Will Santander challenge the big banks?

A big, shiny new name is on display in the UK's High Streets and shopping centres.

The logo of the giant Spanish banking group Santander will soon hang above more than a thousand former branches of the Abbey and Bradford & Bingley banks.

The 278 branches of the Alliance & Leicester, also owned by the Spanish group, will be renamed later this year.

That will bring the total number of Santander branded outlets to 1,300, making it the fifth-largest bank in the UK.

Its position, with 25 million customers, should be a challenge to the traditional dominance of the big four High Street banks - RBS-NatWest, Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays.

"Santander is and will continue to be a challenger to the competition in the UK," a spokesman promised.