UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

¨REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

 

xANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year endedDecember 31, 20142015

OR

 

¨TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                    to                    

OR

 

¨SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of event requiring this shell company report                    to                    

Commission file number 001-14928

Santander UK plc

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

England

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London NW1 3AN, England

(Address of principal executive offices)

Julian Curtis

2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London NW1 3AN, England

Tel +44 (0) 870 607 6000

Fax +44 (0) 20 7756 5628

(Name, Telephone, Email and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

 

4.000% Notes due April 27, 2016, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *New York Stock Exchange
1.375% Notes due March 13, 2017, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *New York Stock Exchange
Floating Rate Notes due March 13, 2017, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *New York Stock Exchange
1.650% Notes due September 29, 2017, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *  New York Stock Exchange
Floating Rate Notes due September 29, 2017, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *  New York Stock Exchange
3.050% Notes due August 23, 2018, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *New York Stock Exchange
Floating Rate Notes due August 24, 2018, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *New York Stock Exchange
2.000% Notes due August 24, 2018, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc*New York Stock Exchange
2.350% Notes due September 10, 2019, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *  New York Stock Exchange
1.375%2.375% Notes due March 13, 2017,16, 2020, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *  New York Stock Exchange
4.000% Notes due March 13, 2024, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *New York Stock Exchange
Floating Rate Notes due March 13, 2017, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *New York Stock Exchange


3.050% Notes due August 23, 2018, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *New York Stock Exchange
4.000% Notes due April 27, 2016, issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc *  New York Stock Exchange

 

*Guaranteed by Santander UK plc

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12 (g) of the Act.

None

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 15 (d) of the Act.

7.95% Term Subordinated Securities due October 26, 2029

Subordinated Guarantee by Santander UK plc (as successor in interest to Abbey National plc) of the 8.963% Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Limited Partnership Interests issued by Abbey National Capital LP I

Subordinated Guarantee by Santander UK plc (as successor in interest to Abbey National plc) of the 8.963% Non-Cumulative Trust Preferred Securities issued by Abbey National Capital Trust I

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

 

Ordinary shares of nominal value of £0.10 each*  31,051,768,866
10 3/8% Non-cumulative Preference Shares of nominal value of £1 each  200,000,000
8 5/8% Non-cumulative Preference Shares of nominal value of £1 each  125,000,000
Series A Fixed/Floating Rate Non-cumulative Preference Shares of nominal value of £1£1,000 each  34,93313,797

 

*All of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of Santander UK plc are held by Santander UK Group Holdings Limited.plc.

 

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  x    No  ¨

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.    Yes  ¨    No  x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  ¨    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

 

Large accelerated filer  ¨  Accelerated filer  ¨  Non-accelerated filer  x

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

 

¨   U.S. GAAP  x   International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board  ¨   Other

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.    Item 17  ¨     Item 18  ¨


If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ¨    No  x

 

 

 


2015 Annual Report

LOGO


      

2014 business and
financial highlights

We are pleased to report strong results for 2014, with continued improvement in profitability and strong commercial momentum. We are gaining more personal current account switchers than any other UK bank, while broadening the range of products and services we offer to UK companies.

 

 

 

Net interest income

 

Profit before tax

 

Banking NIM(1)

£3,434m£1,399m1.82%
Up 16% in 2014, with higher margins and increased lending across all core segments.

Up 26% in 2014, with continued growth in net interest income, a strong focus on efficiency and well performing retail and corporate loan portfolios.

��

Up 27 basis points in 2014, largely due to lower cost of retail liabilities.

 

Cost-to-income ratio

 

CET 1 capital ratio

 

Loan-to-deposit ratio

54%11.9%124%

Unchanged in 2014 with cost efficiency maintained to accommodate investment. Income grew by two percentage points more than expenses.

 

Up from 11.6%(1), with the PRA end point T1 leverage ratio at 3.8% from 3.3% in 2013.Improved two percentage points in 2014, reflecting strong growth in current account balances.

 

Gross mortgage lending

 

Lending to corporates

 

Retail customer satisfaction

+43%+8%59.7%
Gross mortgage lending of £26.3bn in 2014 with net mortgage lending of £2.0bn.Up by a net £1.8bn in 2014 to a total of £23.9bn, maintaining positive momentum in an increasingly competitive market.

Gap between Santander UK and the average of 3 highest performing peers largely closed. Santander UK was the most improved bank since December 2012(2).

 

This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. See ‘Forward-looking Statements’ on page 353. For definitions of terms used in this Annual Report, see ‘Glossary’ on page 348.

Santander UK plc (the ‘Company’) and its subsidiaries (collectively ‘Santander UK’ or the ‘Santander UK group’) operate primarily in the UK, are regulated by the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (‘PRA’) and the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) and are part of the Banco Santander, S.A. group (the ‘Banco Santander group’).

 

(1) Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

(2) Retail customer satisfaction as measured by the Financial Research Survey (‘FRS’) run by GfK NOP. See ‘Glossary’ on page 348.

 

 

 


 

 

 

Santander UK plc

PART OF THE SANTANDER GROUP


Santander UK plc

Annual Report 2015

Santander UK plc Annual Report 2014  1We have further evolved the 2014 Annual Report in order to give readers more insight into the strategy, governance, risk management and financial performance of our business.
Strategic report

 

    

 

52Our heritage and Santander UK todayFinancial review

 

    

 

4Chair’s review
35    

8Chief Executive Officer’s review

14Chief Financial Officer’s review

18Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility summary

Risk review

 

    

 

16126Risk governanceGovernance

 

    

 

36Top and emerging risks
198          

39Credit risk

90Market risk

96Balance sheet management risk

126Other risks

136Areas of focus and other items

Governance

146Directors

152Corporate Governance report

170Directors’ Remuneration report

182Directors’ report

Financial review

190Income statement review

205Balance sheet review

218Cash flows

Financial statements

 

    

 

199220Report of independent registered public accounting firmIndependent Registered Public Accounting Firm

 

    

 

223Primary financial statements
202    Primary Financial Statements

 

    

 

209230Notes to the financial statementsFinancial Statements

 

    

 

299
Shareholder information

 

    

 

300327Risk factors

 

    

 

321347Contact and other information

 

    

 

348Glossary of financial services industry terms
322    Subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates

 

    

 

353Forward-looking statements
325    Glossary

 

    

 

354Selected financial data
330    Forward-looking statements

 

    

 

331Selected financial data

334Other information for US investors

 

    

 

335358Risk elements in the loan portfolio

 

    

 

338361Taxation for US investors

 

    

 

362Articles of association
338    Share information

 

    

 

363ITRA
339    Articles of Association

 

    

 

364NYSE Corporate Governance
340    ITRA

 

    

 

341365Cross-reference to Form 20-FNYSE

    

 

342    Cross reference to Form 20-F

    

 

1


Strategic report

This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. See ‘Forward-looking statements’ on page 330.

Our heritage

Santander UK, a key subsidiary of the Banco Santander group, was formed from the acquisition of three former building societies.

Abbey National Building Society

formed with the merger of two

long-standing building societies

 

Bradford & Bingleysavings

business and branches

acquired by Santander UK plc

Abbey, Alliance & Leicester

and Bradford & Bingley

rebranded asSantander UK

1944

1989

2004

2008

2009

2010

 

 

Abbey National plc

incorporated in 1998.

Listed on the London

 

Abbey National plc acquired

byBanco Santander, S.A.

 

 

Alliance & Leicester plc

transferred to Santander

UK plc (acquired by Banco

Stock Exchange in 1989

Santander, S.A. in 2008)

 

 

LOGO

 

 

Banco Santander group customers

117 million

 

Banco Santander group is a retail and commercial bank, based in Spain, with a presence in ten main markets and is the largest bank in the eurozone by market capitalisation.

 

Founded in 1857, the Banco Santander group has over 12,000 branches and 185,000 employees across the globe. The Banco Santander group is also the largest private financial group in Latin America and has a significant presence in the UK, Portugal, Germany, Poland and the US.

 

The Banco Santander group operates a subsidiary model across the group where businesses, such as Santander UK, are responsible for their own liquidity, funding and capital, but benefit from shared resources, operational capability and branding.

 

LOGO   

See page 182 on the

subsidiary model

Banco Santander group

attributable profit

5.8bn

Up 39% from4.2bn in 2013, with the UK

region contributing 17% of the global total.

LOGO

2Santander UK plc


Our heritage and

Santander UK today

Chair’s

review

Chief Executive Officer’s reviewKPIs

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

Corporate

Governance review

An overview of our history and heritage and a snapshot of Santander UK today

                                        

        Strategic

         report

 

Santander UK                    

today

As one of the leading financial services providers in the UK, serving more than 14 million active customers with 20,000 employees, our purpose is to help people and businesses prosper.

LOGO

 

Annual Report 20143


Strategic reportHelping people and businesses prosper

Strategic report

Chair’sSantander UK plc (the Company and together with its subsidiaries, Santander UK or the Santander UK group) is required to set out in this report a fair review

LOGO

“Since becoming Chair of its business and a description of its principal risks and uncertainties, including a balanced and comprehensive analysis of the development and performance of the business in 2002,the year and of its position at the end of the year. This information can be found below and in the following sections of this Annual Report, which are incorporated into and form part of this Strategic report. Under the UK banking landscape has changed significantly. As I hand overCompanies Act 2006, a safe harbour limits the stewardship,liability of Directors in respect of statements in and omissions from the Directors’ Report (for which see page 193), the Strategic report and the Remuneration report. Under English law the Directors would be liable to the company, but not to any third party, if one or more of these reports contained errors as a result of recklessness or knowing misstatement or dishonest concealment of a material fact, but would otherwise not be liable. Pages 193 to 196 inclusive comprise the Directors’ Report, pages 1 to 4 inclusive comprise the Strategic report and pages 186 to 192 inclusive comprise the Remuneration report, each of which have been drawn up and presented in accordance with and in reliance upon English company law and the liabilities of the Directors in connection with these reports shall be subject to the limitations and restrictions provided by such law. The Directors, in preparing this Strategic report, have complied with s414C of the Companies Act 2006.

Chair’s statement

My first ten months as Chair have affirmed my view that Santander UK is well placedtrue in its intent to succeed in a challenging environment.”

LOGO

Lord Burns

Chair

24 February 2015

Our purpose is to help people and businesses prosper as we build the Best Bank in the UK –be a bank that is Simple, Personal and Fair but is not complacent about the effort and length of the endeavour.

UK banks need to continue their transformation, focusing more on the needs of people and businesses in the real economy and regaining the trust of customers, investors, regulators, policy makers and the wider public. The UK cannot claim to be a leading global financial centre until it provides its own economy with world-class service.

Santander UK can play a key role in this transformation through its unique position as the only full-service ‘scale challenger’. We have greater reach, high street presence and brand recognition than niche players whilst our market position relative to the ‘big four’ ensures we maintain our incentive to win the loyalty of customers and challenge the incumbents’ ways of doing business. We have demonstrated this, for example, by launching innovative products such as the 1I2I3 World Current Account and our unique international trade proposition which provides the only UK bank export scheme targeted at SMEs. We have sustained our position in the highly competitive mortgage market from our building society heritage, but in other segments Santander UK is still a challenger bank. We have the need and ability to innovate and compete and that is integral to our approach in improving the way we serve our customers.

Transformation on multiple fronts

I do not underestimate the significant challenges our people and systems face in simultaneous implementation on multiple fronts. This ranges from regulatory changes to our balance sheet and operations, to ‘ring-fencing’ our business into a Retail Bank for personal and small business customers, and a unique dedicated Corporate Bank for our business customers from SMEs to the FTSE 100. It includes embedding cultural change, deepening our relationships with customers, innovating and delivering the very best digital banking services. All this needs to be done while ensuring we remain profitable in a persistent low interest rate environment, manage risk effectively in unpredictable markets and a highly uncertain world and continue to win competitive market share.

I am very confident in the ability of Nathan Bostock, our CEO, to deliver his 3-year strategy and lead this multiple transformation with his senior executives and our dedicated and committed employees. He has been left a strong legacy by Ana Botín from her time as CEO. Her continued presence on the Santander UK Board as a Banco Santander-nominated Non-Executive Director demonstrates the strength we gain from the strategic and operational resources of our shareholder.

Embedding the behaviours that underpin our culture

One of the most important programmes we initiated was defining the set of behaviours that underpins the culture we want. It has been an extraordinary task that has taken the senior executives across the country to engage directly with almost 2,000 of our people. Together, they have defined and articulated the behaviourstheyhave said embody our values of Simple, Personal and Fair. We are starting to embed these behaviours in how we operate every day and this has been a great example of the collaborative and inclusive leadership for which I commend Nathan.

Embracing digital opportunities

In the last few years, the way our customers use digital technology in their daily lives has changed at a significant pace. More than two thirds of British adults own a smartphone and use it more than any other device to access the internet. Our customers quite rightly expect to be able to deal with their bank through their channel of choice. We have looked ahead to 2025 to begin to put together a strategy, discussed regularly by the Board, which starts with a vision of enabling customers to do their banking in the way that is most convenient for them. Recent examples of our drive to provide innovative and customer-oriented solutions are our new mobile banking app, Spendlytics, our early adoption of Apple Pay and our active involvement in Banco Santander’s InnoVentures Fin-Tech fund.

Board changes

I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor Lord Burns for his strategic leadership and judgement over 14 years that saw the creation of Santander UK and its safe steerage through the financial crisis. I am personally very grateful for the enormous support and advice he has provided me during and since the period of transition. 2015 has been a year of significant transformation of the Board. Three longstanding Non-Executive Directors, José María Carballo, Rosemary Thorne and Roy Brown, retired from the Board each having completed over or close to nine years’ service. In addition, Antonio Escámez and Mike Amato stood down with effect from 31 December 2015. As José María Fuster leaves his Banco Santander executive role, he will no longer be a Banco Santander nominated Non-Executive Director in the UK as of 1 April 2016. I would like to thank the out-going Non-Executive Directors for their commitment and dedication through formative and challenging times.

I would also like to thank the two Executive Directors who left us during 2015, Steve Pateman, responsible for UK Banking and Stephen Jones, Chief Financial Officer, for their significant contribution to our successes.

Four new Independent Non-Executive Directors were appointed: Chris Jones and Genevieve Shore joined the Board in March 2015. Chris is our designated financial expert and Chair of Board Audit Committee. Ed Giera joined the Board in August 2015 and Annemarie Durbin in January 2016. Ed took over as the Chair of Board Risk Committee in October 2015 from Bruce Carnegie-Brown who I am very pleased remains on the Board as a Banco Santander nominated Non-Executive Director, following his appointment as Lead Independent Director of Banco Santander. Scott Wheway, who has been a Non-Executive Director since October 2013, was appointed as our first Senior Independent Director and is acting as Chair of the Remuneration Committee. In addition, Peter Jacksonwill join the Board (subject to regulatory approvals, as needed) from 1 April 2016 as a Banco Santander nominated Non-Executive Director when he replaces José María Fuster in his group executive function.

As a result of these changes, our Board gender diversity increased from 13% in 2014 to 31% in January 2016. The representation of Independent Non-Executive Directors (as described in ‘UK Group Framework’ on page 2)increased from 38% in 2014 to 54% in January 2016.

I believe this Board has the calibre, skills and judgement to meet our stated goal to be the best governed bank in the UK, and to support our business in its ambition to be the best bank for our people, customers, shareholders and communities.

 

 

Overview

Annual Report 2015

2014 wasStrategic report

Corporate governance review

“The Board has been guided in its changes by a desire to improve continuously the assurance and oversight that our investors, customers and regulators rely on as well as the challenge, support and guidance management expect of us.”

Shriti Vadera

Chair

Ambition

Our ambition is to be the best governed bank in the UK that supports Santander UK’s aspiration to become the best retail and commercial bank. 2015 has been a year of many important milestones alongsignificant transformation in our strategic transformation journey.governance. We remain committedarticulated more clearly the terms of our relationship with our parent, made a number of changes to buildingthe Board’s composition and improved our way of working as an effective governing body. The Board has been guided in its changes by a bankdesire to improve continuously the assurance and oversight that our investors, customers and regulators rely on as well as the challenge, support and guidance management expect of us.

UK Group Framework

The first element of change has been to define clearly our responsibilities and relationship with Banco Santander, our sole shareholder, through a UK Group Framework agreed by Santander UK and Banco Santander. This provides Banco Santander with the oversight and controls they need while discharging our responsibilities in the UK in line with best practice as an independent Board. Clarity of roles and responsibilities is simplekey to dealensuring proper accountability for decisions and outcomes. The UK Group Framework therefore sets out, amongst other elements:

-The principle that, except for periods of transition or handover, at least 50% of the Board should be Independent Non-Executive Directors (INEDs) and the other 50% either Executive Directors or Banco Santander nominated Non-Executive Directors
-The definition of independence(1), in recognition of our ownership, is a Director who has no current or recent relationship with the Banco Santander group and Santander UK other than through the UK Board role
-The manner in which the Chair, Executive Directors, INEDs, and Banco Santander nominated Non-Executive Directors will be appointed
-The iterative process by which strategy and annual budgets will be approved by Banco Santander and the Santander UK Board
-How remuneration of key executives will be determined.

