SANTANDER Bank is to open a corporate office in Reading.

The Spanish owner of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley has included Reading on a list of towns and cities where the bank wants to get among the UK business community, and it has been eyeing key town centre office locations and recruiting local bankers ready to open by September.

Spokesman Andy Homer confirmed the Reading office would serve the whole Thames Valley.

He said: "We are currently looking to increase our presence in the corporate market and Reading is a key location for us."

He said most of their offices have around 10 relationship managers and the bank is already known to have made some key appointments.

The move is part of a drive to bring the corporate offices of Abbey and Alliance & Leicester under the Santander name.

Steve Pateman, head of Santander Corporate Banking, said: "Santander already has a successful corporate and commercial banking model, which focuses on its customer relationships and taking prudent and sensible commercial risks.

"We believe the opportunity exists to really grow our UK SME business significantly in 2009 and beyond."

The corporate division deals with businesses with a turnover of £1million and above.

Santander's retail branches of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley will all rebrand but none will close.

Where some are close together, as in Reading where Alliance & Leicester and Abbey are opposite one another in Broad Street, one is likely to relocate.

The rebrand is due to be complete by next year.