Abbey National plc is the United Kingdom's sixth biggest bank, and Europe's second largest mortgage lender, after Halifax (part of the HBOS Group). Abbey is now a subsidiary of Banco Santander. Abbey became part of Grupo Santander on 12 November 2004.
Abbey's registered office is in London and its main corporate centre is in Milton Keynes. Its savings and banking administration departments are both in Bradford, with a mortgage centre in Thornaby-on-Tees (which is rumoured to be under threat of closure). Abbey currently has Banking Contact Centres in Sheffield and Glasgow. Business Banking operations, both administrative and telephony, are also based in Glasgow, having been moved from Taunton and Newport early in 2005.