Board composition and skills

It is our view that 10-14 is the optimal Board size for Santander UK. Our Board is currently 13 compared to 16 during 2014. Seven, or 54%, including the current Chair are Independent compared to 38% during 2014 and four are women, improving our Board gender diversity to 31% women from 13% in 2014.

The year saw a significant change in the membership of the Board, with has personala number of long serving Directors stepping down, as set out in my statement on the previous page. New appointments were based on wide searches conducted by external firms and focused on ensuring the right mix of skills and experience on the Board as a whole and, critically, enabling the diversity of thinking that underpins the Board’s ability to provide effective challenge and oversight. Across the Board table, we have a core of banking skills combined with recent and relevant financial expertise, complemented with financial markets, retail, wealth management, digital, economics and Government experience. The new INEDs have spent significant time on their induction and we have instituted regular workshops for all Directors to deepen and refresh our understanding of its customerskey business issues.

We appointed, for the first time, a Senior Independent Director in Scott Wheway who has served on the Board since October 2013. In light of the number of Board members retiring, the average tenure of Board Directors has gone from five years in 2014 to three years in 2015. We will be ensuring a phased approach to tenure going forward to allow for smooth transitions between Directors.

Board Committees

All Committees are chaired by INEDs (including myself for Board Nomination Committee) and treats everyone fairly. Our business model is well alignedall have a sizeable majority of INEDs. We have constituted the membership of the Committees so that all INEDs are members of the Board Audit, Board Risk and Board Remuneration Committees to these goalsprovide efficient working and effective oversight.

We reviewed all the Terms of Reference of the Board Committees in line with best practice. Most notably we significantly enhanced the Terms of Reference of the Board Remuneration Committee to addressingenable an active and strengthened function, reflecting the opportunities and trendsagreement in the economy. In 2014,UK Group Framework and a changed environment of executive remuneration in the financial services sector. As a result, the Committee was also renamed from Board Remuneration Oversight Committee to Board Remuneration Committee.

Board fees

We reviewed all Board and Board Committee fees with no changes made except to remove the payment of fees for Board Nomination Committee members which is increasingly the market norm; and increase the fees of Board Remuneration Committee members to bring it into line with that of Board Audit and Board Risk Committees, reflecting better its enhanced role and time commitment.

Board fees are set out on page 192 of the Directors’ Remuneration report.

Board effectiveness

Following an external board effectiveness review in 2013, we continuedconducted an internal review to improvehelp us develop our profitabilityplans for continuous improvement for the year ahead. We will conduct a full external review of board effectiveness during 2016.

The Board agreed in June 2015 a set of five strategic priorities focused on: long term strategy; regulatory trust; customer focus; embedding culture; and talent and succession planning. These are not intended to strengthen further our balance sheet, underpinned byset the strategic transformationstrategy or priorities of the business but to act as a guide to help the Board with what we need to keep front of mind in our deliberations and discussions.

How we spent our time(2)

The integrated nature of Board discussion makes it difficult to categorise how we spent our time and the resultant analysis is somewhat artificial. For instance, time spent on governance will include Board private sessions which often cover our people as their primary topic. Similarly, time spent on regulatory matters often covers topics such as certain types of risk, which would be discussed in the last few years.normal course of Board business, even if it were not a regulatory requirement. Nevertheless, it is a good discipline to understand at a general level how Board time is allocated.

TheIn 2015, we also made the analysis of Board

There have been a number of important leadership changes during time more granular to assist our planning. In particular, the year. As Chief Executive Officer (‘CEO’) of Santander UK, Ana Botín led the business until her appointment as Executive Chairman of Banco Santander in September 2014. During her tenure, she did much, alongside the management team, to drive the business transformation and she left a great legacy and a clear strategy which we will continue to implement. We welcomed back Nathan Bostock as Deputy CEO in August 2014 and the following month he succeeded Ana as CEO upon her appointment as Executive Chairman of Banco Santander. An overview of the CEO appointment process is outlined on the next page.

On 1 January 2015, Shriti Vadera joinedtime the Board as Joint Deputy Chairspends on risk and will succeed me as Non-Executive Chaircontrol has been separated out from other governance and audit matters. We also separated out People so that we can measure and improve the time we spend on 30 March 2015. We are proud and excited to welcome Shriti; her banking experience and deep expertise in UK and global economic issues ensure that she is well placed to develop and leadthis topic given the Board. I know she is committed to buildingimportance we place on our record as a scale challenger in UK banking, and our purpose to help people and businesses prosper.

A number of other significant changes also took place. In April 2014, José Maria Nus leftdelivering the Board to take up a senior role at Banco Santander, S.A.. On 12 February 2015, Bruce Carnegie-Brown was appointed First Vice Chairman and lead Independent Director of the Banco Santander group Board, at which point he ceased to be independent in the UK. Bruce will, however, remain on our Board as a Non-Executive Director.

Ourright culture and people

This year, we continued to embed Simple, Personal, Fair: the Santander Way into our culture, setting out how everyone is expected to act and conduct themselves. We also launched a framework called ‘the Compass’, which is outlined on pages 6 and 7. It helps track our progress against our strategic priorities and the aim of meeting the expectations of our main stakeholders.

Empowering our people

95%

Staff took advantage of the wide training resources available, with 95% undertaking some form of learning in 2014.

Supporting our communities

2,700

The Santander UK Foundation provides grants to UK registered charities, and in 2014 over 2,700 charities benefited from this.

behaviours.

 

(1)
4SantanderIn this Annual Report, the terms ‘independence’ and ‘independent’ are, unless otherwise stated, defined in accordance with our UK plcGroup Framework.
(2)See page 168 for a full breakdown of Board activities.

2  Santander UK plc


Our heritage and

Santander UK today

Chair’s

review

Chief Executive Officer’s reviewKPIs

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

Corporate

Governance review

Lord Burns sets out changes to the Board and gives

an overview of our people and our culture

                                        

LOGO

See Governance report

on page 145

LOGO

See Corporate Social

Responsibility review

on page 22

To help embed the Compass, win the support of our staff for this framework and ultimately progress towards our strategic goals, the CEO and executives delivered a series of roadshows across the country. This was supported by communication packs and newsletters that explained our key objectives.

In May 2014, our crowd-sourcing platform, Better Together, was enhanced so that staff could submit ideas or proposals at any time to make Santander UK more simple, personal and fair. Our employees have responded enthusiastically and so far over 650 ideas have been submitted covering all four compass quadrants. Of the ideas analysed, almost 30% have already being taken forward or delivered, with the rest under review for potential future delivery. To stimulate debate on how to help transform our business we also provided regular updates through CEO comms, corporate newsletters and blogs.

We have continued our transformation towards becoming a sustainable customer-focused business. We have built many more loyal and satisfied customer relationships

while at the same time we have created a corporate banking capability on which we can build a broader and stronger business. We can be pleased with the growth we have achieved and with the progress in our transformation, and we have positioned the business for further improvements going forward.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues, who have responded so well to Simple, Personal, Fair: the Santander Way. They have done so much to further transform the business in the past year. Their pride, commitment and loyalty has been admirable and underpins the success of our business.

Looking forward

I remain confident that Santander UK has the right strategy and leadership so that we can continue to deliver value for our people, customers, shareholders and communities. On the following pages, I outline how we use the Compass to measure progress towards our strategic priorities and how our business model creates value for all stakeholders.

  CEO succession

 

        

We spent a great deal of time throughout 2014 ensuring that a strong succession pipeline was in place, and the appointment of Nathan Bostock as Deputy CEO in August 2014 represented a key step in ensuring that we were well positioned.Strategic

         

In September 2014, Ana Botín was appointed to the role of Group Executive Chairman of Banco Santander, S.A. following the death of Emilio Botín.

While the Board undertook an orderly process to identify a new CEO in the UK, Nathan Bostock, Deputy CEO, became responsible for ensuring continuity in all operations and strategy during the transition period.

Upon the conclusion of the search process, the Board selected Nathan as CEO in September 2014, and Ana subsequently transitioned to a Non-Executive role.

Nathan brings a wealth of experience and an excellent track record in banking, operating at executive levels in the banking sector for over 22 years. He will be vital to the delivery of our transformation programme.

LOGOreport

 

 

During 2015, the Board spent more than 50% of its time on business and customer priorities. This is an increase on time spent in 2014, reflecting the drive for digital transformation, the persistent low interest rate environment and Santander UK’s role as a scale challenger in a highly competitive market. The Board also spent significant time on capital and regulatory matters (17%) and on risk and control (15%), reflecting the challenges faced in simultaneous implementation on multiple fronts. While some outside the sector may be surprised by the time spent on regulatory matters, I believe that this is appropriate and to be expected in the current environment, particularly considering the preparations that need to be made to deliver on ring-fencing requirements.

Annual Report 20145


Strategic reportHelping people and businesses prosper
The Board held its strategy day offsite in July 2015 during which we considered the implications of technology and digital innovation for our current business and future strategy. We also held our first Customer and Innovation Forum in November 2015 chaired by Nathan and attended by Non-Executive Director members. This forum was created to provide thought leadership and oversight of the definition and delivery of our growing innovation agenda. Both the strategy day offsite and Customer and Innovation Forum reflect greater time spent on a challenging competitive and digital environment and one of the Board’s key strategic priorities of agreeing and guiding the long-term strategy of Santander UK.

Board future priorities

For 2016, we will continue to work to improve our effectiveness as a board in supporting and challenging the business. Our strategic priorities as stated above will not change significantly although more time will need to be given to implementing a Board governance structure for the holding company and Retail and Corporate banks in preparation for our ring-fenced model. We will continue to monitor the risks of an uncertain global macro-environment and multiple transformation projects, support the management in embedding the behaviours chosen by our people as best defining a culture of Simple, Personal and Fair, while ensuring the business remains true to its long-term strategy and goals through short and medium-term pressures.

Principal activities and business review

The Company and its subsidiaries (collectively, Santander UK or the Santander UK group) is a major financial services provider, offering a wide range of personal financial products and services, and is a growing participant in the corporate banking market.

The Company is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

Economic environment

The UK economy has now grown for 11 consecutive quarters with steady GDP growth expected in 2016. Labour market prospects are also positive, with the unemployment rate likely to fall a little further towards the pre-crisis low of just under 5%.

Inflation is currently around zero and is likely to remain low through 2016. This should provide some support for household real incomes as nominal earnings growth is likely to remain relatively subdued. Low inflation also underpins the financial market expectation that the low interest rate environment will continue, providing a further impetus to household real incomes.

Overall these are positive trends for our business. While low interest rates create a challenging environment for income growth in the short term, they have, together with house price growth and falling unemployment, contributed to lower arrears. In addition, our balance sheet is well positioned to benefit from interest rate rises.

Development and performance of our business in 2015

Information on the development and performance of our business in the year is set out in the ‘Income statement review’ section of the Financial review.

Our position at 31 December 2015

Information on our position at the end of the year is set out in the ‘Balance sheet review’ section of the Financial review.

Outlook

We believe the UK economy will remain supportive of our business in 2016 although our future earnings will be impacted by the bank corporation tax surcharge and increasing pressure on asset margins. We are also mindful that the recent market volatility from wider macro and geopolitical factors could affect the UK banking sector.

In January 2016, we increased the monthly fee on the 1I2I3 Current Account. The impact on customer acquisition, loyalty and satisfaction will become clearer during the year ahead. Nonetheless, we believe this account will continue to offer significant value to our customers.

We will continue to work on our Banking Reform plans. We are confident that our full-service scale challenger position means that we can continue to innovate, satisfy customers’ new expectations, and for us to continue to grow.

Our principal risks and uncertainties

Information on our principal risks and uncertainties is set out in the Risk review by type of risk, with more detail by business segment. Our Risk factors are set out in the ‘Shareholder Information’ section.

When reading the Risk review, the Risk factors and the other sections of the Annual Report, you should refer to the ‘Forward-looking statements’ section in the Shareholder information.

 

 

Chair’s review

continued

Our purpose is to help people and businesses prosper. The Compass keeps us on track and helps measure progress towards our strategic priorities.

Annual Report 2015

LOGOStrategic report

6Santander UK plc


Our heritage and

Santander UK today

Chair’s

review

Chief Executive Officer’s reviewKPIs

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

Corporate

Governance review

Lord Burns introduces what we need to do to

achieve our goals and how we will operate and

create value

Our business model creates value for our people, our customers, our shareholders and our communities.

LOGO

Annual Report 20147


Strategic reportHelping people and businesses prosper

 

 

 

Chief ExecutiveKey performance indicators

Officer’s reviewWell executed 2013-2015 strategy

Our 2015 commitments were established at the end of 2012, when we began the transformation from a combination of three legacy building societies into a leading commercial franchise. Although we have successfully delivered on most of our 2015 commitments, we have not completed our journey to become a fully customer focused and better diversified bank.

1. Loyal and satisfied retail customers    2015 target     31.12.15     31.12.14     31.12.13 

Loyal customers

     4 million       3.7 million       3.3 million       2.7 million  

1I2I3 World customers

     4 million       4.6 million       3.6 million       2.4 million  

Customer satisfaction, Financial Research Survey (FRS)

     Top 3       62.9%       59.7%       57.3%  

(average of 3 highest performing peers)

            (62.0%)       (60.4%)       (61.1%)  

-    Our retail franchise has been increasingly recognised for value, innovation, and leading service, and we have seen a strong turnaround in customer satisfaction, with a 9 percentage point improvement from the end of 2012.

 

-    Our Retail Banking business was transformed through the 1I2I3 World proposition with significantly reduced customer attrition and much improved primacy. We have more than tripled our 1I2I3 World customer base from 1.3 million in 2012 to 4.6 million customers today and in the same timeframe also nearly doubled loyal customers.

 

-    Further improvement in customer satisfaction along with the significant potential for deepening loyalty remain at the heart of our plans.

 

        

         

       

2. ‘Bank of Choice’ for UK companies    2015 target     31.12.15     31.12.14     31.12.13 

Corporate loans percentage of total customer loans

     20%       13%       13%       12%  

-    Over the last three years we have built a corporate bank from the bottom up, with significant progress towards a full corporate and commercial proposition, with a unique international proposition. We now have an extensive product suite, client-centric infrastructure, with 726 Relationship Managers and 70 Corporate Business Centres, firmly establishing us as the only full-service scale challenger.

 

-    Since 2012, we have delivered significant lending growth with double-digit compound rate, despite prolonged market contraction. However as previously stated, we did not want to compromise our prudent risk management and return objectives to achieve our 20% target.

 

-    With the investment now complete in Commercial Banking, we will continue to focus on customer satisfaction and loyalty, build productivity across our platform and utilise our expanded footprint.

 

         

        

        

3. Consistent profitability and a strong balance sheet    2015 target     31.12.15     31.12.14     31.12.13 

Return on tangible equity (RoTE)(1)

     13%-15%       8.2%       10.4%       8.6%  

Cost-to-income ratio (CIR)

     <50%       52%       54%       54%  

CET 1 capital ratio

     > 10.5%       11.6%       11.9%       11.6%  

Loan-to-deposit ratio

     < 125%       120%       124%       126%  

Non-performing loan (NPL) ratio

     ratio maintained       1.54%       1.80%       2.04%  

Dividend payout ratio

     50%       51%       44%       48%  
(1)Non-IFRS measure. See page 332.

-Since the end of 2012, we remained consistently profitable, and maintained a strong capital position and conservative risk profile, delivering on most of our 2015 financial KPIs. Our returns, however, have been negatively impacted by the higher levels of capital we are now required to hold, causing us to miss our 2015 target range of 13%-15%.

-Operational efficiency and cost discipline has enabled the significant investment in business growth to be largely absorbed. However, fee income pressures and higher regulatory compliance and project costs have adversely impacted our CIR. Credit quality improved substantially, supported by both our conservative risk profile and favourable economic environment.

-Consistent and growing profitability coinciding with an improvement in operational efficiency is central to our strategy as we continue to invest and grow.

Key performance indicators going forward

With effect from 1 January 2016, the directors of the Company’s immediate parent, Santander UK Group Holdings plc, manage the operations of the Santander UK Group Holdings plc group (which includes the Santander UK group) on a business division basis. From that date, key performance indicators have no longer been set, monitored or managed at the Santander UK group level. As a result, the Company’s Directors believe that analysis using key performance indicators for the Company is not necessary or appropriate for an understanding of the development, performance or position of the Company going forward.

