Abbey takes 16% share of mortgage market

Santander's UK arm, which includes Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and the deposit book of Bradford & Bingley, reported a 30% profit jump for the first six months of the year. Santander is also now the third largest player in the UK for retail deposits, posting a £790m profit for the first six months of the year. The bank said it grew revenues by a fifth. It has attributed its increase in revenues to prudent lending decisions taken during the housing boom, when Abbey scaled back in mortgages. The acquisitions of B&B and A&L last year boosted Santander's UK profit by 62.8% compared to...