Branches, products and services at Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley are all going to be renamed under the Santander brand.

Their parent company’s name will replace their individual brands from 2010 onwards, the Spanish financial services giant said.

As part of the move, customers will be able to use any of the group’s 1,300 branches next year, with the same brand being used across the 40 countries it operates in.

António Horta-Osório, chief executive of Santander’s UK businesses, said the “time was right” to merge the different UK operations of Santander into a single identity.

“We know from speaking to our customers that they value and appreciate the strength and financial security that being part of a world-class global bank offers particularly in the new global banking environment,” he said.

“Our prudent approach and focus on branch-based banking enabled us to acquire the A&L and B&B savings business in 2008, despite unprecedented market turmoil.”

Early in the second half of 2009, Abbey Credit Cards will be re-branded Santander.

Later in the year, Abbey and A&L’s Corporate and Commercial Bank will also be renamed Santander and the 20 regional banking centres will operate under the new identity.

Abbey acquired only the savings business of Bradford & Bingley and this is the element that will be rebranded to Santander. Bradford & Bingley still exists as an entity, and is owned by HM Treasury.

The Abbey Road & St John’s Wood Permanent Benefit Building Society was founded in 1874, based in a Baptist church in Kilburn.

After merging with the National Building Society in 1944, the lender went on to become one of the biggest banks in the UK after demutualising in 1989 but was bought out by Santander in 2004.

Santander used the credit crunch to snap up Alliance & Leicester and the savings division of Bradford & Bingley, as the banks struggled to survive the crisis.