Environmental matters

The Company faces the same environmental risks as its immediate parent company, Santander UK Group Holdings plc, and therefore operates environmental policies in line with the Santander UK Group Holdings plc group. For more on the Santander UK Group Holdings plc group’s environmental risks, policies and impact, including disclosures on CO2 emissions, see the Santander UK Group Holdings plc 2015 Annual Report.

Employee matters

The Company participates in the Santander UK Group Holdings plc group’s policies for employees. For more on the Santander UK Group Holdings plc group’s employee matters, including disclosures on employee participation and diversity, see the Santander UK Group Holdings plc 2015 Annual Report.

By Order of the Board

 

 

LOGOLOGO

“It was an honour to be appointed CEO of Santander UK and to lead a great team that is helping people and businesses prosper across the UK.”

LOGO

Nathan Bostock

Chief Executive OfficerDirector

24 February 20152016

 

 

Our strategic priorities

LOGO

Our 2014 results demonstrate a strong commercial momentum. We attracted 1.2 million customers to our 1I2I3 World, taking the total to 3.6 million. We also increased lending to UK companies by a net £1.8bn, to £23.9bn, while broadening the range of products and services we offer to them.

Economic and market backdrop

The UK economic climate in 2014 was more positive than it has been for several years. Economic growth strengthened to 2.6%, the unemployment rate fell much faster than the Bank of England had expected and inflation ran below the 2% target throughout the year. Falling oil prices meant that inflation hit a 14-year low at the end of 2014.

The strong growth in the housing market eased as the year progressed, reflecting both fundamental consumer factors – affordability and speculation about rising interest rates – and regulatory action. At the same time, annual corporate borrowing growth continued to show negative readings during the year. Nonetheless, lending activity for UK banks as a whole remains subdued relative to the pre-recession pace and we have done well to maintain the growth of our retail and commercial businesses with a conservative risk appetite.

2014 saw the volume of regulatory demands facing the UK banking sector increase. Most significant of these is the UK Government’s proposals for major banks to separate their wholesale and investment banking functions from their retail operations – a material reform of banking structures in the future.

Also in 2014, the Financial Policy Committee finalised the design for the Leverage Ratio framework and the Prudential Regulation Authority introduced annual concurrent stress testing.

Across each of these developments, we have been heavily engaged in the formal policy consultation process and in close dialogue with our regulators. We support proportionate developments in regulation which increase competition in the market and lead to better outcomes for our customers.

Our customer focused strategy, low risk approach and fewer legacy issues leave us well aligned to the reform agenda. We are satisfied we can meet all of the requirements well within the time frames set. At the same time, we have done much to recover customer confidence, improve customer satisfaction and to begin embedding our cultural values.

Maintaining control of both costs and credit quality and building our digital business remain key priorities for us as is further improvements to customer satisfaction. I am confident 4  Santander UK offers a strong challenge and can continue to grow both its retail and corporate banking propositions profitably.plc

Loyal and satisfied retail customers

In 2014, we continued to develop more targeted products and services which, alongside a significant investment in branch refurbishment, has seen us deliver a number of improvements to our digital and physical offering. Digital improvements include better online and mobile banking platforms, a new public website and a new online bank interface.

Current account switchers(1)

One-in-four

We gained more customers than any other UK bank as part of the Current Account Switch Scheme (‘CASS’) launched in September 2013.

(1)Current Account Switch Service participant data, Payments Council, published quarterly six months in arrears, Q2 2014, Q1 2014 and Q4 2013.
(2)Financial Research Survey, GfK NOP, December 2014.

Retail customer satisfaction (‘FRS’)(2)

Most improved

We are the most improved bank for customer satisfaction since December 2012.

8Santander UK plc


Our heritage and

Santander UK today

Chair’s

review

Chief ExecutiveOfficer’s reviewKPIs

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

Corporate

Governance review

Nathan Bostock reports on the backdrop to our

business and performance in 2014

IncomeBalanceCash
               statement review       sheet review

flows

Financial review

6Income statement review

6Summarised Consolidated Income Statement

8Profit before tax by segment

9- Retail Banking

14- Commercial Banking

17- Global Corporate Banking

19- Corporate Centre

21Balance sheet review

21Summarised Consolidated Balance Sheet

23Reconciliation to classifications in the Consolidated Balance Sheet

24Securities

25Loans and advances to banks

26Loans and advances to customers

27Derivative assets and liabilities

28Tangible fixed assets

28Retirement benefit plans

28Deposits by banks

29Deposits by customers

30Short-term borrowings

31Debt securities in issue

31Contractual obligations

31Off-balance sheet arrangements

32Interest rate sensitivity

33Average balance sheet

34Cash flows

 

 

Our loyal customer base grew further, supported by the continued success of the 1I2I3 Current Account. Total deposits held by primary banking customers increased 34%, to £70.3bn at 31 December 2014, enabling us to manage a reduction in higher cost, less loyal customer deposits.Annual Report 2015

We made a significant improvement in retail customer satisfaction. The gap between Santander UK and the average of the three highest performing peers reduced to 0.7 percentage points in December 2014 from 3.8 percentage points a year ago(1).

‘Bank of Choice’ for UK companies

We want to increase the business we do with SMEs as well as larger corporates. To this end, we have continued to invest in new regional Corporate Business Centres and to recruit more relationship managers, while expanding the range of products and services we offer. We now have 66 regional Corporate Business Centres (up from 28 in 2011) and 729 relationship managers (up from 457 in 2011) around the UK to support local businesses.

Commercial bank account openings increased by 33% in 2014 with an acceleration in the usage of our corporate banking platform,

completed in 2013. Business customers benefited from additional services, such as a new corporate internet banking capability, a new trade portal, the Santander Passport and other international financial services.

We continued to deliver improvements in overall corporate customer satisfaction in 2014, rising 8 percentage points to 58%(2). This made us the most improved bank in corporate customer satisfaction over the last year.

In addition, our pioneering Breakthrough programme, aimed at helping the UK’s fast growth companies, has now supported 39 SMEs with £38m of growth capital and £88m of other growth-related finance. This helped these companies prosper and the opportunity to create over 1,300 jobs in the UK.

Consistent profitability and a strong balance sheet

Profit before tax increased 26% to £1,399m in 2014, a strong result in an increasingly competitive environment. The improvement in income supported the increase we have seen in the banking net interest margin. This is a useful measure of profitability and rose by 27 basis points in the year to 1.82%(3).

The ratio of non-performing loans to total customer loans of 1.80% at 31 December 2014 continued to improve (declining from 2.04% in 2013), with retail and corporate loans performing well in a benign credit environment.

We reaffirmed our position as one of the strongest and safest banks on the high street. Our capital position has further improved with an increase of both the Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio to 11.9% and the leverage ratio to 3.8% at 31 December 2014. We also exceeded the Prudential Regulation Authority stress test threshold of 4.5%, with a stressed Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 7.9%, after PRA allowed management actions.

Looking forward

We look forward to continued improvement in the UK economy, which remains supportive of our business, and prompt completion of the banking reforms under way that will help us to fully contribute to the UK’s economic recovery. A summary of our Key Performance Indicators (‘KPIs’) follows on the next page.Financial review

 

See ‘Glossary’ on page 348 for definition of customer satisfaction measures.

Income statement review

SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Net interest income

     3,575       3,434       2,963  

Non-interest income(1)

     998       1,036       1,066  

Total operating income

     4,573       4,470       4,029  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (2,400)       (2,397)       (2,195)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

     (66)       (258)       (475)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

     (762)       (416)       (250)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (828)       (674)       (725)  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

     1,345       1,399       1,109  

Tax on profit from continuing operations

     (381)       (289)       (211)  

Profit from continuing operations after tax

     964       1,110       898  

Loss from discontinued operations after tax

     -       -       (8)  

Profit after tax for the year

     964       1,110       890  

Attributable to:

            

Equity holders of the parent

     939       1,110       890  

Non-controlling interests

     25       -       -  
(1)

Financial Research Survey, GfK NOP, December 2014.

Comprised of Net fee and commission income and Net trading and other income.
(2)

Business Banking Survey, Charterhouse UK Q3 2014.

(3)

Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

2015 compared to 2014

Profit from continuing operations before tax decreased by £54m to £1,345m in 2015 (2014: £1,399m). By income statement line, the movements were:

 

Annual Report 20149Net interest income increased by £141m or 4% to £3,575m in 2015 (2014: £3,434m). This was driven by liability margin improvement and increased retail and corporate lending. Banking net interest margin (NIM)(1) remained broadly flat at 1.83%.


Strategic reportNon-interest income decreased by £38m or 4% to £998m in 2015 (2014: £1,036m), with a reduction in Retail Banking net banking fees. This was partially offset by higher international payment income, banking and lending fees in Commercial Banking, and revenues from derivative and cash sales activities in Global Corporate Banking.
Helping peopleOperating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and businesses prospercharges increased by £3m to £2,400m in 2015 (2014: £2,397m), as we continue to absorb investment in business growth, regulatory compliance and project costs (including Banking Reform), and the continued enhancements to our digital channels.
Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £192m to £66m in 2015 (2014: £258m) with retail and corporate loans performing well in a supportive economic environment. Retail Banking benefited from a £125m release in mortgage provisions as a result of the growth in house prices and the continued strong credit quality of the portfolio with lower write-offs and charges. Commercial Banking, Global Corporate Banking and Corporate Centre continued to perform well and also benefited from supportive market conditions, with releases of £65m arising from loan disposals and restructuring.

Provisions for other liabilities and charges increased by £346m or 83% to £762m in 2015 (2014: £416m), predominantly due to PPI provision charges of £450m and £95m, for 2015 and 2014, respectively. Other provisions include costs for non-PPI related conduct remediation and other operational loss provisions, restructuring charges and vacant property costs.

When assessing the adequacy of our PPI provision, we have applied the November 2015 FCA consultation paper including the Plevin case to our current assumptions. The additional £450m provision represents our best estimate of the remaining redress and costs. The additional provision is predicated on the probable two year deadline by which customers would need to make their PPI complaints and the anticipated increase in claim volumes as a result of the finite claim period.

Monthly utilisation, excluding pro-active customer contact, during 2015 was £10m per month (including related costs), against an average of £9m in 2014. While we saw a reduction in PPI redress in the first half of the year, we have seen an increase in the third quarter aligning with industry trends, with the fourth quarter remaining flat.

Other conduct provisions included £43m of additional provisions taken in the third quarter of 2015 relating to wealth and investment products. The additional provisions were taken following the agreement of the revised approach to redressing portfolio and structured investment customers with the FCA.

Regulatory costs relating to the FSCS of £76m (2014: £91m) and the UK Bank Levy of £101m (2014: £74m) were charged in the year. See Note 33 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The taxation charge increased by 32% to £381m (2014: £289m), primarily due to higher operating income and the disallowance of certain conduct provisions for tax purposes in 2015. This was partially offset by the reduction in the main corporation tax rate in 2015. The effective tax rate for 2015, based on profit on continuing operations before tax was 28.3% (2014: 20.7%).

(1)Non-IFRS measure. See page 332.

 

 

6  Santander UK plc

Performance

against our KPIs

KPIs help us measure progress towards our 2015 targets. They were set in 2012 and aligned to our strategic priorities.

LOGO

    (1)   Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

10Santander UK plc


Our heritage and

Santander UK today

Chair’s

review

Chief Executive Officer’s reviewKPIs

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

Corporate

Governance review

Nathan Bostock explains our KPI performance and

the progress made against our strategic priorities

IncomeBalanceCash
               statement review       sheet review

flows

 

LOGO

(1)  

Financial Research Survey, GFK NOP, December 2014

(2)  

Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

 

Annual Report 201411


Strategic reportHelping people and businesses prosper

2014 compared to 2013

Profit from continuing operations before tax increased by £290m to £1,399m in 2014 (2013: £1,109m). By income statement line, the movements were:

 

Operating

environment

The operating environment has a direct impact on our performance and the strategic transformation of the business.

LOGO See ‘Strategic risk’ on page 36.

  Key developments in 2014

 MacroeconomyEconomic growth impacts our customers’ expectations, confidence and their ability and propensityNet interest income increased by £471m to save, spend and meet their financial commitments. Persistent low interest rates and low rate expectations have contributed to the economic recovery and a more benign credit environment.
Economic growth strengthened£3,434m in 2014 (2013: £2,963m). This was driven by margin and there were improvementsvolume improvements. Management continued to focus on reducing the cost of retail liabilities, replacing maturing tranches of higher cost eSaver savings products in the labour market and in consumer and business confidence. However, the economic outlook remains subject to uncertainty, and recent falls in inflation and financial market volatility have affected policy expectations.

The second half of 2014 saw2013 and originating new lower cost ISAs in 2014. In addition, there was increased debate around the UK’s relationship with the EU, including within the context of the 2015 UK general election. Significant changeslending in the political structureretail and UK Government policy changes following the general election could impact our business.corporate portfolios.

 

These increases were partly offset by reduced mortgage stock margins and new lending margin pressures reflecting the lower customer rates available on incentive products as the current environment for mortgage lending led to increased activity. We have been successful in the targeted retention of customers into new Santander UK mortgages.

 CompetitionThe UK personal financial services market is increasingly competitive, most obviously for mortgages and current accounts. Price-led competition has brought mortgage loan rates down, and a focusNon-interest income decreased by £30m to £1,036m in 2014 (2013: £1,066m), reflecting lower net banking fees in Retail Banking including higher cashback on retail banking has led other UK banks to introduce new products with a wider value appeal, and in part as a response to the success of our 1I2I3 World proposition.products and reduced overdraft fees, partially offset by an increase in credit cards business and new product promotions, and continued growth in 1I2I3 World product balances. There was also lower demand for interest rate and foreign exchange risk management products relating to Commercial Banking customers.
InOperating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges increased by £202m to £2,397m in 2014 (2013: £2,195m), principally due to pension gains of £218m and write-off and other costs of £304m. The pension gain arose as a result of scheme changes that limit future defined benefit pension entitlements and provide for the longer term sustainability of our staff pension arrangement. Also following the implementation of our new digital platform and the completion of our product simplification programme we benefited frommade write-offs for the industry-wide Current Account Switch Servicedecommissioning of redundant systems and charged investment costs, totalling £304m. This included software write-offs of £206m charged to depreciation, amortisation and impairment, and investment costs of £98m relating to technology and digital capability build out, which cannot be capitalised and are therefore charged in administrative expenses. This was partially offset by additional project costs, including those relating to our customer numbersinvestment programme, as we continued to invest in the growth of the businesses serving SME and balances have grown strongly. New entrants to the market, including other challenger banks, specialist lenderscorporate customers, as well as developing transactional, interest rate and technology firms, will impact traditional banking business models.fixed income capabilities in Global Corporate Banking formerly known as Corporate & Institutional Banking.

InnovationsImpairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £217m to £258m in technology are likely2014 (2013: £475m). The decrease was largely due to continue atlower mortgage impairment losses as a rapid pace. In response, we continue to develop our digital capabilitiesresult of improving economic conditions, rising house prices and increase channel flexibility to allow our customers to interact with us however and whenever it best suits them.

prolonged low interest rates.
 Regulation

In the aftermath of the financial crisis,Provisions for other liabilities and charges increased by £166m to £416m in 2014 (2013: £250m). This was predominantly due to higher FSCS, UK Bank Levy, branch de-duplication and conduct charges, partially offset by a large volume of additional regulation has emergeddecrease in the UK and other jurisdictions. Consultation, implementation and compliance has been costly both in financial terms and with respect to senior executive and management time and focus.restructuring costs.
Regulatory costs relating to the FSCS of £91m (2013: £88m) and the UK Bank Levy of £74m (2013: £59m) were charged in the year. Other increases included a charge of £50m relating to the costs for our on-going branch de-duplication programme. There was a further provision of £140m including related costs, for conduct remediation. Of this, £95m related to PPI, which following a recent review of claims activity indicated that claims are now expected to continue for longer than originally anticipated. Monthly PPI redress costs including pro-active customer contact decreased to a monthly average of £11m for the full year, compared to a monthly average of £18m in 2013. The UK Competition & Markets Authority retail banking investigation offershigh proportion of invalid complaints continued. There was a net £45m charge to other products relating to existing remediation activities and new provisions which relate principally to wealth and investment products. See Note 33 to the prospect of stronger opportunities in personal current accounts and banking services to SMEs, where Santander UK is a scale challenger.Consolidated Financial Statements.

Santander UK exceededThe taxation charge increased by 37% largely due to higher profits, offset in part by the threshold requirements of the PRA stress test results released in December 2014, demonstrating our balance sheet and credit strength. The implementation of CRD IV, FPC policy recommendations, accounting changes, and Independent Commission on Banking (‘ICB’) recommendations will necessitate changes to banks’ operating models and structures, increase capital requirements and could impact risk profiles.

