Ring-Fencing Update

16 October 2017

SANTANDER UK GROUP HOLDINGS PLC

SANTANDER UK PLC

ABBEY NATIONAL TREASURY SERVICES PLC

RING-FENCING UPDATE

Further to the update provided in our 2017 half yearly report regarding our progress on the implementation of our ring-fencing structure, the Santander UK Group has reached another important milestone in the delivery of its ring-fencing plans.

Santander UK plc (Santander UK), Abbey National Treasury Services plc (ANTS), Santander UK Group Holdings plc and Banco Santander, S.A. (Banco Santander) have entered into an agreement which formalises the business transfers required for the implementation of its ring-fence structure. Under the agreement, Santander UK and ANTS have agreed to transfer to Banco Santander their corporate and wholesale markets business, which would be prohibited in the ring-fence (and a discrete element of its permitted derivative business), including the businesses of Santander UK's Jersey and Isle of Man branches, and ANTS has agreed to transfer to Santander UK materially all of its residual business. Each transfer is subject to certain conditions as well as regulator and court approvals, including in relation to the transfer of such businesses through a ring-fencing transfer scheme under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (and equivalent schemes in Jersey and Isle of Man). Subject to these conditions and approvals, final completion of the transfers is expected to occur in July 2018, ahead of the legislative deadline of 1 January 2019.

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For any enquiries, please contact:

Bojana Flint, Head of Investor Relations

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7756 6474

Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 30 June 2017, the bank serves around 14 million active customers with c19,500 employees and operates through 826 branches (which includes 61 university branches) and 65 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.

About Us

Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC LN) is a leading retail and commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. It has a meaningful market share in 10 core countries in Europe and the Americas, and is among the world's top banks by market capitalization. At the end of June 2017, Banco Santander had EUR 1.65 trillion in managed funds, 131 million customers, 13,800 branches and 200,000 employees. Banco Santander made attributable profit of EUR 3.6 billion in the first half of 2017, an increase of 24% compared to the same period last year.