The bank plans to rebrand its Abbey and Bradford & Bingley retail branches under the brand of parent company Santander by the end of January.
AFI and Alliance & Leicester Intermediary Sales will keep their names, prompting speculation that the group could pursue a more aggressive policy of differential pricing under the separate brands in the future.
Ricky Okey, managing director of AFI, said this was not the case, adding that Abbey aims to develop relationships with brokers more effectively by having a separate intermediary brand.
He said: “To achieve a balance between both our branch network and our intermediary businesses there may be some disparity in pricing, regardless of whether we share the Santander name or retain the Abbey name, and this is always likely to exist.”
Abbey also pledged to continue to develop propositions tailored to meet the specific needs of the intermediary market. Recently, the bank introduced an exclusive broker-only ‘Homebuyer Plus’ range allowing customers to save on upfront fees associated with a house purchase.
David Hollingworth, head of communications at London & Country, said while the decision could leave the door open for dual pricing, it would be wrong to assume that Abbey had planned this.
He added: “Lenders can have different products through the direct and broker channel, and that has been the case for a while. Abbey has maintained a consistently competitive broker proposition and it would be harsh to assume brokers will be disadvantaged.”
Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, disagreed, saying the decision was a further example that lenders were keen to maintain volume through branches.
He added: “A chance was missed, because a rebrand of the intermediary businesses along with the retail branches would show that Abbey would not differentiate on products. It wants more business through branches.”