 OperationsIn recent years there have been several instances of high-profile technology and data security failures which impacted banking customerscontinued reduction in the UK.main corporation tax rate. The level of fraud, cyber-crime and denial-of-service attacks has also increased.effective tax rate for 2014, based on profit from continuing operations before tax was 20.7% (2013: 19.0%).
Continued focus on conduct issues across the UK banking industry could lead to further provisions for remediation, as well as impacting the products and services banks are able to offer at the right level of return.

Santander UK will continue to develop a simple and understandable product range provided on a stable and reliable platform with integrated and flexible service channels to support business growth as well as to further improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. Good progress has been made in embedding enterprise wide risk management across the bank.

Critical factors affecting results

The preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements requires management to make estimates and judgements that affect the reported amount of assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date and the reported amount of income and expenses during the reporting period. Management evaluates its estimates and judgements on an ongoing basis. Management bases its estimates and judgements on historical experience and other factors believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Estimates and judgements that are considered important to the portrayal of our financial condition including, where applicable, quantification of the effects of reasonably possible ranges of such estimates are set out in ‘Critical Accounting Policies and Areas of Significant Management Judgement’ in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The rest of this section contains a summary of the results, and commentary thereon, by income statement line item for each segment.

 

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

Basis of results presentation

The segmental information in this Annual Report reflects the reporting structure in place at the reporting date in accordance with which the segmental information in Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements has been presented. The Company’s board of directors (the Board) is the chief operating decision maker for Santander UK. The segmental information below is presented on the basis used by the Board to evaluate performance and allocate resources. The Board reviews discrete financial information for each segment of the business which follows our normal accounting policies and principles, including measures of operating results, assets and liabilities.

As described in Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, the internal UK transfer pricing mechanism used to calculate the cost and risks associated with funding and liquidity in each business segment was refined in the fourth quarter of 2015 for Retail Banking and Corporate Centre to reflect the current market environment and rates. The segmental analyses for Retail Banking and Corporate Centre have been adjusted to reflect these changes for prior years.

PROFIT BEFORE TAX BY SEGMENT

2015    

Retail

Banking

£m

     

Commercial

Banking

£m

     

Global Corporate

Banking

£m

     

Corporate

Centre

£m

     

Total

£m

 

Net interest income

     2,985       460       72       58       3,575  

Non-interest income(1)

     521       109       307       61       998  

Total operating income

     3,506       569       379       119       4,573  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and (charges)/releases

     (1,783)       (332)       (287)       2       (2,400)  

Impairment (losses)/releases on loans and advances

     (76)       (39)       13       36       (66)  

Provisions for other liabilities and (charges)/releases

     (727)       (24)       (14)       3       (762)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and (charges)/releases

     (803)       (63)       (1)       39       (828)  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

     920       174       91       160       1,345  
2014                                   

Net interest income

     2,947       373       75       39       3,434  

Non-interest income(1)

     560       89       300       87       1,036  

Total operating income

     3,507       462       375       126       4,470  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (1,753)       (297)       (260)       (87)       (2,397)  

Impairment (losses)/releases on loans and advances

     (187)       (92)       4       17       (258)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

     (395)       (12)       (9)       -       (416)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and (charges)/releases

     (582)       (104)       (5)       17       (674)  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

     1,172       61       110       56       1,399  
2013                                   

Net interest income/(expense)

     2,663       284       65       (49)       2,963  

Non-interest income(1)

     599       91       302       74       1,066  

Total operating income

     3,262       375       367       25       4,029  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (1,750)       (258)       (186)       (1)       (2,195)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

     (359)       (107)       -       (9)       (475)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

     (226)       (17)       (7)       -       (250)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (585)       (124)       (7)       (9)       (725)  

Profit/(loss) from continuing operations before tax

     927       (7)       174       15       1,109  

Loss from discontinued operations after tax

     -       -       -       (8)       (8)  
(1)Comprised of Net fee and commission income and Net trading and other income.

 

 

12Santander UK plc

8  Santander UK plc


Our heritage and

Santander UK today

Chair’s

review

Chief ExecutiveOfficer’s reviewKPIs

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

Corporate

Governance review

Nathan Bostock discusses the impact of operating

environment on strategy and the top risks we face

IncomeBalanceCash
               statement review       sheet review

flows

 

Top risksRETAIL BANKING

Retail Banking offers a wide range of products and financial services to individuals and small businesses (with less than two directors, owners or partners), through a network of branches and ATMs, as well as through telephony, digital, mobile and intermediary channels. Retail Banking also includes Santander Consumer Finance, predominantly a vehicle finance business. Its main products are residential mortgage loans, savings and current accounts, credit cards (excluding the co-branded cards business) and personal loans as well as insurance policies.

Summarised income statement

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Net interest income

     2,985       2,947       2,663  

Non-interest income

     521       560       599  

Total operating income

     3,506       3,507       3,262  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (1,783)       (1,753)       (1,750)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

     (76)       (187)       (359)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

     (727)       (395)       (226)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (803)       (582)       (585)  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

     920       1,172       927  

2015 compared to 2014

Profit from continuing operations before tax decreased by £252m to £920m in 20142015 (2014: £1,172m). By income statement line, the movements were:

 

LOGO

See page 36 for moreNet interest income increased by £38m to £2,985m in 2015 (2014: £2,947m) driven by management focus on reducing the cost of retail liabilities, the commencement of the PSA cooperation and increased lending. These increases were partially offset by reduced mortgage stock margins and new lending margin pressures.
top risks
Non-interest income decreased by £39m to £521m in 2015 (2014: £560m). The decrease reflected lower net banking fee income through overdraft fees.
Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges increased by £30m to £1,783m in 2015 (2014: £1,753m). The increase was driven by continued investment in the growth of the business, digital enhancements and regulatory compliance costs and increased consumer finance costs due to the commencement of the PSA cooperation, partially offset by strong cost management discipline and network efficiencies. Further information about PSA is presented in Note 46.
Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £111m to £76m in 2015 (2014: £187m). This was largely due to a release of £125m in mortgages driven by the growth in house prices and the continued strong credit quality of the portfolio with lower write-offs and charges.

Provisions for other liabilities and charges increased by £332m to £727m in 2015 (2014: £395m). This was predominately due to an additional provision of £450m (2014: £95m) taken in 2015 relating to PPI. When assessing the adequacy of our provision, we have applied the November 2015 FCA consultation paper including the Plevin case to our current assumptions. The additional £450m provision represents our best estimate of the remaining redress and costs. The additional provision is predicated on the probable two year deadline by which customers would need to make their PPI complaints and the anticipated increase in claim volumes as a result of the finite claim period.

Monthly utilisation, excluding pro-active customer contact, during 2015 was £10m per month (including related costs), against an average of £9m in 2014. While we saw a reduction in PPI redress in the first half of the year, we have seen an increase in the third quarter aligning with industry trends, with the fourth quarter remaining flat.

Other conduct provisions included £43m of additional provisions taken in the third quarter of 2015 relating to wealth and investment products. The additional provisions were taken following the agreement of the revised approach to redressing portfolio and structured investment customers with the FCA.

Regulatory costs relating to the FSCS of £75m (2014: £89m) and the UK Bank Levy of £66m (2014: £50m) were charged in the year. See Note 33 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Strategic priorities:

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

2014 compared to 2013

Profit from continuing operationsbefore tax increased by £245m to £1,172m in 2014 (2013: £927m). By income statement line, the movements were:

 

LOGO   

LoyalNet interest income increased by £284m to £2,947m in 2014 (2013: £2,663m). This was largely driven by increased lending and satisfiedthrough management focus on reducing the cost of retail liabilities, replacing maturing tranches of higher cost eSaver savings products in the second half of 2013 and originating new lower cost ISAs in 2014. These increases were partly offset by reduced mortgage stock margins and new lending margin pressures reflecting the lower customer rates available on incentive products as the current environment for mortgage lending led to increased activity. This activity, combined with UK Government schemes (such as Help to Buy), led to an increase in customers

moving from SVR mortgages. We have been successful in the targeted retention of customers into new Santander UK mortgages.
LOGO

‘Bank of Choice’ for UK companies

Non-interest income decreased by £39m to £560m in 2014 (2013: £599m). The decrease reflected lower net banking fees, including higher cashback on 1I2I3 World products, and reduced overdraft fees, partially offset by an increase in credit cards business and new product promotions, and continued growth in 1I2I3 World product balances.
LOGO

Consistent profitabilityOperating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges increased by £3m to £1,753m in 2014 (2013: £1,750m). The increase was principally due to further investment in business growth, including new branch systems and enhancements to our digital channels, as well as the commencement of depreciation on a new data centre. This was partially offset by reduced cost due to strong balance sheet

cost management discipline including multi-branch consolidation efficiency savings.

Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £172m to £187m in 2014 (2013: £359m). This was largely driven by lower mortgage impairment losses as a result of improving economic conditions, rising house prices, prolonged low interest rates and collections efficiencies introduced both in 2013 and 2014. Impairment losses also decreased across the unsecured portfolios due to continued improvements in credit quality, particularly in credit cards and unsecured personal loan portfolios, which benefitted from the good risk profile of our 1I2I3 World customers. The loan loss charge was 0.12% (2013: 0.22%).

  Risk indicator

  

Risk features, impactsProvisions for other liabilities and developmentscharges increased by £169m to £395m in 2014

Strategic priorities

  Capital

CET 1 ratio % (2013: £226m). This was predominantly due to higher FSCS, UK Bank Levy, branch de-duplication and conduct charges, partially offset by a decrease in restructuring costs.

 

LOGO   

Capital risk hasRegulatory costs relating to the potential to disrupt our business modelFSCS of £89m (2013: £86m) and stop the normal functionsUK Bank Levy of Santander UK. Failure to meet£50m (2013: £40m) were charged in the capital requirements of regulators could lead them to constrain dividend payments or to resolve Santander UK.year.

 

The latest PRA stress test results released in December 2014 showed that Santander UK exceededOther increases included a charge of £50m relating to the PRA’s 2014 stress test threshold requirement of 4.5%, with a stressed CET 1 ratio of 7.9% after PRA-allowed management actions.

LOGO See ‘Capital risk’ on page 117.

LOGO

  Conduct

Remaining

provision £m

LOGO

Conduct risk is a key factor in determining if we are meeting our aim to be the best bankcosts for our customers.

During 2014,on-going branch de-duplication programme. There was a further provision of £150m including related costs, for conduct remediation. Of this, £95m related to PPI which, following a recent review of claims activity indicated that claims are now expected to continue for longer than originally anticipatedanticipated. Monthly PPI redress costs including pro-active customer contact decreased to a monthly average of £11m for the full year, compared to a monthly average of £18m in 2013. The high proportion of invalid complaints continued. There was a net £45m charge to other products relating to existing remediation activities and therefore, we topped up our PPI provision by £95m. new provisions which relate principally to wealth and investment products. See Note 33 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

There was also a net £45m of additional provisions chargedreduced charge for restructuring costs in 2014, principally for wealth and investment products.

LOGO See ‘Conduct risk’ on page 129.

LOGOthe year.

Balances and ratios

      

2015

£bn

     

2014

£bn

     

2013

£bn

 

Total assets

     171.9       163.4       160.5  

Customer loans

     164.8       158.5       155.6  

- of which mortgages

     152.8       150.1       148.1  

- of which other unsecured lending

- of which consumer finance

     

 

5.7

6.3

  

  

     

 

5.1

3.3

  

  

     

 

4.3

3.2

  

  

Risk-weighted assets (RWAs)

     42.4       38.4       36.3  

Customer deposits

     137.3       129.6       123.2  

- of which savings

     70.3       73.8       79.5  

- of which current accounts

     53.2       41.1       27.9  

NPL ratio(1) (2)

     1.44%       1.62%       1.89%  

Coverage ratio(1) (3)

     32%       34%       31%  

Mortgage NPL ratio(1) (4)

     1.47%       1.64%(6)       1.88%(6)  

Mortgage coverage ratio(1) (5)

     19%       24%       21%  
(1)
  Credit

NPL ratio %

LOGO

Credit risk could reduce the value of our assets as well as increase write-offs and impairment loan loss allowances.

Throughout 2014, we experienced robust retail and corporate portfolio credit quality, with loans performing well in a benign credit environment of lowThe balances include interest rates, rising house prices and falling unemployment.

LOGO See ‘Credit risk’ on page 39.

LOGO

  Liquidity

LCR %

LOGO

Liquidity risk could affect our ability to meet our financial obligations as well as disrupt our day-to-day operations, business model or leadcharged to the insolvency of Santander UK.

During 2014, the LCR eligible liquidity pool significantly exceeded wholesale funding of less than one year, with a coverage ratio of 171%. Overall, the cost of wholesale funding continued to fall during the year, as lower cost new issuance replaced more expensive maturing funding in a more stable capital markets environment.

LOGO See ‘Liquidity risk’ on page 101.

LOGO

  Operational

Operational risk

losses £m

LOGO

Operational risk could impact any aspect of our business or support processes associated with people, systems or external events which could prevent us from achieving our desired business objectives.

During 2014, the majority of Santander UK’s £171m (2013: £221m) of operational risk losses arose within the clients, products and business practices category. These principally represented conduct redress payouts (excluding related costs).

LOGO See ‘Operational risk’ on page 126.

LOGO

  Pension

Defined benefit

pension scheme

deficit/surplus £m

LOGO

Pension risk arisescustomer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the extent that the assetsaccount.

(2)NPLs as a percentage of the defined benefit pension schemes do not fully match the timing and amountcustomer loans.
(3)Impairment loss allowance as a percentage of the schemes’ liabilities and can impact our financial results and capital metrics.

The Scheme’s accounting position improved by £670m toNPLs.

(4)Mortgage NPLs as a surpluspercentage of £156m at 31 December 2014, attributable to positive asset returns, additional contributions by Santander UK, andmortgage assets.
(5)Mortgage impairment loss allowance as a £218m net gain recorded in the first halfpercentage of the year.

LOGO See ‘Pension risk’ on page 125.

LOGO

mortgage NPLs.

(1)  (6)Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

Annual Report 201413


Strategic reportHelping people and businesses prosperExcludes PIPs

 

 

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

LOGO

“Our 2014 results show increased profitability and a further improved balance sheet. They demonstrate the consistency and strength of 10  Santander UK and position us well for future growth”plc

LOGO

Stephen Jones

Chief Financial Officer

24 February 2015

Our main business segments:

  Retail Banking

  Commercial Banking

  Corporate & Institutional Banking

Profit before tax increased by 26% to £1,399m in 2014 with continued growth in net interest income, well-controlled underlying costs and robust credit quality.

Income statement highlights(A)

Profit after tax for the year increased 25% to £1,110m in 2014, with RoTE(2) improving to 10.4% (2013: 8.6%).

Net interest income was 16% higher in 2014, driven by margin and volume improvements. Management continued to focus on reducing the cost of retail liabilities, replacing maturing tranches of higher cost eSaver savings products in the second half of 2013 and originating new lower cost ISAs in 2014. In addition, there was increased retail and corporate lending.

Non-interest income was 3% lower in 2014, reflecting lower net banking fees in Retail Banking and lower demand for interest rate and foreign exchange risk management products from Commercial Banking customers.

Cost efficiency was maintained in 2014, with our focus on managing business-as-usual administrative expenses to accommodate investment. We continued to invest in the growth of the businesses serving SME and corporate customers, as well as in the refurbishment of the branch network and enhancements to our digital channels.

Impairment losses on loans and advances were 46% lower in 2014. Credit quality in the retail and corporate loan books continued to

be strong, supported by the improving economic environment and reflecting prudent risk management.

Provisions for other liabilities and charges were 66% higher at £416m in 2014. Excluding the specific charges outlined below, provisions for other liabilities and charges decreased 10% to £226m driven by a reduced provision for restructuring, partially offset by an increase in FSCS charges and UK Bank Levy costs.

Specific gains, expenses and charges

As a result of defined benefit pension scheme changes that limit future entitlements and provide for the longer-term sustainability of our staff pension arrangements, a net gain of £218m arose in administrative expenses.

Following the implementation of our new digital platform and the completion of our product simplification programme, we made write-offs for the decommissioning of redundant systems and charged investment costs, totalling £304m. This included software write-offs of £206m charged to depreciation, amortisation and impairment, and investment costs of £98m relating to technology and digital capability build out, which cannot be capitalised and are therefore charged in administrative expenses.

(A)

Income statement highlights(1)
 

 

 
  2014
£m
 2013(3)
£m
 
 

 

 

 

Net interest income

 3,434   2,963   
Non-interest income 1,036   1,066   
Operating expenses (2,397 (2,195)  
Total operating provisions and charges (674 (725)  
Profit before tax from continuing operations 1,399   1,109   

Profit after tax

 

 

 

1,110

 

  

 

 

 

890 

 

  

 

 

 

 

(1)  Income statement highlights statistics reflect continuing operations, and therefore exclude the results and loss on sale of discontinued operations.

