Sant Uk.10te% Regulatory News (SAN)

2 Feb 2006 10:00

Abbey National PLC02 February 2006 2 February 2006 Abbey announces new credit card operation Abbey will start its own credit card operation in the UK, drawing on theexpertise of Santander's global card business. Under a mutually agreed transitional arrangement, existing Abbey card issuerMBNA Europe, will continue to operate and administer all 1.2 millionAbbey-branded credit cards, ensuring there is no immediate impact on customers.MBNA Europe will retain the existing credit card asset once the transitionalarrangement expires. The move follows a strategic review of Abbey's credit card business after itstakeover by Santander. The current relationship with MBNA Europe has been aproductive one for both companies. In Santander's business model, cards are acore business group-wide, owned and run in-house. Having its own operation givesAbbey more flexibility in how it deals with customers, the products it develops,and the cross-sales opportunities. Francisco Gomez-Roldan, Chief Executive, Abbey said: "Being part of Santander,we now have the expertise and strength to be able to run a successful cardoperation in-house again. By doing this, we will have both more flexibility inthe products we offer and the potential to expand our credit card operationsamongst our 18 million customers." A new team at Abbey is already in place and working closely with Santander'sglobal cards team to set up the credit card operations. The new Abbey creditcard, expected to launch in March 2007, will be one of the first Abbey productsto run on Santander's efficient in-house IT system, Partenon. Michael Rhodes, President of MBNA Europe, said: "When Abbey and MBNA enteredinto our relationship, it was for a period of five years. That period is nearingan end. Both our organisations have benefited greatly from this relationship.Working together, Abbey and MBNA have more than doubled the Abbey-branded creditcard portfolio, and it is in the interests of both companies to undertake anorderly exit from this arrangement." ENDS Media enquiries: Matthew Young, Abbey Media Relations 020 7756 4232Matthew.Young@abbey.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange