Get used to it: Santander is here to stay

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Get used to it: Santander is here to stay

Some might say deservedly, buts some of Britain’s best known banking brands will be removed from the UK's high street, on news that Santander, the Spanish bank who first set foot in the UK market with the purchase of Santander and later acquired both Alliance & Leicester as well as the savings branch of Bradford & Bingley announced that from next year all branches would trade under the Santander label.

The British public will need to get used to seeing Santander, especially when they are about to invest around £12million on a major makeover, rebranding branches and product livery with their already well known and ever distinctive logo of a white flame on a red background.

A spokesman for Santander pointed out that when the Spanish bank entered the UK market five years ago, only 20 per cent of the public were aware of the company. This figure is believed to have raised four -fold largely due to Santander’s sponsorship of the British Grand Prix and their partnership with current Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton.

The in-your-face presence of Santander in the UK high street might represent a turning of the page for many who would associate the companies that will be replacing as unpleasant memories..

On the FTSE yesterday media stocks provided the only highlight, with ITV topping the bill, jumping by 12.5 percent after renewed speculation of a tie-up with Mediaset, Italian Prime Minister and business magnate Silvio Berlusconi’s media group.

Financial stocks also made gains with Man Group rising 5.4 per cent to 250p ahead of full-year results due on Thursday. There is speculation that the company's retail fund launches are likely to have exceeded analyst's expectations.

After abandoning a proposed deal to acquire 49 per cent of a China based asset management business from fortis, shares in Old Mutual rose 4.9 per cent to close on73½p.

Tour operators were buoyant on the news of Sterling’s continued recovery Intercontinental Hotels led the way, climbing by six per cent to 675p. Shares in Thomas Cook also rallied by four per cent to 233¾p.

Spirits were low at Diageo as shares slipped by one per cent to 843½p after French owners Pernod Ricard announced that talks of a recovery in the wine market might be premature.

At the end of a subdued day, the FTSE 100 closed up 4.51 points to 4,416.23, due to very low levels of trading. The FTSE250 closed on 7,588 down 26 points from Tuesday

The pound continues to gain momentum, rising above $1.60 for the first time since November, reflecting reduced fears over the outlook for the UK economy.

The pound closed the day at $1.6016, up 0.3%, having peaked at $1.6030 during the day's trading, a far cry from January when the pound was as low as $1.36, the lowest exchange rate since the late nineteen eighties
Sterling also rose sharply against the Euro as well as the Yen and the Swiss Franc.

· Pound/US dollar 1.5938
· Pound/Euro 1.1523
· Pound/Japanese Yen 154.018
· Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7364

On Wall Street, profit taking seemed to be in evidence as a reaction to the latest than positive information on the housing market and some disappointing corporate earnings forecasts. The Dow Jones closed down 173.47 points to 8300.02, while the NASDAQ fell by 16.54 points to close on 1731.08

The future of GM is causing a lot headaches and heartaches on both sides of the Atlantic, with talks regarding the company's European operations reaching deadlock. The main sticking point appears to be the German government insistence on receiving more in depth information from GM and the US Treasury before choosing a preferred bidder and GM's request for a further 300 Euro ( £260m) in short-term funding. Currently it is believed that only Italian car giant Fiat and Canadian auto parts maker, Magna is still in the running.

An indication that you need to be either brave or foolhardy to be in the auto business these days is the news that Visteon, the former parts arm of Ford Motor, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. Their bankruptcy, although widely anticipated is one of the biggest failures of an automotive supplier to date.

For no other reason other than an increase in demand, crude oil prices have risen to a six-month high of above $63 a barrel US light crude oil settled up $1 to $63.45 a barrel, its highest price since November. Brent crude raised $1.26 to settle for the day at $62.50.

The news was released by spokesman for OPEC, which produces about 40 per cent of the world’s oil. OPEC has reduced their production since September 2008 due to the decline in oil prices.

This will not be good news for US secretary of energy Steven Chu, who announced recently that it will be not be politically feasible for the United States to raise petrol prices to European levels through higher taxes or regulation.