Santander UK Scores a Hat-Trick of Wins at Moneyfacts Awards

LONDON, May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

• Santander UK is named Personal Finance Provider of the Year, along with Best Current Account Provider and Best Cash ISA Provider
• 123 current account, part of the 123 World, shows why Santander UK is the leading provider
• Santander's Major ISA offer period extended into June

Santander UK picked up three top awards at the Moneyfacts Awards 2012 which took place on Friday 25 May at London's Grosvenor Square Marriott Hotel, including the prestigious Personal Finance Provider of the Year.

The bank also collected the award for Best Current Account Provider, demonstrating Santander's great value current accounts.

The recent launch of the 123 Current Account has proved to be very popular as it gives customers up to 3% cash back on utilities, council tax and communications bills paid by direct debit and up to 3% interest on credit balances up to £20,000.

This is complemented by the 123 credit card, which pays cash back on purchases: 1% at supermarkets, 2% at department stores and 3% at petrol stations.

And the third award was for Best Cash ISA Provider.

Santander has a strong history of helping people to save, especially in cash ISAs where customers earn interest without paying tax.

The recently launched Major ISA is an example of a winning product, which has been so popular Santander has extended the offer beyond the 'ISA season' period into June.

Reza Attar-Zadeh, retail director at Santander, said: "These wins are a fantastic testament to the hard work and efforts of everyone at Santander to develop and deliver top quality products to all our customers in the UK. We strive to develop value-adding products with our customers' needs in mind and involve our customers in this process to help us get it right. We're really proud of our achievements and successes, and proud to be such a strong and integral part of the UK financial system."

Moneyfacts is a leading, independent product comparison company. The coveted Moneyfacts awards are designed to recognise UK banks and products that provide exceptional value to customers.

In addition to this hat-trick at the Moneyfacts awards, Santander also won the Best New Credit Card for the 123 Credit Card at the Card & Payments Trailblazer Awards 2012 which took place in Barcelona on 24 May.

The information contained in our press releases is intended solely for journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions.

Notes to Editors

About Us

Santander UK plc is a full-service retail and commercial bank providing services to 25 million customers, with more than 1,300 branches and 28 regional business centres. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Banco Santander.

Santander UK plc manages its affairs autonomously, with its own local management team, responsible solely for its performance. Over 90% of the assets on Santander UK plc's balance sheet are UK based and it is subject to full supervision of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.

Sovereign exposures to Europe (excluding UK) as at March 2012 are not significant at less than 1% of total assets and primarily relate to Swiss government. Total exposure to periphery countries is c. 0.3% of total assets.

Banco Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is a retail and commercial bank, based in Spain, with a presence in 10 main markets. Santander is the largest bank in the euro zone and is among the top fifteen in the world by market capitalization. Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1.383 trillion in managed funds, more than 102 million customers, 14,760 branches - more than any other international bank - and 193,000 employees at the close of 2011. It is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America. Furthermore, it has significant positions in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Poland and the U.S. northeast. Santander Consumer Finance operates in the Group's core markets as well as in the Nordic region. In 2011, Grupo Santander registered EUR 7,021 million in recurring net profit.

SOURCE Santander