      See Note 11 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

     

        

(2)  Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

     

(3)  Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

     

14Santander UK plc


Our heritage and

Santander UK today

Chair’s

review

Chief Executive Officer’s reviewKPIs

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

Corporate

Governance review

Stephen Jones outlines the financial results for

2014.

IncomeBalanceCash
               statement review       sheet review

flows

 

LOGO

LOGO

(1)

Adjusted to reflect the retrospective adoption of IFRIC 21.

(2)

Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

Provisions for other liabilities and charges were impacted by £190m. These included a £50m provision relating to the costs for our ongoing branch de-duplication programme. There was also a further provision of £140m, including related costs, for conduct remediation. Of this, £95m related to PPI following a review of recent claims activity, which indicated that claims are now expected to continue for longer than originally anticipated. There was also a net £45m charge relating to existing remediation activities and an additional provision principally for wealth and investment products.

Changes to business segments

The basis of presentation of our 2014 segmental results has been changed, and prior periods restated, to:

Designate three distinct main customer business segments, which reflect how we now manage and operate the bank, namely: Retail Banking, Commercial Banking and Corporate & Institutional Banking; and,

Allocate indirect income, expenses and charges, previously held in Corporate Centre, which can be attributed to the three distinct customer segments. This included a review of the internal transfer pricing policy which resulted in a further allocation of funding and liquidity costs, central operating expenses and other provisions such as conduct, branch de-duplication, UK Bank Levy and FSCS charges.

With the allocation of indirect income, expenses and charges from Corporate Centre and with the three distinct main customer business segments at differing stages of commercial maturity, we are now able to identify better the key drivers of our business performance. This enables a more targeted apportionment of capital and other resources in line with the individual strategies and objectives of each business segment.

  Holding company established

We established Santander UK Group Holdings Limited (‘HoldCo’) as the immediate holding company of Santander UK plc in January 2014. This constituted the start of our transition to a Bank of England recommended configuration for a ‘single point of entry’ resolution entity, which aims to resolve banks without disrupting activities of the operating company (‘OpCo’), thereby maintaining continuity of services for customers.

As part of this transition, we issued two Additional Tier 1 (‘AT1’) private placements to our parent Banco Santander, S.A. both of which were downstreamed to OpCo as AT1. In June 2014, we issued £500m of 35 year perpetual capital securities priced at 6.625%, and in December £300m priced at 7.600%. Both notes were independently evaluated by two investment banks and reflected current market conditions when issued, with terms and conditions clearly outlined on our public website.

In the second quarter of 2015, upon publication of the HoldCo 2014 Annual Report, the attainment of credit ratings and regulatory approvals, we will have the capability to commence public debt issuance out of HoldCo.

Our plans focus on all subordinated debt issuance from HoldCo, and a high likelihood of some of our senior unsecured issuance requirement from HoldCo over the medium term. Covered bonds and other securitised funding, as well as our short-term programmes will continue to be made from OpCo. When we start issuing publicly from HoldCo later in 2015, we intend to be fully transparent regarding the terms of the downstreaming of HoldCo debt to OpCo, to ensure investors understand their position in the creditor hierarchy.

(1)    The cross guarantees have the effect of aligning the interests of the class of creditors covered by the cross guarantees across the operating companies. The current cross guarantees expire on 30 June 2015.

LOGO

 

2015 compared to 2014

Annual Report 201415Total assets increased to £171.9bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £163.4bn), mainly due to the increase in customer loans described below.


Strategic reportCustomer loans increased to £164.8bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £158.5bn). Mortgage customer loans increased by £2.7bn to £152.8bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £150.1bn) driven by strong approval volumes and mortgage retention, with approximately 80% of maturities retained on new Santander UK mortgages, offsetting the SVR attrition of £8.1bn (2014: £8.4bn).
Helping people

Other unsecured lending balances, which include bank overdrafts, unsecured personal loans, and businesses prospercredit cards increased 12% to £5.7bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £5.1bn). This was in line with the 1I2I3 World loyalty strategy.
Consumer finance balances increased 91% to £6.3bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £3.3bn), as we continued to strengthen our broad and well-diversified vehicle finance franchise through the PSA cooperation commencement.
RWAs increased by 10.4% to £42.4bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £38.4bn), largely reflecting the commencement of the PSA cooperation, accounting for £2.5bn of RWAs we consolidated, and growth in mortgages.
Customer deposits increased 6% to £137.3bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £129.6bn) as current account balances continued to grow strongly, mainly through our 1I2I3 Current Account which was the main driver of a net inflow of £12.1bn in current account balances. This was partially offset by lower demand for savings products with balances reducing £3.5bn. Retail Banking deposit spread improved to 0.63% in 2015 (2014: 0.76%), mainly due to maturing higher cost ISAs and originating new lower cost Fixed Term Bonds.
The NPL ratio decreased to 1.44% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 1.62%), as a result of lower mortgage non-performing loans and overall growth in retail assets.
The mortgage NPL ratio decreased to 1.47% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 1.64%), with impairment releases and the decrease in NPL and coverage ratios reflecting the continued good performance of the portfolio supported by low interest rates, rising house prices and the supportive economic environment.
The mortgage NPL coverage ratio decreased to 19% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 24%).

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

continued

LOGO

LOGO

Customer balances(B)

Customer assets of £190.7bn grew by £3.6bn in 2014. Mortgage lending balances increased £2.0bn, maintaining the positive momentum that commenced in the second quarter of 2014. In an increasingly competitive, and still contracting market, corporate lending balances increased £1.8bn. These increases were partially offset by a reduction in the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios.

Customer deposits increased £6.0bn2014 compared to £152.4bn in 2014, as we focused on retaining and originating accounts held by more loyal customers. Current account balances in Retail Banking grew £13.2bn to a total of £41.1bn, partially offset by lower savings balances as we focused on reducing more price-sensitive retail deposits. Commercial Banking deposits grew by £1.5bn, through enhanced capabilities and building upon strong customer relationships.

The loan-to-deposit ratio (‘LDR’) of 124% was 2 percentage points better, reflecting particularly strong growth in retail current account balances. The customer funding gap reduced £2.4bn to £38.3bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £40.7bn), with lending growth fully funded by deposit growth.

Credit quality(C)

The Retail Banking NPL ratio fell to 1.62% at 31 December 2014, with an improvement across all of the principal portfolios. The mortgage NPL ratio decreased to 1.64%, with a further fall in NPLs and a growing mortgage book. The banking and consumer credit NPL ratio also reduced due to a continuation of the general improvement in the credit quality of the unsecured portfolios.

The Commercial Banking NPL ratio decreased to 3.56% at 31 December 2014, with credit quality remaining strong. We continue to adhere to our prudent lending criteria as we grow lending.

The Corporate & Institutional Banking NPL ratio increased to 1.01% at 31 December 2014, due to a single infrastructure loan which moved into non-performance.

Liquidity and funding(D)

The LCR eligible liquidity pool increased £6.7bn, to £39.5bn at 31 December 2014 with an LCR of 110%. Wholesale funding with a residual maturity of less than one year increased £1.9bn, to £23.1bn, due to the timing of secured funding maturities. LCR eligible liquidity pool assets significantly exceeded wholesale funding of less than one year, with a coverage ratio of 171% at 31 December 2014.

(B)

Customer balances
 

 

 
 31 December2014
£bn
 2013  
£bn  
 
 

 

 

 

Total customer loans

 190.7   187.1    
Total customer deposits 152.4   146.4    

Loan-to-deposit ratio

 

 124%   126%    
 

 

 

(C)

Credit quality
 

 

 
 31 December2014
%
 2013  
%  
 
 

 

 

 

Retail Banking NPL ratio

 1.62   1.89    
Commercial Banking NPL ratio 3.56   3.83    
Corporate & Institutional Banking NPL ratio 1.01   0.33    
Corporate Centre NPL ratio 1.62   2.36    

Total NPL ratio

 

 1.80   2.04    
 

 

 

2013

16Total assets increased to £163.4bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £160.5bn), mainly due to the rise in customer loans described below.

Customer loans increased to £158.5bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £155.6bn). Mortgage customer loans increased by £2.0bn. Increased gross mortgage lending and much-improved retentions activity resulted in modest expansion of the mortgage book.

SVR mortgage loan balances decreased by £8.4bn at 31 December 2014 to £43.9bn. We have been successful in retaining 80% of customers with maturing products on Santander UK mortgages. Interest-only mortgage balances decreased to £56.9bn (2013: £59.0bn) while Buy-to-Let mortgages increased to £3.1bn (2013: £2.2bn).

Unsecured consumer and vehicle finance balances, which include bank overdrafts, unsecured personal loans, credit cards and consumer finance, increased 12%. This was in line with the planned rollout of our 1I2I3 World loyalty strategy.
RWAs increased by 6% to £38.4bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £36.3bn), reflecting growth in both mortgages and unsecured lending described above, as well as a small increase in the average mortgage risk weight.
Customer deposits increased 5% to £129.6bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £123.2bn) as current account balances continued to grow strongly. The 1I2I3 Current Account remains central to our retail customer relationship model and was the main driver of a net inflow of £13.2bn in current account balances during the year. This was partially offset by a continued managed reduction in deposits without a broader customer relationship, as we continued to focus on retaining and originating accounts held by more loyal customers.
The NPL ratio decreased to 1.62% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 1.89%), with an improvement across all the principal portfolios. There was a particular improvement in unsecured personal lending and 1I2I3 Credit Cards which benefitted from the good risk profile of our 1I2I3 World customers.
The mortgage NPL ratio decreased to 1.64% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 1.88%) with a further decrease in NPLs which reflected the good credit quality of the portfolio, and a growing mortgage book, supported by the improving economic environment for UK households, with low interest rates, rising house prices and falling unemployment. We remain aware that these trends may not continue and we take account of this in setting our provisions.
The mortgage NPL coverage ratio increased to 24% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 21%).

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

Business volumes

      

2015

£bn

     

2014

£bn

     

2013

£bn

 

Mortgage gross lending

     26.5       26.3       18.4  

Mortgage net lending

     2.7       2.0       (8.5)  

Consumer finance gross lending

     3.0       1.6       0.2  

Consumer finance net lending

     0.5       0.2       -  

Other unsecured net lending

     0.6       0.8       -  

2015 compared to 2014

Santander

Mortgage gross lending increased slightly to £26.5bn in 2015 (2014: £26.3bn), with applications up 5% over the year, while we helped 30,900 first-time buyers (£4.5bn of gross lending) purchase their new home. Interest-only mortgage balances decreased £1.8bn to £55.1bn (2014: £56.9bn) while Buy-to-let mortgage balances increased by £1.9bn to £5.0bn (2014: £3.1bn).

We have continued to build our Buy-to-let book, which represents 3% of our total mortgage book, focusing on non-professional landlords, as this segment is more closely aligned with residential mortgages, and also accounts for the majority of the Buy-to-let market. In 2015, we completed 12,700 Buy-to-let mortgages, representing 10% of new business flow, at an average LTV of 70%.

Consumer finance gross lending was £3.0bn (2014: £1.6bn) and net lending was £0.5bn (2014: £0.2bn), driven by increases in new car registrations and an expansion in business streams, including motorbikes and leisure vehicles.
Other unsecured net lending decreased by £0.2bn to £0.6bn (2014: £0.8bn), with continued strong growth in 1I2I3 Credit Card balances more than offset by lower unsecured personal loan (UPL) lending in the more competitive market environment.

2014 compared to 2013

Mortgage gross lending was strong, increasing to £26.3bn with applications up 26% in 2014, due to improved markets, including gross lending driven by the UK plcGovernment-backed Help to Buy scheme. We maintained our prudent lending criteria with an average LTV of 65% (2013: 62%) on new lending in 2014, including the effect of higher LTV Help to Buy business. We helped 40,300 first-time buyers (£5.6bn of gross lending) and 8,100 Help to Buy customers (£1.2bn of gross lending) purchase a home.
Consumer finance net lending increased to £0.2bn in 2014 (2013: £nil), benefiting from a continued increase in customer confidence.
Other unsecured net lending increased by £0.8bn to £0.8bn (2013: £nil), due to increasing UPL new business and a strong uptake of 1I2I3 Credit Cards.
The number of 1I2I3 World customers increased by 50% to 3.6 million in 2014 (2013: 2.4 million), with a continued growing transactional primary customer base. In 2014, we further expanded the 1I2I3 World by launching the 1I2I3 Mini, a new current account for children, 166,000 of which have been opened. In addition, we launched the 1I2I3 student products, which include 1I2I3 Student, 1I2I3 Graduate and 1I2I3 Post-Graduate new accounts (excluding automatic conversions), which grew to 107,000 customers. This makes 1I2I3 World accessible to the whole family and is helping us to deepen customer relationships.
The 1I2I3 World is transforming our customer profile, building deeper, more durable and more valuable relationships: 93% of 1I2I3 Current Accounts are a primary banking relationship (compared to 46% for our non-1I2I3 customers); on average 1I2I3 customers hold 2.3 products (compared to 1.5 products for non-1I2I3 customers); and average 1I2I3 account balances are 5 times higher than non-1I2I3 account balances.
1I2I3 World continued to expand, with almost 40% of customers holding both the 1I2I3 Current Account and 1I2I3 Credit Card. 1I2I3 World provides a qualitative improvement of customer relationships underpinning our retail interest margins. At 31 December 2014, £70.3bn (54%) of retail deposit balances were derived from 1I2I3 Current Account and other primary bank accounts with associated savings balances held by the same customers; an increase of 34% in the year.

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Business development in 2015

1I2I3 World continues to transform our customer profile, building deeper, more durable and more valuable relationships: 96% of 1I2I3 Current Account holders have a primary banking relationship (vs. 46% for our non-1I2I3 Current Account); on average 1I2I3 World customers hold 2.2 products (vs.1.5); and average liabilities (banking and savings) held by 1I2I3 Current Account holders are 5.3x higher than for non-1I2I3 Current Account customers.

Our heritage

In September 2015, we announced changes to the 1I2I3 Current Account and the 1I2I3 Credit Card. We thought long and hard about these changes, the first since the launch of the products, and have made them in response to continuing challenges in the market and the ‘low for longer’ Base Rate environment. The fee changes are effective from January 2016 with the 1I2I3 World Current Account fee increasing from £2 per month to £5 per month, and the credit card fee from £24 annually to £3 per month, with a cap on cashback of £9 per month.

Santander

We are still in the early stages of knowing the real impact of the fee and cashback changes on customer acquisition, loyalty and satisfaction. The core terms of the 1I2I3 World Current Account and the 1I2I3 Credit Card have not changed and both remain leading products which offer significant value.

We are growing our Wealth Management business, building on existing foundations, to provide an innovative proposition that improves customer loyalty. During 2015, we established a Financial Planning service and now offer investment advice to customers, on a range of products via our branch network.
In September 2015, we withdrew from the UK todaygovernment’s Help to Buy scheme but continue to offer mortgages with an LTV of over 90% under the same terms, due to the good performance of Help to Buy mortgages and reflecting the healthy market for customers with smaller deposits.
We continue to invest in digital technology and have made a number of improvements in our digital platforms. In July 2015, we were one of the first UK banks to adopt the Apple Pay service, launched new apps such as ‘Spendlytics’ (which now includes touch ID) and ‘KiTTi’, and an online mortgage decision ‘in principle’ tool. In August 2015, as part of our ‘Go Smart’ programme, we introduced tablets into our branch network to enhance the customer experience.
We gained an average of 1,500 new active mobile users every day, and in the fourth quarter of 2015 34% of our mortgages were retained online and 31% of total openings of current accounts and 51% of credit cards were made through digital channels. In 2015 we continued to focus on digital developments, in particular security, new services, increased functionality across platforms and devices, a single consolidated account view for each customer and consolidation of our credentials processes facilitating digital access and re-access for customers.

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

COMMERCIAL BANKING

Commercial Banking offers a wide range of products and financial services to customers through a network of regional Corporate Business Centres (CBCs) and through telephony and digital channels. The management of our customers is organised according to their annual turnover (£250,000 to £50m for SMEs, and £50m to £500m for mid corporates), enabling us to offer a differentiated service to SMEs and mid corporate customers. Commercial Banking products and services include loans, bank accounts, deposits, treasury services, invoice discounting, cash transmission, trade finance and asset finance. Commercial Banking also includes specialist commercial real estate and Social Housing lending businesses.

