Spanish bank Santander’s acquisition of the UK’s troubled retail bank Abbey last November drew a divided response from analysts. Many doubted that a foreign bank could extract sufficient cost savings and synergies to make the takeover worthwhile. Just eight months later, however, the far-sightedness of the move is fast becoming apparent. With hindsight, Santander could see an opportunity that many analysts missed.
“Abbey was the first big cross-border acquisition in Europe, in an environment in which people thought it could not be done,” said Abbey CEO Francisco Gómez-Roldán. The former finance director for the Santander group was speaking at last month’s Fitch Ratings global banking conference in London, one of his first public appearances since taking up the Abbey post.
