, it hasn’t really taken off in the way that I think Santander would have liked.

By acquiring A&L, they can merge the two UK businesses together and reap the rewards from cost savings generated as a result of de-duplication across branch networks and more significantly in the support functions. But I feel far more importantly, Santander now have a valid business proposition in the UK market, one I’m sure that they will wish to develop and exploit.

So what’s the impact on UK businesses?

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