The British banking names of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester (A&L) and Bradford & Bingley are to be scrapped, it was revealed today.

Santander, the Spanish banking group that owns all three brands, announced that it will re-name them under the "flame-logo" and Santander moniker by the end of 2010 - bringing an end to high street names dating back as far as 1851.

Abbey, which was bought by Santander in 2004, and Bradford & Bingley's savings business, rescued by the group last year, will be the first to be renamed, with 1,000 branches changed to carry the Santander brand between January and March next year.

Alliance & Leicester will be renamed later in 2010, taking the total number of Santander branches to 1,300.

The group will begin introducing its Santander brand this year, by changing over Abbey credit cards under the group name, as well as the commercial and corporate banking arms of Abbey and A&L, which include 20 regional banking centres.

António Horta-Osório, chief executive of Santander’s UK businesses, said: “Bringing together the three brands means it will be even easier for customers to manage their finances as they will have access to over 1,300 branches once the change is complete.

"With this in mind, the time is right to make the move to a single UK identity as Santander, a powerful new force in the UK banking."

A history of high street banking

- Bradford & Bingley: The brand name "Bradford & Bingley" dates back to 1964 following a merger of the Bingley Building Society and the Bradford Equitable Building Society, both of which were established in 1851.

- Abbey: The name 'Abbey' also has deep roots. The brand dates from 1874, with the formation of Abbey Road & St John's Wood Permanent Benefit Building Society. The Abbey Building Society was later formed after a merger with the National Building Society in 1944.

- Alliance & Leicester: Although the brand "Alliance & Leicester" came into being relatively recently, with the merger of the Alliance and Leicester Building Societies in 1985, the Leicester Permanent Building Society was started in 1852. The name 'Alliance' was chosen in 1945 as a new brand name for the building society that was created after Brighton & Sussex Equitable Building Society had amalgamated with a number of smaller local societies.

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