Santander axes more than 2,000 UK jobs as it issues announcement

Santander has revealed more than 2,000 job roles have been axed in the UK over the past 12 months.

The high street bank confirmed the reduction of its workforce in its latest half-year results, which were released this morning. Santander said the job cuts - which have seen its operating expenses decrease by 2% - are part of its ongoing cost-cutting drive.

It reported a 5% fall in pre-tax profits to £764million for the first six months of 2025, but its net interest income rose by 5% to £2.22billion. Santander has around 349 branches in the UK.

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It comes after the Spanish parent company of Santander recently announced plans to buy UK rival TSB for £2.65billion. Once completed, the combined bank will have a total of nearly 28 million customers and will be the third largest UK bank in terms of personal current account deposits, behind Lloyds and NatWest.

Santander said it “intends to integrate TSB in the Santander Group” as part of the deal, which could mean the TSB name may disappear from the high street in the future and its customers end up moved to Santander.

No exact details on the future of the brand name TSB have been announced yet. The deal needs to be approved by shareholders first and, if given the green light, is expected to conclude in the first three months of 2026.

Mike Regnier, Chief Executive Officer of Santander UK, said: “In the first six months of 2025 we continued to build momentum in our strategy to become the best bank for customers in the UK by investing in technology and service, and improving our processes and efficiency.

“Banco Santander’s recent agreement to acquire 100% of TSB from Sabadell accelerates our transformation, allowing us to enhance our customer proposition and invest more in innovative products and our digital offering. This is an excellent deal for customers, combining two strong and complementary banks.”

Santander is also awaiting the outcome of Supreme Court judgment on the car finance commission scandal on Friday. The bank has already put by a £295million provision in the case of payouts.

The group said: “Santander UK will consider the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment and any subsequent steps the Financial Conduct Authority proposes to take once known, which could lead to a change in the value of the provision. As such, the ultimate financial impact could be materially higher or lower than the amount provided.”

Meanwhile, Santander has also announced plans to close 95 branches and reduce the opening times in some locations. At the of this announcement in March this year, the banking giant said this would result in 750 jobs being cut.

Santander is also turning 18 branches into counter-free banks, while a further 36 will be reduced hours branches. Santander said the closures are down to more people using online banking.