News of the rebranding went out in a letter to customers on Friday, a Santander spokesperson said, and the rebranding to Santander from Alliance & Leicester International (ALIL) is expected to begin taking effect in May.
In a statement to the press this afternoon, Santander said its UK arm, Santander UK plc, is to purchase the assets and liabilities of the Isle of Man business, resulting in ALIL moving from being a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santander UK "to a branch with its asset and liabilities on its parent’s balance sheet".
Because the Isle of Man branch will be an international centre for Santander UK plc, it will continue to be covered by the Isle of Man’s depositors’ compensation scheme rather than that of the UK parent, Santander said.
No jobs are expected to be lost as a result of the changes, and the company expects to "take on additional temporary staff" during the transfer period, the Santander spokesman said. It was not immediately known how many people work for ALIL in the Isle of Man.
‘Essential step’
“This announcement is an essential step in bringing the Santander UK brand to the Isle of Man," Santander said.
"The new branch will continue to service the needs of its local and international customers, and allow us to offer these customers a wider range of products and services.”
The Santander spokesperson said the "only immediate change" clients are likely to notice is a change to their terms and conditions, effective from 7 May, after which their accounts will be legally held with Santander UK plc.
The second stage of the transfer will involve moving customers’ accounts from the current ALIL banking system onto the Santander system during the next 12 months.
"We will write to all customers before their account is moved to explain any changes involved and once the transfer is complete, a new Santander account will be opened for the customer and their existing account closed. "
To read the statement to customers from John Pearson, managing director of ALIL, click here.
It is not known if the Alliance & Leicester brand will continue to exist anywhere once the Isle of Man’s international operation has been rebranded. Santander also has an international operation based in Jersey, which consists of private and institutional banking services for individuals and corporate customers. It is headed up by Colin Huelin.
Alliance & Leicester was a FTSE 100-listed, publicly-traded bank until it was acquired by Spain’s Santander Group in 2008.It is said to be one of the Crown Dependencies’ largest offshore deposit-takers.
In November, Sky News reported that Santander was considering selling its private banking operation in Jersey. At the time, Santander declined to comment on the report, but sources close to Santander said the bank was known to be conducting a review of the Jersey operation after having conducted a similar review of the ALIL business earlier in the year.
