"Champagne, cupcakes and free taxi rides” are being laid on today to “celebrate the rebrand,” Santander said in a statement.
The first six customers into the bank, which is located on Prospect Hill in Douglas, would have received a bottle of champagne each.
As reported, news of the rebranding went out to customers in a letter in March. The entity formerly known as ALIL will continue to be licenced on the Isle of Man.
In addition, the Isle of Man concern "has become an international centre for Santander UK plc, following a change in the bank’s legal entity, from a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santander UK plc to a branch, with its assets and liabilities on its parent’s balance sheet", Santander said.
"Customer’s accounts will continue to be offered with gross interest, and [to be] covered by the Isle of Man’s Depositors’ Compensation Scheme."
The moving of individual accounts over to the Santander system will not be as quick as the replacing of the bank’s signs, but will take place over the next 12 months, with customers receiving written notification before their accounts are moved, Santander said.
The "free taxi rides" will be made available to Manx residents and visitors in a Santander-branded taxi over the next 10 days, as part of the rebranding.
Alliance & Leicester brand
It is not known if the Alliance & Leicester brand will continue to exist anywhere once the Isle of Man’s international operation has been rebranded. Santander also has an international operation based in Jersey, which consists of private and institutional banking services for individuals and corporate customers. It is headed up by Colin Huelin.
Alliance & Leicester was a FTSE 100-listed, publicly-traded bank until it was acquired by Spain’s Santander Group in 2008.It is said to be one of the Crown Dependencies’ largest offshore deposit-takers.
In November, Sky News reported that Santander was considering selling its private banking operation in Jersey. At the time, Santander declined to comment on the report, but sources close to Santander said the bank was known to be conducting a review of the Jersey operation after having conducted a similar review of the ALIL business earlier in the year.
