The company, announcing a return to profit after two years in the red, said that it would from May start rebranding and refurbishing its branches to "align the Abbey corporate identity" with that of SCH.

The logo would incorporate the flame symbol championed by SCH, which bought Abbey last year for £9.1 billion, expanding into the UK a Spanish-based empire based with interests in 40 countries.

The change would show that "Abbey is now part of a powerful group", said Abbey, which in September 2003 unveiled a rebranding which dropped the umbrella logo and the catchline "because life is complicated enough".

The bank added: "The new identity brings together the strongest elements of both brands: the heritage and familiarity of the Abbey name and Santander's corporate flame icon - a symbol of strength, stability and leadership."

Abbey in September 2003 dropped the umbrella and the word National from its logo, and the tagline "because life is complicated enough", in favour of an image based around the catchphrase: "Turning banking on its head."

The rebranding involved the replacement of fascias, the redrafting of thousands of set customer letters in clearer English and the production of a product catalogue.

The latest logo change was announced as Abbey revealed pre-tax earnings of £273 million, its first annual profit in three years.

"2004 marked the year that Abbey returned to profit," Francisco Gomez-Roldan, the bank's chief executive, said.

However, the results revealed a continuing struggle to raise profits at the retail banking division on which Abbey has staked its future. The arm's trading profit fell to £814 million from £1.02 billion in 2003, although the decline reflected in part one-off charges.

The company's share of UK net mortgage lending fell to 3.1 per cent from 9.9 per cent.

Abbey, which is to axe 3,000 back office jobs by the end of the year but to increase sales teams by 30 per cent, also noted an "unacceptable level" of staff turnover.

The bank added: "We have started to see signs of revenue stabilisation in recent quarters but the outlook on revenues for 2005 remains tough.

"Against this backdrop we will work to improve sales productivity while at the same time reducing costs."

The figure, which was swollen by share sales, fell short of the €3.27 billion forecast by analysts.

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