PURPOSE.

Santander UK

The UK arm of Spain's Banco Santander, formed in 2010 from Abbey National and other former building societies. It runs graduate programmes in Milton Keynes and apprenticeships across the UK.

About Santander UK

Santander UK is a high-street bank. It looks after everyday money for individuals and businesses, with current accounts, mortgages, credit cards, savings and investments, plus banking for larger corporate and commercial customers. It is owned by Banco Santander of Spain but has its own UK leadership. Wikipedia reports about 18,000 employees and 14 million active customers in 2025.

The Santander name is quite new in the UK, but the roots are old. Its own history page traces it to the National Freehold Land and Building Society (1849) and the Abbey Road & St. John's Wood Permanent Benefit Building Society (1874), which merged in 1944 as Abbey National. Abbey National became the first UK building society to turn itself into a bank in 1989. Banco Santander bought it in 2004, added the savings business and branches of Bradford & Bingley in 2008 and Alliance & Leicester in 2009, and in 2010 the brands were renamed Santander UK. In 2026 it completed its acquisition of TSB. Wikipedia gives its head office as Regent's Place in London, its graduate programmes are based in Milton Keynes, and it says Mahesh Aditya became chief executive in March 2026.

We did not find a formal mission statement in the sources we read. Its history page describes a bank that "evolves and innovates", and its graduate pages stress curiosity, adaptability and continuous learning (the bank's own words).

Day to day, the bank runs branches, the Santander app (it rolled out a mobile platform called OneApp in 2023), business and corporate banking centres, and teams in technology, data, risk, finance, customer service and fighting financial crime. It has partnerships with community and education groups, such as the Twinkl 'Numbers Game' project launched in 2020, and opened a Work Cafe in Leeds in 2019.

For young people, Santander UK's careers pages list graduate programmes and apprenticeships. The 2026 graduate programmes (Global Retail, and Data & AI) were based in Milton Keynes, lasted 27 months with rotations, paid £38,000 and asked for 112 UCAS points; Data & AI accepted a degree in any subject and said coding was not required. Both were closed when we read the page. Since January 2023 it no longer asks for a 2:1 degree. Apprenticeships last from 12 months to four years across technology, data, economic crime, customer services, finance, HR, commercial banking and legal teams, with hybrid roles at core UK offices, including a four-year digital technology degree apprenticeship (Milton Keynes or Leicester). They are paid, lead to nationally recognised qualifications and a permanent job, and the page says applications open in March 2027.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Current accounts, savings, mortgages and credit cards.', 'title': 'Everyday banking'}
• {'desc': 'Banking for companies from small firms to large corporates.', 'title': 'Business and corporate banking'}
• {'desc': '27-month programmes in Global Retail and Data & AI, Milton Keynes.', 'title': 'Graduate programmes'}
• {'desc': 'Paid routes in technology, data, finance, HR, customer service and financial crime.', 'title': 'Apprenticeships'}

Key facts

• Roots go back to 1849; Abbey National formed 1944; renamed Santander UK in 2010
• Graduate programmes 2026 paid £38,000, 27 months, Milton Keynes, 112 UCAS points
• 2:1 degree requirement removed from January 2023
• Apprenticeships from 12 months to four years; applications open March 2027 (own page)
• About 18,000 employees and 14 million active customers (Wikipedia, 2025)

Website: www.santander.co.uk