Barclays announces Spanish Expansion

Barclays Bank is looking to expand its Spanish network of brnaches in Spain in a clear move to help expats as well as get more profit. Its expansion plans have been devised to counter Banco Santander Central Hispano’s attempt to attack the British market with its own £8 billion bid for Abbey. Barclays, the third largest bank in the UK, is also hoping that building up its businesses overseas will help it to remain independent — during the past few days its stock has surged on consistent speculation that it is about to be bid for by America’s Citigroup. The British bank, which bought Spain’s Banco Zaragozano in a $1.4 billion (£764 million) acquisition in 2003, aims to expand in the Iberian peninsula later this year by adding to its network of 540 branches. Now the sixth biggest bank in the region, it hopes to increase pre-tax profits at its Spanish division to £200 million a year by 2007. This year, Barclays’ entire international division is on track to make profits of about £300 million — less than 5 per cent of the bank’s total. In particular, Barclays is attacking Spain’s home loan market through “open plan” — a UK mortgage product that was originally sold by Woolwich, the former building society that is now part of Barclays. As part of its drive into Spain, the UK bank plans to rebrand its entire network in the region as Barclays next year. The rebranding has already begun on Spain’s south coast, which is home to a large and growing expatriate community.