The TSB name could vanish from Britain’s high streets after its Spanish owner, Banco Sabadell, accepted a £2.65 billion takeover bid from rival banking group Santander.
If approved by Sabadell’s shareholders, the deal will see TSB fully integrated into the Santander UK group, creating the country’s third-largest bank by share of personal current accounts.
Santander has confirmed the merger will result in job losses and potential branch closures, with duplication in back-office operations cited as a key factor. “Where there is an impact on people this will be communicated directly to affected colleagues and their representatives,” a spokesperson said.
TSB currently operates 175 branches with approximately 5,000 employees, while Santander runs 349 branches across the UK. Both banks have been streamlining operations in response to the continued shift towards digital banking.
“At the moment, nothing changes with branches,” said the Santander spokesperson. “However, it would make no sense to have two branches of the same bank in any one community.”
The deal is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2026. Its final value could increase to £2.9 billion, depending on TSB’s financial performance before completion.
TSB chief executive Marc Armengol described the announcement as “the next exciting chapter” for the bank. “As part of Santander, a highly regarded banking group, we look forward to continuing our growth and evolution,” he said.
The takeover is the latest in a string of UK acquisitions by Santander, which previously absorbed Abbey, Bradford & Bingley, and Alliance & Leicester.
TSB, whose Scottish heritage stretches back more than two centuries, has changed hands several times in recent decades. It was spun out from Lloyds Banking Group following a £20 billion bailout during the financial crisis and later sold to Sabadell for £1.7 billion in 2015.
The bank endured a damaging IT crisis in 2018 while migrating its systems from Lloyds to Sabadell, leading to widespread service disruption and a £49 million fine from UK regulators. TSB has confirmed it will retain its current IT platform until it transitions fully into the Santander system to ensure operational continuity
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