Summarised income statement

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Net interest income

     460       373       284  

Non-interest income

     109       89       91  

Total operating income

     569       462       375  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (332)       (297)       (258)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

     (39)       (92)       (107)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

     (24)       (12)       (17)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (63)       (104)       (124)  

Profit/(loss) from continuing operations before tax

     174       61       (7)  

2015 compared to 2014

Profit from continuing operations before tax increased by £113m to £174m in 2015 (2014: £61m). By income statement line, the movements were:

Net interest income increased by £87m to £460m in 2015 (2014: £373m), principally as a result of continued growth in customer loans and an improvement in deposit margins through the enhanced franchise and broader range of services.
Non-interest income increased by £20m to £109m in 2015 (2014: £89m) principally due to improved levels of banking fees, international payment income, interest rate management income and lending fees.
Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges increased by £35m to £332m in 2015 (2014: £297m). The increase reflected the investment in growth of the business serving SME and corporate customers and our expanded footprint and network of CBCs.
Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £53m to £39m in 2015 (2014: £92m) due to an improvement in the credit quality of the loan book and releases driven by loan disposals and restructurings. This was supported by our cautious lending policy and the supportive economic environment.

Chair’sProvisions for other liabilities and charges increased by £12m to £24m in 2015 (2014: £12m) predominantly due to the absence of conduct provision releases of £10m made in 2014.

review

Regulatory costs relating to the FSCS of £1m (2014: £2m) and the UK Bank Levy of £23m (2014: £17m) were charged in the year.

2014 compared to 2013

Profit from continuing operations before tax increased by £68m to £61m in 2014 (2013: loss of £7m). By income statement line, the movements were:

Chief Executive Officer’s
Net interest income increased by £89m to £373m in 2014 (2013: £284m), principally as a result of continued growth in customer loans and an improvement in stock deposit margins. Much of the loan growth was generated through our expanding network of regional CBCs and the increased number of relationship managers.
Non-interest income decreased by £2m to £89m in 2014 (2013: £91m) due to a lower demand for interest rate and foreign exchange risk management products in a relatively stable, low interest rate environment.

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges increased by £39m to £297m in 2014 (2013: £258m). The increase reflected continued investment in the growth of the businesses serving SME and corporate customers, including continued investment in systems to improve and support new transactional capabilities for our customers as we continue to open new CBCs and recruited new relationship managers.
We are also investing in new platforms specifically for corporate customers and building on the expertise and presence of the wider Banco Santander group. In 2014, we launched a new corporate internet banking capability (Connect), a new trade portal and trade club and the Santander Passport service. Our global alliances with other major international financial institutions, together with the extensive network provided by the Banco Santander group allow us to offer a broad range of international financial services for our customers.
Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £15m to £92m in 2014 (2013: £107m), with a loan loss rate of 0.52% (2013: 0.66%). Credit quality in the loan books continued to be good, supported by the improving economic environment and our cautious lending policy.
Provisions for other liabilities and charges decreased by £5m to £12m in 2014 (2013: £17m). Regulatory costs relating to the FSCS of £2m (2013: £2m) and the UK Bank Levy of £17m (2013: £13m) were charged in the year. There was also a modest conduct provision release of £10m.

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Balances and ratios

      

2015

£bn

     

2014

£bn

     

2013

£bn

 

Total assets

     20.9       18.7       17.0  

Customer loans

     20.9       18.7       17.0  

- of which SMEs

     13.6       12.6       11.7  

- of which mid corporate

     7.3       6.1       5.3  

Risk-weighted assets

     20.9       19.9       17.0  

Customer deposits

     18.1       15.3       13.8  

NPL ratio(1) (2)

     2.80%       3.56%       3.83%  

Coverage ratio(1) (3)

     44%       46%       43%  
(1)The balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.
(2)NPLs as a percentage of customer loans.
(3)Impairment loss allowance as a percentage of NPLs.

2015 compared to 2014

Chief Financial

Total assets increased by 12% to £20.9bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £18.7bn), due to the increase in customer loans described below.
Customer loans increased by 12% to £20.9bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £18.7bn) maintaining a positive momentum despite an increasingly competitive and challenging market. This growth was predominantly driven by our expanded network of regional CBCs and our additional relationship managers, through our investment in growing our SME business.
Risk-weighted assets increased by 5% to £20.9bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £19.9bn) principally in line with customer loan growth.
Customer deposits increased by 18% to £18.1bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £15.3bn). We continued to attract deposit balances through our strong customer relationships, supported by an expanded product range and our enhanced banking platform.
The NPL ratio decreased to 2.80% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 3.56%), with credit quality remaining strong. We continue to adhere to our prudent lending criteria as we grow lending.

2014 compared to 2013

Officer’s review

Total assets increased by 10% to £18.7bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £17.0bn) driven by the growth in customer loans described below.
Customer loans increased by 10% to £18.7bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £17.0bn) maintaining a positive momentum despite an increasingly competitive and still contracting market. This growth was predominantly driven by our network of regional CBCs and our additional relationship managers as we continue to invest in growing our SME business. Following a periodic review in the first quarter of 2014, the management of a number of customers was transferred from the SME portfolio to our mid corporate portfolio as the annual turnover of their businesses had increased. Prior years have not been restated. The balance associated with these loans was £327m. Lending to SME customers increased 8% including the transfer (11% excluding the transfer), and with growth of 15% in mid corporates during the year (9% increase excluding transfer).
Risk-weighted assets increased by 17% to £19.9bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £17.0bn) reflecting growth in customer loans as described above and a recalibration of risk models.
Customer deposits increased by 11% to £15.3bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £13.8bn). We continued to attract deposit balances where we have a strong customer relationship and building on our new enhanced corporate cash management and deposit capabilities. Deposit growth fully funded the increase in lending and grew at a faster rate than in recent years.
The NPL ratio decreased to 3.56% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 3.83%), largely due to credit quality remaining strong. We continue to adhere to our prudent lending criteria as we further deliver on our business plan to expand lending.

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

Business volumes

      2015     2014     2013 

New facilities

     £9.0bn       £7.9bn       £6.5bn  

Bank account openings (No.)

     7,890       7,570       5,680  

Online banking (Connect) active users (No.)

     25,120       21,810       12,380  

2015 compared to 2014

New facilities increased 14% to £9.0bn in 2015 (2014: £7.9bn), with increases across most portfolios as a result of our expanded network of Relationship Managers (RM), more comprehensive suite of products and services and leveraging our expertise in international and structured finance.
Bank account openings showed strong growth, increasing 4% to 7,890 in 2015 (2014: 7,570), driven by our expanded footprint. There was a continuation in the pickup of our corporate banking platform Connect, with active users increasing 15% in the last year.

2014 compared to 2013

New facilities increased 22% to £7.9bn in 2014 (2013: £6.5bn). We also expanded our coverage in the renewable energy, manufacturing and education sectors in the year. We have in place a new scalable platform and are able to deliver a broader product suite with a wide range of ancillary services and we have extended our footprint and our capacity to service mid corporates and SMEs with the increase in the number of RMs in our growing network of regional CBCs.
Bank account openings showed strong growth increasing 33% to 7,570 in 2014 (2013: 5,680) with an acceleration in the usage of our corporate banking platform in 2015, completed in 2013.

Business development

We are seeing a strong increase in productivity across our platform, utilising the broader product suite and expanded footprint we have in place, including 726 RMs and 70 CBCs at 31 December 2015. As part of this expanded footprint, new RMs are building business portfolios and will follow our established productivity maturity curve.
The new platforms developed specifically for corporates, building on the expertise and presence of the wider Banco Santander group, allow us to offer an enhanced product suite to customers. Through our Connect platform, Trade Portal and Trade Club and the Santander Passport service, and with the extensive network provided by the Banco Santander group, we can offer a broad range of international financial services to our corporate customers.

CorporateOur pioneering Breakthrough programme continues to support SME growth across the UK. Through the range of services, workshops and MasterClass programmes we can offer to businesses, SMEs are provided with the knowledge, connections and finance to grow and succeed. The programme has held 128 International Round Table events for more than 1,700 companies, provided 5 Iconic Master Classes with companies including Jaguar Land Rover, Saatchi Masius and McLaren for 79 fast-growth SMEs in 2015, and taken 40 SME businesses on trade missions to major international markets such as Spain, Poland, Mexico, the UAE and the USA. To help UK businesses find the right people to help them grow, we have part funded 2,500 internships and work placements.

Governance

Also, our Breakthrough Growth Capital team assisted 33 businesses in accessing £157m of facilities, helping to create over 2,000 jobs. Since the inception of the Growth Capital team they have supported 73 companies with £254m of facilities, helping to create almost 4,000 jobs.

As part of the Breakthrough programme, this year we have launched a new £100m scheme targeted at SME housebuilders, to provide much needed support to an area of the market where access to finance is a primary constraint. The flexibility of the arrangements offered, in particular bullet repayment facilities, provide additional benefits to housebuilders at the smaller end of the market.

In October 2015, the Santander InnoVentures fund invested in the international payments firm Ripple Inc., which provides global financial settlement solutions and develops banking infrastructure technology to reduce settlement costs for banks.

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GLOBAL CORPORATE BANKING

Global Corporate Banking (formerly known as Corporate & Institutional Banking) services corporate clients and financial institutions that, because of their size, complexity or sophistication, require specially-tailored services or value-added wholesale products. It offers risk management and other value-added financial services to large corporates with a turnover above £500m per annum, and financial institutions, as well as to the rest of Santander UK’s businesses. The main businesses areas include: working capital management (trade and export finance and cash management), financing (Debt Capital Markets, and corporate and specialised lending) and risk management (foreign exchange, rates and liability management). As part of a rebrand across the Banco Santander group, Corporate & Institutional Banking (the UK segment of Santander Global Banking & Markets) has been branded as Global Corporate Banking, to reflect the build out of a corporate client franchise, and the refinement of the customer centred strategy.

Summarised income statement

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Net interest income

     72       75       65  

Non-interest income

     307       300       302  

Total operating income

     379       375       367  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (287)       (260)       (186)  

Impairment releases on loans and advances

     13       4       -  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

     (14)       (9)       (7)  

Total operating provisions and charges

     (1)       (5)       (7)  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

     91       110       174  

2015 compared to 2014

Profit from continuing operations before tax decreased by £19m to £91m in 2015 (2014: £110m). By income statement line, the movements were:

Net interest income decreased to £72m in 2015 (2014: £75m), with continued ongoing demand for project and acquisition finance transactions, syndicated loans, transactional services and factoring products mostly offset by margin compression.
Non-interest income increased by £7m to £307m in 2015 (2014: £300m) principally due to increased revenues from our client derivative and cash sales activities, partially offset by lower demand in some market making activities.
Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges increased by £27m to £287m in 2015 (2014: £260m), mainly reflecting investment in developing transactional, interest rate, foreign exchange and fixed income capabilities, transfer of a number of sales functions to London from Madrid in 2014, as well as the associated costs from related controls, systems and processes.
Impairment releases on loans and advances benefitted from releases of £13m in 2015 (2014: £4m), reflecting loan disposals and restructurings.
Provisions for other liabilities and charges increased by £5m to £14m in 2015 (2014: £9m) due to an increase in the UK Bank Levy.

2014 compared to 2013

Profit from continuing operations before tax decreased by £64m to £110m in 2014 (2013: £174m). By income statement line, the movements were:

Net interest income increased by £10m to £75m in 2014 (2013: £65m), driven by a deposit margin improvement.

Non-interest income decreased by £2m to £300m in 2014 (2013: £302m), principally due to lower demand for interest rate and foreign exchange risk management products and a risk reduction strategy in a volatile second half of the year. This was partially offset by an increase in the short-term markets activity of clients.

We continued to develop the client franchise, in particular the large corporate segment, through a focused client approach, an increase in the number of bankers providing coverage as well as improved product offerings. We continued to refocus the business mix towards core banking activities, such as global transaction banking, debt capital markets, supply chain finance and cash management. We also exited from a number of non-core activities where we lack scale and expertise.
Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges increased by £74m to £260m in 2014 (2013: £186m), mainly reflecting investment in developing transactional, interest rate and fixed income capabilities (including a new cash management platform, specific foreign exchange tools and infrastructure for supply chain finance), as well as the related controls, systems and processes.
Impairment losses on loans and advances benefitted from a release of £4m in 2014 (2013: £nil) reflecting improved performance of loans due to general improvements in economic conditions.
Provisions for other liabilities and charges remained broadly stable at £9m in 2014 (2013: £7m).

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

Balances and ratios

      

2015

£bn

     

2014

£bn

     

2013

£bn

 

Total assets

     36.6       38.3       37.9  

Customer loans

     5.5       5.2       5.1  

Other assets

     31.1       33.1       32.8  

Risk-weighted assets

     15.4       16.8       16.5  

Customer deposits

     3.0       2.3       2.6  

NPL ratio(1) (2)

     0.18%       1.01%       0.33%  

Coverage ratio(1) (3)

     330%       138%       453%  
(1)The balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.
(2)NPLs as a percentage of customer loans.
(3)Impairment loss allowance as a percentage of NPLs. The impairment loan loss allowance includes provisions against both NPLs and other loans where a provision is required. As a result the ratio can exceed 100%.

2015 compared to 2014

Total assets principally consist of derivatives, fixed income products and customer loans. Total assets decreased by 4% to £36.6bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £38.3bn).
Customer loans increased to £5.5bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £5.2bn), driven by refinancing and origination activities related to syndicated loans, project and acquisition finance and transactional services. We continue to develop our larger corporate and institutional client franchise and our product offering in banking and capital markets. We are focusing the business mix towards core banking activities, such as global transaction banking, Debt Capital Markets solutions, supply chain finance and cash management, and have recently added private placement capabilities in order to offer products our customers require.
Other assets principally consist of derivatives and fixed income products. Other assets decreased by £2.0bn to £31.1bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £33.1bn) due to decrease in holdings of debt securities and the reduction in fair value of interest rate and cross currency derivative assets principally driven by movements in yield curves and foreign exchange rates. This was partially offset by the higher levels of securities purchased under resale agreements.
Risk-weighted assets decreased slightly to £15.4bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £16.8bn) reflecting decreases in market and counterparty credit risk.
Customer deposits increased to £3.0bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £2.3bn) as we continued to attract deposit balances where we have strong customer relationships.
The NPL ratio decreased to 0.18% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 1.01%), due to further loan disposals.

2014 compared to 2013

Total assets principally consist of derivatives, fixed income products and customer loans. Total assets increased by 1% to £38.3bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £37.9bn). The increase was driven by the growth in customer loans described below.
Customer loans increased to £5.2bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £5.1bn), despite volatile market conditions and an acceleration of refinancing activities.
Other assets principally consist of derivatives and fixed income products. Other assets increased slightly by 1% to £33.1bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £32.8bn).
Risk-weighted assets increased slightly to £16.8bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £16.5bn) reflecting customer loan growth.
Customer deposits decreased to £2.3bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £2.6bn) as part of a plan to focus more on the management of our relationship driven deposit base.
The NPL ratio increased to 1.01% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 0.33%), due to a single infrastructure loan which moved to non-performance.

Business development in 2015

We continue to develop our larger corporate and institutional client franchise and our product offering in banking and capital markets. We anticipate a further two years of investment in order to complete a service offering complementary to the one we now have in place for our smaller corporate customers. We are starting to see some revenue momentum from the investment in service capability of our core banking services.
We continue to focus the business mix on core banking activities, such as global transaction banking, Debt Capital Markets solutions, supply chain finance, cash management and private placement capabilities in order to offer products our customers require.
In conjunction with Commercial Banking, we have developed a digital foreign exchange platform, ‘Santander Flame’. This platform allows our customers to execute and manage their foreign exchange risk in one place with the capability to access the platform on the move.

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CORPORATE CENTRE

Corporate Centre predominantly consists of the non-core corporate and treasury legacy portfolios. Corporate Centre is also responsible for managing capital and funding, balance sheet composition and structure and strategic liquidity risk. The non-core corporate and treasury legacy portfolios include aviation, shipping, infrastructure, commercial mortgages, Social Housing loans and structured credit assets, all of which are being run-down and/or managed for value. In addition, the co-brand credit cards business sold in 2013 was managed in Corporate Centre prior to its sale and presented as discontinued operations.

Summarised income statement

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Net interest income/(expense)

     58       39       (49)  

Non-interest income

     61       87       74  

Total operating income

     119       126       25  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

     2       (87)       (1)  

Impairment releases/(losses) on loans and advances

     36       17       (9)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

     3       -       -  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

     39       17       (9)  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

     160       56       15  

    

                     

Loss from discontinued operations after tax

     -       -       (8)  

2015 compared to 2014

Profit from continuing operations before tax increased by £104m to £160m in 2015 (2014: £56m). By income statement line, the movements were:

Net interest income increased by £19m to £58m in 2015 (2014: £39m), reflecting the differing maturity and behavioural profiles between the commercial balance sheet and the improved funding cost.
Non-interest income decreased by £26m to £61m in 2015 (2014: £87m), reflecting reduced mark-to-market movements in debt issuance and other portfolios are effectively hedged in line with Santander UK’s risk management policies.
Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges decreased by £89m to £2m income in 2015 (2014: £87m). In 2014, the benefit was principally due to a net gain of £218m which arose as a result of scheme changes that limit future defined benefit pension entitlements and provide for the longer term sustainability of our staff pension arrangement. This was more than offset by additional project costs of £98m, including those relating to our investment programme, which were borne centrally, and software write-offs of £206m for the decommissioning of redundant systems following the implementation of our new digital platform and the completion of our product simplification programme.
Impairment releases on loans and advances increased by £19m to £36m in 2015 (2014: £17m) mainly due to provision releases in the non-core portfolio as a result of asset disposals and repayments.
Provisions for other liabilities and charges decreased by £3m to releases of £3m (2014: £nil), as a result of loan disposals during the year.

