HBOS to launch complaint over Spanish bid for Britain's Abbey

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2004

LONDON (AFP) — British bank HBOS announced it would file a complaint to the European Commission regarding Santander Central Hispano's (SCH) multi-billion-pound bid for Abbey National due to competition issues.

HBOS, which itself has said it was considering launching a counter-bid for British mortgage lender Abbey, is to launch a complaint about SCH's current ties with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBoS).

"It can't be acceptable that one of the largest of the big four banks in the UK could sit on the board of a company that owned one of the major challengers to the large (British) banks," an HBOS spokesman said.

SCH has had a bid worth 8.9 billion pounds (13.5 billion euros, 16.4 billion dollars) for Abbey accepted by the British bank's board, while the European...