Spanish takeover will mean 3,000 Abbey job cuts

Around 3,000 jobs will be lost at Abbey National if the UK bank’s takeover by Spain’s Santander Central Hispano (SCH) goes ahead, it emerged today.

The proposed redundancies, which is less than some reports had forecast, should save €450m in the three years following completion of the £8.2bn (€12.2bn) takeover, which was first announced last month.