2014 compared to 2013

Profit from continuing operations before tax increased by £41m to £56m in 2014 (2013: £15m). By income statement line, the movements were:

Net interest income increased by £88m to £39m in 2014 (2013: £49m expense) driven by lower funding costs reflecting debt re-pricing and a smaller customer funding gap.
Non-interest income increased by £13m to £87m in 2014 (2013: £74m) largely reflecting mark-to-market gains.
Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges increased by £86m to £87m in 2014 (2013: £1m) principally due to pension gains of £218m and write-off and other costs of £304m. The pension gain arose as a result of scheme changes that limit future defined benefit pension entitlements and provide for the longer term sustainability of our staff pension arrangement. Also following the implementation of our new digital platform and the completion of our product simplification programme we made write-offs for the decommissioning of redundant systems and charged investment costs, totalling £304m. This included software write-offs of £206m charged to depreciation, amortisation and impairment, and investment costs of £98m relating to technology and digital capability build out, which cannot be capitalised. The write-offs are expected to reduce our future depreciation charge.
Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £26m to releases of £17m in 2014 (2013: charge of £9m) due to a £25m release in the non-core portfolio as a result of the improving economic environment and disposal of assets, utilising lower provisions than allocated.

Loss from discontinued operations after tax of £nil in 2014 (2013: £8m) reflected the sale of the co-brand credit cards business in 2013.

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

Balances and ratios

      

2015

£bn

     

2014

£bn

     

2013

£bn

 

Total assets

     52.0       55.6       55.0  

Customer loans (non-core)

     7.4       8.3       9.4  

- of which Social housing

     6.2       6.7       7.1  

Risk-weighted assets

     7.1       7.2       7.9  

Customer deposits

     3.9       5.2       6.8  

NPL ratio(1) (2)

     1.18%       1.62%       2.36%  

Coverage ratio(1) (3)

     117%       134%       125%  
(1)The balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.
(2)NPLs as a percentage of customer loans.
(3)Impairment loan loss allowance as a percentage of NPLs. The impairment loan loss allowance includes provisions against both NPLs and other loans where a provision is required. As a result the ratio can exceed 100%.

2015 compared to 2014

Total assets principally consists of liquid assets and non-core customer loans. Total assets decreased by 6% to £52.0bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £55.6bn).
Customer loans decreased by 11% to £7.4bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £8.3bn) due to the run-down of the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios as we continued to successfully implement our ongoing exit strategy from individual loans and leases. Disposals of assets continued across the portfolios with no significant impact on the income statement. The Social Housing loan portfolio remained relatively stable, reflecting its long-term, low risk nature.
Risk-weighted assets decreased by 1.4% to £7.1bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £7.2bn) with the reduction in non-core customer loan exposures and the continued run-down of the other non-core corporate and legacy portfolios offset by an increased operational risk charge.
Customer deposits decreased by 25% to £3.9bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £5.2bn), as we focused on rebalancing the deposit base tenure.
The NPL ratio decreased to 1.18% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 1.62%), due to further loan disposals.

2014 compared to 2013

Total assets increased by 1% to £55.6bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £55.0bn) principally driven by an increase in liquid assets, partially offset by the reduction in non-core customer loans described below. Liquid asset balances continued to be managed against liquidity requirements with a focus on efficiency, given stability in capital markets and as a consequence of historic actions taken to strengthen the balance sheet.
Customer loans decreased by 12% to £8.3bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £9.4bn) due to the rundown of the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios as we continued to successfully implement our on-going exit strategy from individual loans and leases. Disposals of assets continued across the portfolios with no significant impact on the income statement. The Social Housing loan portfolio remained relatively stable, reflecting its long-term, low risk nature.
Risk-weighted assets decreased by 9% to £7.2bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £7.9bn) largely reflecting the reduction in customer loans due to the continued run-down of the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios.
Customer deposits decreased by 24% to £5.2bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £6.8bn), as part of a plan to focus on the management of our more relationship-driven deposit base.
The NPL ratio decreased to 1.62% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 2.36%), reflecting the on-going sale and run-off of the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios which continued with no significant impact on the income statement. Social Housing loans comprised 81% of customer loans in Corporate Centre at 31 December 2014, and this portfolio is fully performing.

20  Santander UK plc


IncomeBalance sheet      Cash
statement review     review

flows

Balance sheet review

This Financial review describes Santander UK’s significant assets and liabilities and its strategy and reasons for entering into such transactions. In this section, references to UK and non-UK, in the geographical analysis, refer to the location of the office where the transaction is recorded.

SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Assets

        

Cash and balances at central banks

     16,842       22,562  

Trading assets

     23,961       21,700  

Derivative financial instruments

     20,911       23,021  

Financial assets designated at fair value

     2,398       2,881  

Loans and advances to banks

     3,548       2,057  

Loans and advances to customers

     198,045       188,691  

Loans and receivables securities

     52       118  

Available for sale securities

     9,012       8,944  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

     781       963  

Interest in other entities

     48       38  

Property, plant and equipment

     1,597       1,624  

Retirement benefit assets

     556       315  

Tax, intangibles and other assets

     3,655       3,063  

Total assets

     281,406       275,977  

Liabilities

        

Deposits by banks

     8,278       8,214  

Deposits by customers

     164,074       153,606  

Trading liabilities

     12,722       15,333  

Derivative financial instruments

     21,508       22,732  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

     2,016       2,848  

Debt securities in issue

     49,615       51,790  

Subordinated liabilities

     3,885       4,002  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

     110       139  

Retirement benefit obligations

     110       199  

Tax, other liabilities and provisions

     3,429       2,921  

Total liabilities

     265,747       261,784  

Equity

        

Total shareholders’ equity

     15,524       14,193  

Non-controlling interests

     135       -  

Total equity

     15,659       14,193  

Total liabilities and equity

     281,406       275,977  

A more detailed consolidated balance sheet is contained in the Consolidated Financial Statements.

2015 compared to 2014

Assets

Cash and balances at central banks

Cash and balances held at central banks decreased by 25% to £16,842m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £22,562m). The decrease was mainly attributable to a reduction in balances at central banks reflecting lower liquidity requirements.

Trading assets

Trading assets increased by 10% to £23,961m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £21,700m), reflecting changes in the mix of assets held for liquidity purposes, with higher levels of securities purchased under resale agreements and equities partially offset by decreased holdings of debt securities.

Derivative financial instruments - assets

Derivative assets decreased by 9% to £20,911m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £23,021m). The decrease was mainly attributable to decreases in the fair value of interest rate and cross currency derivative assets principally driven by movements in yield curves and foreign exchange rates.

Financial assets designated at fair value through profit and loss

Financial assets designated at fair value through profit and loss decreased by 17% to £2,398m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £2,881m), mainly driven by the decrease in the valuation of assets and maturities within the portfolio. In accordance with Santander UK’s policy, new loans are no longer being designated at fair value.

Loans and advances to banks

Loans and advances to banks increased by 72% to £3,548m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £2,057m). The increase was mainly driven by medium-term securities purchased under resale agreements and an increase in short-term positions with other entities.

Loans and advances to customers

Loans and advances to customers increased by 5% to £198,045m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £188,691m) principally due to the increase in corporate portfolios and mortgages, maintaining a positive momentum despite an increasingly competitive and challenging market. Alongside this, unsecured and vehicle finance increased driven by the commencement of the PSA cooperation.

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

Loans and receivables securities

Loans and receivables securities decreased by 56% to £52m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £118m) principally due to sales and maturities of non-core assets in line with our business strategy to exit this market.

Available for sale securities

Available for sale securities increased by 1% to £9,012m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £8,944m) primarily as part of normal liquid asset portfolio management activity.

Macro hedge of interest rate risk - assets

The macro hedge of interest rate risk decreased by 19% to £781m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £963m), mainly driven by general movements in yield curves.

Property, plant and equipment

Property, plant and equipment decreased by 2% to £1,597m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £1,624m). The decrease was mainly driven by the depreciation and impairment charge for the year offset by additional investments made in respect of the branch network offices refurbishment.

Retirement benefit assets

Retirement benefit assets increased by 77% to £556m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £315m). For those sections of the Santander UK Group Pension Scheme which had surpluses, the key drivers of the increase were actuarial gains arising from experience adjustments and modest improvements in the discount rate and life expectancy together with the acquisition of the PSA retirement benefit scheme.

Tax, intangibles and other assets

Tax, intangibles and other assets increased by 19% to £3,655m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £3,063m). The increase was primarily driven by an increase in trade and other receivables relating to settlement of transactions.

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

Deposits by banks increased by 1% to £8,278m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £8,214m) driven by maturities of medium-term securities sold under agreements to repurchase offset by increase in other assets.

Deposits by customers

Deposits by customers increased by 7% to £164,074m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £153,606m) as we continued to focus on retaining and originating accounts held by more loyal customers. Retail Banking current account balances increased and Commercial Banking deposits increased through enhanced capabilities and building on strong customer relationships.

Trading liabilities

Trading liabilities decreased by 17% to £12,722m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £15,333m) as a result of a decrease in short positions and short-term deposits and collateral held, as part of normal trading activity.

Derivative financial instruments - liabilities

Derivative liabilities decreased by 5% to £21,508m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £22,732m). The decrease was mainly attributable to decreases in the fair value of interest rate and cross currency derivative liabilities mainly driven by movements in yield curves and foreign exchange rates.

Financial liabilities designated at fair value through profit and loss

Financial liabilities designated at fair value through profit and loss decreased by 29% to £2,016m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £2,848m). The decrease principally reflected reduced issuances in the different programmes of financial liabilities designated at fair value through profit or loss.

Debt securities in issue

Debt securities in issue decreased by 4% to £49,615m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £51,790m), driven by maturities in the year, partially offset by additional medium-term funding assumed in connection with the commencement of the PSA cooperation.

Subordinated liabilities

Subordinated liabilities decreased by 3% to £3,885m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £4,002m). The decrease was attributable to a capital management exercise in the year partially offset by new issuances of dated subordinated notes.

Macro hedge of interest rate risk - liabilities

Macro hedge of interest rate risk decreased by 21% to £110m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £139m) driven by movements in yield curves.

Retirement benefit obligations

Retirement benefit obligations decreased by 45% to £110m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £199m). The key drivers of the decrease were actuarial gains arising from experience adjustments and modest improvements in the discount rate and life expectancy.

Tax, other liabilities and provisions

Tax, other liabilities and provisions increased by 17% to £3,429m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £2,921m). The increase was attributable to increase in unsettled financial transactions and increase in tax liabilities reflected other liabilities outstanding to be settled at year end and additional conduct provisions provided in 2015.

Equity

Total shareholders’ equity

Total shareholders’ equity increased by 9% to £15,524m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £14,193m). The increase was principally attributable to the issuance of £750m Perpetual Capital Securities, actuarial gains on defined benefit pension fund and profit for the year, partially offset by dividends approved.

Non-controlling interests

Non-controlling interests increased to £135m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £nil) due to the acquisition of 50% of the ordinary shares of PSA Finance UK Limited. For further details, see Notes 37 and 46 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

22  Santander UK plc


IncomeBalance sheet      Cash
statement review     review

flows

RECONCILIATION TO CLASSIFICATIONS IN THE CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

In the rest of the Balance sheet review, our assets and liabilities are summarised by their nature, rather than by how they are classified in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. These two presentations can be reconciled as follows:

2015      Financial review section           
Balance sheet line item  Note  Securities   

Loans and

advances to

banks

   

Loans and advances to

customers

   Derivatives   

Tangible

fixed

assets

   Retirement
benefit
assets
   Other   

Balance

sheet total

 
        £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m 

Assets

                  

Cash and balances at central banks

     -     -     -     -     -     -     16,842     16,842  

Trading assets

  12   12,568     5,433     5,960     -     -     -     -     23,961  

Derivative financial instruments

  13   -     -     -     20,911     -     -     -     20,911  

Financial assets designated at fair value

  14   507     -     1,891     -     -     -     -     2,398  

Loans and advances to banks

  15   -     3,548     -     -     -     -     -     3,548  

Loans and advances to customers

  16   -     -     198,045     -     -     -     -     198,045  

Loans and receivables securities

  19   -     1     51     -     -     -     -     52  

Available for sale securities

  20   9,012     -     -     -     -     -     -     9,012  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

     -     -     -     -     -     -     781     781  

Interests in other entities

  21   -     -     -     -     -     -     48     48  

Property, plant and equipment

  23   -     -     -     -     1,597     -     -     1,597  

Retirement benefit assets

  34   -     -     -     -     -     556     -     556  

Tax, intangibles and other assets

      -     -     -     -     -     -     3,655     3,655  
       22,087     8,982     205,947     20,911     1,597     556     21,326     281,406  
          

Deposits by

banks

   Deposits by customers   

Debt securities

in issue

   Derivatives   Retirement
benefit
obligations
   Other   

Balance

sheet total

 
             £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m 

Liabilities

                  

Deposits by banks

  26     8,278     -     -     -     -     -     8,278  

Deposits by customers

  27     -     164,074     -     -     -     -     164,074  

Trading liabilities

  28     2,777     7,151     2,794     -     -     -     12,722  

Derivative financial instruments

  13     -     -     -     21,508     -     -     21,508  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

  29     -     -     2,016     -     -     -     2,016  

Debt securities in issue

  30        -     -     49,615     -     -     -     49,615  

Subordinated liabilities

  31        -     -     3,885     -     -     -     3,885  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

       -     -     -     -     -     110     110  

Retirement benefit obligations

  34     -     -     -     -     110     -     110  

Tax, other liabilities and provisions

           -     -     -     -     -     3,429     3,429  
            11,055     171,225     58,310     21,508     110     3,539     265,747  
2014      Financial review section           
Balance sheet line item  Note  Securities   Loans and
advances to
banks
   Loans and advances to
customers
   Derivatives   

Tangible
fixed

assets

   Retirement
benefit
assets
   Other   

Balance

sheet total

 
        £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m 

Assets

                  

Cash and balances at central banks

     -     -     -     -     -     -     22,562     22,562  

Trading assets

  12   12,757     5,936     3,007     -     -     -     -     21,700  

Derivative financial instruments

  13   -     -     -     23,021     -     -     -     23,021  

Financial assets designated at fair value

  14   622     -     2,259     -     -     -     -     2,881  

Loans and advances to banks

  15   -     2,057     -     -     -     -     -     2,057  

Loans and advances to customers

  16   -     -     188,691     -     -     -     -     188,691  

Loans and receivables securities

  19   -     9     109     -     -     -     -     118  

Available for sale securities

  20   8,944     -     -     -     -     -     -     8,944  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

     -     -     -     -     -     -     963     963  

Interests in other entities

  21   -     -     -     -     -     -     38     38  

Property, plant and equipment

  23   -     -     -     -     1,624     -     -     1,624  

Retirement benefit assets

  34   -     -     -     -     -     315     -     315  

Tax, intangibles and other assets

      -     -     -     -     -     -     3,063     3,063  
       22,323     8,002     194,066     23,021     1,624     315     26,626     275,977  
          

Deposits by

banks

   Deposits by customers   

Debt securities

in issue

   Derivatives   Retirement
benefit
obligations
   Other   

Balance

sheet total

 
             £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m 

Liabilities

                  

Deposits by banks

  26     8,214     -     -     -     -     -     8,214  

Deposits by customers

  27     -     153,606     -     -     -     -     153,606  

Trading liabilities

  28     7,223     4,899     3,211     -     -     -     15,333  

Derivative financial instruments

  13     -     -     -     22,732     -     -     22,732  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

  29     -     -     2,848     -     -     -     2,848  

Debt securities in issue

  30     -     -     51,790     -     -     -     51,790  

Subordinated liabilities

  31     -     -     4,002     -     -     -     4,002  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

       -     -     -     -     -     139     139  

Retirement benefit obligations

  34     -     -     -     -     199     -     199  

Tax, other liabilities and provisions

           -     -     -     -     -     2,921     2,921  
            15,437     158,505     61,851     22,732     199     3,060     261,784  

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

SECURITIES

Securities are only a small proportion of our total assets. We hold securities mainly in our trading portfolio or classified as available-for-sale.

