Fears Over Growing Trend of Families Without Savings

NARBOROUGH, England -

- One in Four Parents (28 Per Cent) has no Savings or Investments

- 36 Percent of Parents Rely on Savings to pay Bills and Meet Basic Living Costs

Research from Abbey Savings has highlighted that over one in four (28 per cent) British parents with young children have no savings or investments to use in times of difficulty or to use as a nest egg for their children’s future. Indeed a further 20 per cent of these parents have less than GBP1000 to fall back on. (1,2)

There is a growing concern for families, especially those with children of primary school age, who are contending with the higher costs of raising a child. This has resulted in a quarter of these parents reducing the amount that they are saving by as much as GBP3,300 a year. What is more parents are also dipping into existing savings, withdrawing an average of 28 per cent (GBP1,800) of their total savings this year.

Reza Attar-Zadeh, Director of Savings and Investments commented: “It’s vital for everyone to have a rainy day fund even more so for parents, who must juggle the need to build up a nest egg for their children’s future with the need to provide for the here and now”.

Parents are facing an up hill struggle as they contend with: - The cost of childcare rising by 6.5 per cent since December 2007. Childcare from six months until the age of 14 could cost as much as GBP53,818, or GBP332 a month, for a typical UK household with two Working parents.(3) - The increasing cost of education, where the average household could spend GBP50,240 over their child’s lifetime. This includes a whopping GBP34,300 on a three year university degree course, accounting for annual tuition fees, travel, books, and living costs, including rent, bills and household items.(3)

However, on a positive note, nearly one third (29 per cent) of parents intend to start saving more each month, going forward.

Reza Attar-Zadeh continues “It is concerning that many families are saving less, as this could leave them facing financial difficulty in the future. It’s encouraging to see that some families are looking ahead and planning to save more - we hope this trend will continue”.

Abbey’s Fixed Rate Monthly Saver allows savers to put aside as little as GBP20 a month up to GBP250 a month and pays a highly competitive 4.00 per cent gross/AER fixed for one year. This could be an ideal home for those looking to build up a lump sum.

The information contained in our press releases is intended solely for journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions.

Notes to Editors 1) Opinium research carried out an online poll of 2000 + British adults, August 2009, looking at children of a primary school age or below 2) Opinium research carried out an online poll of 2000 + British adults, July 2009 3) Annual survey from insurance and investment group LV= on the Cost of a Child

About Us

Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N) is a retail and commercial bank, based in Spain, with operations in more than 40 countries. At the end of 2008, Santander was the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization and third in the world by profit. Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1,168 billion in managed funds at the end of 2008. Following the acquisition of Sovereign Bancorp of the U.S. in January 2009, Santander has 90 million customers, more than 14,000 branches - more than any other international bank - and over 180,000 employees. It is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America, with leading positions in the United Kingdom and Portugal and a broad presence in Europe through its Santander Consumer Finance arm. In 2008, Santander registered EUR8,876 million in net attributable profit, an increase of 9% from the previous year excluding capital gains.

In the UK, Santander operates three retail businesses - Abbey, Alliance & Leicester who provide competitive savings accounts (www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/savings/index.aspx) and mortgages (www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/mortgages/index.aspx), and Bradford & Bingley. Together they have over 1300 branches, around 4,500 cash machines and they provide a full range of retail and corporate banking services to 24 million customers.

Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and the savings business of Bradford & Bingley will all become known as Santander by the end of 2010. Abbey and the savings business of Bradford & Bingley will be rebranded from the first quarter of 2010 and Alliance & Leicester will follow later in the year. The move will deliver a significant advantage for customers as they will be able to use any of 1,000 Santander branches from early 2010, rising to over 1,300 by the end of 2010.

The Bradford & Bingley logo is a trade mark of Bradford & Bingley plc and is used under licence.

Source: Alliance & Leicester PLC

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