When Spanish bank Santander acquired the Abbey and then Alliance and Leicester they kept those brands rather than forcing their own name and brand on the UK banking public. Now, as a result of the nationalisation of Bradford and Bingley, Santander will acquire B&B's high street branches and savings customers.

Because the B&B brand is irrepairably damaged they are sure not to keep those branches in the B&B name. So what will become of them? This could be the opportunity Santander has been waiting for to roll out it's own brand to the UK public and, if it has the nerve to do so, it could also rename those Abbey and Alliance and Leicester outlets at the same time.

Why would this be a good time to do this? Well the finance and banking landscape is already looking very different from it's recent past. Halifax Bank of Scotland is already owned by Lloyds TSB, and although the TSB name was retained, the brand Lloyds carried moving forward was very much the old Lloyds black horse style. So what will the new bank high street look like by this time next year? Perhaps we'll have just five big players providing everything from current accounts, mortgages, loans, savings plans and credit cards. Barclays, Santander, Lloyds, RBS and HSBC. What will happen to NatWest and Nationwide? We're not sure but they could become marginalised by the sheer size and momentum of the banking mega-players that look like emerging from all this credit turmoil. RBS could decide this is right time to get rid of the NatWest brand and develop its position as the high street "scottish" bank now that the Bank of Scotland" has gone. AS far as Nationwide is concerned it's fate as a building society looks stronger now but they have a much harder time surviving on the high street with these bigger competitors.