Abbey National yesterday warned that up to 2,000 jobs are to be shed this year, on top of the 4,000 which have gone since the takeover by Banco Santander 15 months ago.
Abbey National will take two years to turn around, its Spanish owners warned yesterday as they insisted they were making progress towards achieving their goal of making the bank the best on the high street.
Emilio Botín, the boss of the new owner of Abbey National, faced his first criminal trial yesterday by joking with reporters, greeting the judges warmly and exuding confidence throughout.
Francisco Gomez-Roldan, the banker brought in by Banco Santander Central Hispano to run Abbey National, is expected to unveil his plans to turnaround the troubled high street bank next month.
The chairman of the new owner of one of Britain's high street banks will be accused of misusing shareholders' funds in order to win a boardroom power struggle when he stands trial on corruption charges in Madrid this week.
Banco Santander Central Hispano, the Spanish bank which owns Abbey National, has been fined $20,000 (£10,000) by the US authorities for breaching trade sanctions against Cuba.
The new Spanish owners of Abbey National will not be selling off its troubled life-insurance arm, despite speculation that they were keen to get rid of the costly operation.
Are my old share certificates worth anything?