Analysis by type of issuer

The following table sets out our securities at 31 December 2015, 2014 and 2013. For more information, see the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Trading assets

            

Debt securities:

            

UK Government

     548       905       989  

US Treasury and other US Government agencies and corporations

     119       309       399  

Other OECD governments

     3,827       5,788       5,243  

Other issuers:

            

- Fixed and floating rate notes - Government guaranteed

     968       979       1,081  

- Fixed and floating rate notes – Other

     -       -       147  

Ordinary shares and similar securities

     7,106       4,776       705  
      12,568       12,757       8,564  

Available for sale securities

            

Debt securities:

            

UK Government

     2,964       4,163       2,912  

US Treasury and other US Government agencies and corporations

     192       -       -  

Other OECD governments

     224       -       -  

Bank and building society:

            

- Certificates of deposit and bonds

     4,271       4,177       2,023  

Other issuers

     1,232       579       46  

Ordinary shares and similar securities

     129       25       24  
      9,012       8,944       5,005  

Financial assets designated at fair value through profit and loss

            

Debt securities:

            

Other issuers:

            

- Mortgage-backed securities

     209       226       229  

- Other asset-backed securities

     62       134       87  

- Other securities

     236       262       212  
      507       622       528  
      22,087       22,323       14,097  

Debt securities

UK Government

UK Government securities are Treasury Bills and UK Government guaranteed issues by other UK banks. We hold these securities for trading and liquidity purposes. For more information, see ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk review.

US Treasury and other US Government agencies and corporations

US Treasury and other US Government agencies’ and corporations’ securities are US Treasury Bills, including cash management bills. We hold these securities for trading and liquidity purposes. For more information, see ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk review.

Other OECD governments

Other OECD government securities are issues by OECD governments, other than the US and UK Governments, principally Japan and Italy (2014: principally Japan, Italy and Switzerland). We hold these securities for trading and liquidity management purposes. For more information, see ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk review.

Bank and building society

Certificates of deposit and bonds

Bank bonds are fixed securities with short to medium-term maturities issued by banks. We hold these securities for liquidity purposes.

Other issuers

Fixed and floating rate notes

Fixed and floating rate notes have regular interest rate profiles and are either managed within the overall position for the relevant book or are hedged into one of the main currencies. We hold these securities for trading and yield purposes. For more information on Government-guaranteed fixed and floating rate notes, see ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk review.

Mortgage-backed securities

This category mainly comprises UK residential mortgage-backed securities. These securities are of good quality and contain no sub-prime element. We hold these securities as part of the FMIR portfolio. See Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Other asset-backed securities

This category mainly comprises floating-rate asset-backed securities. See Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Other securities

This category mainly comprises reversionary UK property securities. See Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

24  Santander UK plc


IncomeBalance sheet      Cash
statement review     review

flows

Ordinary shares and similar securities

This category mainly comprises equity securities listed in the UK and other countries held for trading purposes. See Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Contractual maturities

For contractual maturities for trading assets, available-for-sale debt securities and financial assets designated as fair value through profit or loss, see Notes 20 and 43 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Significant exposures

The following table shows the book value (which equals market value) of securities of individual counterparties where the total amount of those securities exceeded 10% of our shareholders’ funds at 31 December 2015 as set out in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. The table also shows where we classify the securities in the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

      Trading assets
£m
     Available-for-sale
£m
     Total £m 

UK Government and UK Government guaranteed

     966       2,964       3,930  

Japanese Government

     2,679       -       2,679  

LOANS AND ADVANCES TO BANKS

Loans and advances to banks include loans to banks and building societies and balances with central banks (excluding central bank balances which can be withdrawn on demand).

Geographical analysis

The geographical analysis below is based on the location of the office of lending, rather than the domicile of the borrower. For geographical analysis based on the domicile of the borrower, see ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk review, including details of balances with other Banco Santander group companies.

The balances include loans and advances to banks classified in the balance sheet as trading assets, financial assets designated at fair value, or loans and receivables securities.

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011

£m

 

UK

     4,982       5,181       8,966       11,763       10,727  

Non-UK

     4,000       2,821       2,953       1,153       861  
      8,982       8,002       11,919       12,916       11,588  

Maturity analysis

The following table shows loans and advances to banks by maturity at 31 December 2015.

      

On

demand

£m

     

In not more than
three months

£m

     

In more than three
months but not
more than one year

£m

     

In more than one
year but not more
than five years

£m

     

In more than five
years but not
more than ten
years

£m

     

In more

than ten

years

£m

     

Total

£m

 

UK

     2,995       171       33       1,284       499       -       4,982  

Non-UK

     3,009       700       291       -       -       -       4,000  
      6,004       871       324       1,284       499       -       8,982  

Of which:

                            

– Fixed interest rate

     2,381       717       164       -       77       -       3,339  

– Variable interest rate

     3,209       154       160       1,284       422       -       5,229  

– Non interest-bearing

     414       -       -       -       -       -       414  
      6,004       871       324       1,284       499       -       8,982  

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

LOANS AND ADVANCES TO CUSTOMERS

We provide lending facilities primarily to personal customers in the form of mortgages secured on residential properties and lending facilities to corporate customers. Purchase and resale agreements represent business with professional non-bank customers by the Short-Term-Markets business.

Geographical analysis

The geographical analysis below is based on the location of the office of lending. For geographical analysis based on the domicile of the borrower rather than the office of lending, see ‘Country risk exposure’ in the Risk review, including details of balances with other Banco Santander group companies.

The balances are stated before deducting impairment loss allowances and include loans and advances to customers classified in the balance sheet as trading assets, financial assets designated at fair value, or loans and receivables securities.

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011

£m

 

UK

                    

Advances secured on residential property

     153,259       150,436       149,017       157,304       166,841  

Corporate loans

     33,464       32,262       29,799       29,571       29,988  

Finance leases

     6,306       2,639       3,158       3,061       2,944  

Other secured advances

     13       15       -       -       -  

Other unsecured advances

     7,916       7,043       5,732       6,733       7,545  

Purchase and resale agreements

     1,516       1,237       4,210       2,512       6,150  

Loans and receivables securities

     51       42       855       769       814  

Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures

     1,369       797       813       347       32  

Total UK

     203,894       194,471       193,584       200,297       214,314  

Non-UK

                    

Advances secured on residential property

     2       4       5       6       6  

Corporate loans

     337       -       -       -       1  

Other unsecured advances

     35       -       31       25       -  

Purchase and resale agreements

     2,836       963       -       4,950       188  

Loans and receivables securities

     -       67       -       -       -  

Total non-UK

     3,210       1,034       36       4,981       195  

Total

     207,104       195,505       193,620       205,278       214,509  

Less: impairment loss allowances

     (1,157)       (1,439)       (1,555)       (1,802)       (1,563)  

Total, net of impairment loss allowances

     205,947       194,066       192,065       203,476       212,946  

For analysis of the impairment loss allowance and loans and receivables securities, see Notes 16 and 19 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

No single concentration of loans and advances above, except for advances secured on residential properties and corporate loans, is more than 10% of total loans and advances, and no individual country, except the UK, is more than 5% of total loans and advances.

26  Santander UK plc


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Maturity analysis

The following table shows loans and advances to customers by maturity at 31 December 2015. Overdrafts are included as ‘on-demand’. Loans and advances are included at their contractual maturity; no account is taken of a customer’s ability to repay early where it exists.

      

On
demand

£m

     

In not more
than three
months

£m

     

In more than
three months but
not more than
one year

£m

     

In more than one
year but not
more than five
years

£m

     

In more than five
years but not
more than ten
years

£m

     

In more than
ten years

£m

     

Total

£m

 

UK

                            

Advances secured on residential property

     2       550       816       6,635       17,168       128,088       153,259  

Corporate loans

     641       1,268       2,738       15,191       3,947       9,679       33,464  

Finance leases

     30       1,329       1,578       3,192       80       97       6,306  

Other secured advances

     -       -       -       2       11       -       13  

Other unsecured advances

     1,509       278       555       3,531       908       1,135       7,916  

Purchase and resale agreements

     -       1,070       446       -       -       -       1,516  

Loans and receivables securities

     -       -       2       -       9       40       51  

Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures

     5       1,349       -       -       15       -       1,369  

Total UK

     2,187       5,844       6,135       28,551       22,138       139,039       203,894  

Non-UK

                            

Advances secured on residential property

     -       -       -       -       1       1       2  

Corporate loans

     -       -       -       337       -       -       337  

Other unsecured advances

     35       -       -       -       -       -       35  

Purchase and resale agreements

     -       2,836       -       -       -       -       2,836  

Total non-UK

     35       2,836       -       337       1       1       3,210  

Total

     2,222       8,680       6,135       28,888       22,139       139,040       207,104  

Of which:

                            

– Fixed interest rate

     64       5,892       2,387       9,375       7,942       84,686       110,346  

– Variable interest rate

     2,158       2,788       3,748       19,513       14,197       54,354       96,758  

Total

     2,222       8,680       6,135       28,888       22,139       139,040       207,104  

Of which:

                            

– Interest-only advances secured

on residential property

     -       595       777       5,118       9,773       38,788       55,051  

Our policy is to hedge fixed-rate loans and advances to customers using derivatives, or by matching with other on-balance sheet interest rate exposures.

We manage our balance sheet on a behavioural basis, rather than on the basis of contractual maturity. Many loans are repaid before their legal maturity, particularly advances secured on residential property.

Impairment loss allowances

See Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for our impairment loss allowances policy. See Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for more on our impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers.

DERIVATIVE ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Assets

            

- held for trading

     18,509       20,235       17,433  

- held for hedging

     2,402       2,786       2,616  
      20,911       23,021       20,049  

Liabilities

            

- held for trading

     18,905       20,462       17,297  

- held for hedging

     2,603       2,270       1,566  
      21,508       22,732       18,863  

We hold derivatives for trading or for risk management purposes. All derivatives are classified as held at fair value through profit or loss. For accounting purposes, we choose to designate some derivatives in a hedging relationship if they meet specific criteria. Our main hedging derivatives are interest rate and cross-currency swaps, which we use to hedge fixed-rate lending and structured savings products and medium-term note issuances, capital issuances and other capital markets funding. For more on our derivative activities, see Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Commercial Banking and Global Corporate Banking deal with commercial customers who wish to enter into derivative contracts. Any market risk arising from such transactions is hedged by Global Corporate Banking. Global Corporate Banking is responsible for implementing our derivative hedging with the external market together with its own trading activities. For more on market risk, see the Risk review.

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

                                                            
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Property, plant and equipment

     1,597       1,624       1,521  

Capital expenditure incurred during the year

     271       370       258  

For details of capital expenditure contracted but not provided for, see Note 23 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. We had 1,173 property interests at 31 December 2015 (2014: 1,291). They consisted of 299 freeholds (2014: 340) and 875 operating lease interests (2014: 952), and occupied a total floor space of 468,834 square metres (2014: 519,193 square metres).

The number of property interests is more than the number of individual properties as we have more than one interest in some properties. Most of our property interests are retail branches. We did not occupy 127 of our properties (2014: 118) at 31 December 2015. 897 (2014: 967) of our individual properties are in the UK and none in Europe and the US (2014: none). There are no material environmental issues associated with the use of our properties.

At 31 December 2015, we had 16 principal sites including our headquarters (2014: 14). We use them for our significant business operations, including Technology and Operations; People and Talent; Retail Banking; Commercial Banking; Global Corporate Banking; Telephone Sales and Servicing; Complaints handling; Debt management; Finance; Compliance; Marketing; and IT operations including Data Centres.

We believe our existing properties (including properties we lease) and those under construction are adequate and suitable for our current business and our future business needs. All our properties are adequately maintained.

RETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS

                                                            
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Retirement benefit assets

     556       315       118  

Retirement benefit obligations

     (110)       (199)       (672)  

We operate defined contribution and defined benefit pension schemes, and post-retirement medical benefit plans. For more, see Note 34 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

DEPOSITS BY BANKS

The balances below include deposits by banks classified in the balance sheet as trading liabilities and financial liabilities designated at fair value.

                                                            
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Year-end balance(1)

     11,055       15,437       19,987  

Average balance(2)

     8,680       16,018       27,395  

Average interest rate(2)

     0.99%       1.01%       1.53%  

(1)  The year-end deposits by banks balance includes non-interest bearing items in the course of transmission of £326m (2014: £308m, 2013: £614m).

(2)  Calculated using monthly data.

 

At 31 December 2015, deposits by foreign banks were £6,629m (2014: £3,840m, 2013: £14,186m). The following table shows the average balances of deposits by banks by geography.

 

     

     

   

     Average: year ended 31 December 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

UK

     8,539       16,016       27,307  

Non-UK

     141       2       88  
      8,680       16,018       27,395  

28  Santander UK plc


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DEPOSITS BY CUSTOMERS

The balances below include deposits by customers classified in the balance sheet as trading liabilities and financial liabilities designated at fair value.

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Year-end balance

     171,225       158,505       154,236  

Average balance(1)

     160,670       155,001       154,881  

Average interest rate(1)

     1.24%       1.34%       1.74%  
(1)Calculated using monthly data.

The following tables show the average balances of deposits by geography and customer type.

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

UK

            

Demand deposits

     116,462       102,346       89,441  

Time deposits

     32,506       37,219       46,113  

Other deposits

     8,031       8,854       13,307  
      156,999       148,419       148,861  

Non-UK

            

Demand deposits

     2,002       2,202       1,245  

Time deposits

     953       1,307       1,574  

Other deposits

     716       3,073       3,201  
      3,671       6,582       6,020  
      160,670       155,001       154,881  

We obtain retail demand and time deposits either through our branch network, cahoot or remotely (such as postal accounts). We also obtain retail demand and time deposits outside the UK, mainly through Abbey National International Limited and the Isle of Man branch of Santander UK plc. They are all interest-bearing and interest rates are varied from time to time in response to competitive conditions.

Demand deposits

Demand deposits consist of savings and current accounts. Savings products comprise Individual Savings Accounts, instant saver accounts, remote access accounts, and other accounts which allow the customer a limited number of notice-free withdrawals per year depending on the account balance. These accounts are treated as demand deposits because the entire balance may be withdrawn on demand without penalty as one of the notice-free withdrawals.

Time deposits

Time deposits consist of notice accounts, which require customers to give notice before making a withdrawal, and bond accounts, which require a minimum deposit. In each of these accounts there is an interest penalty for early withdrawal.

Other deposits

Other deposits are either obtained through the money markets or for which interest rates are quoted on request rather than publicly advertised. These deposits have a fixed maturity and their interest rates reflect inter-bank money market rates.

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

SHORT-TERM BORROWINGS

We include short-term borrowings in deposits by banks, trading liabilities, financial liabilities designated at fair value and debt securities in issue. We do not show short-term borrowings separately on our balance sheet. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) defines short-term borrowings as amounts payable for short-term obligations that are US Federal funds purchased and securities sold under repurchase agreements, commercial paper, borrowings from banks, borrowings from factors or other financial institutions and any other short-term borrowings reflected on the balance sheet. The table below shows short-term borrowings for each of the years ended 31 December 2015, 2014 and 2013.

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Securities sold under repurchase agreements

            

- Year-end balance

     10,567       9,420       14,844  

- Year-end interest rate

     0.23%       0.35%       0.49%  

- Average balance(1)

     15,833       16,816       20,573  

- Average interest rate(1)

     0.39%       0.35%       0.54%  

- Maximum balance(1)

     23,677       22,066       26,215  

Commercial paper

            

- Year-end balance

     2,744       4,364       3,996  

- Year-end interest rate

     0.41%       0.24%       0.27%  

- Average balance(1)

     3,772       4,404       4,453  

- Average interest rate(1)

     0.30%       0.29%       0.28%  

- Maximum balance(1)

     5,066       5,412       5,291  

Borrowings from banks (Deposits by banks)(2)

            

- Year-end balance

     3,711       2,983       3,057  

- Year-end interest rate

     0.07%       0.38%       0.02%  

- Average balance(1)

     3,004       3,135       2,721  

- Average interest rate(1)

     0.05%       0.07%       0.03%  

- Maximum balance(1)

     3,905       4,518       3,401  

Negotiable certificates of deposit

            

- Year-end balance

     4,468       3,806       2,646  

- Year-end interest rate

     0.43%       0.36%       1.56%  

- Average balance(1)

     4,468       4,044       2,529  

- Average interest rate(1)

     0.41%       0.39%       1.51%  

- Maximum balance(1)

     5,666       5,142       3,173  

Other debt securities in issue

            

- Year-end balance

     5,238       4,446       5,434  

- Year-end interest rate

     2.60%       2.52%       3.37%  

- Average balance(1)

     4,133       4,858       4,919  

- Average interest rate(1)

     2.60%       2.89%       3.00%  

- Maximum balance(1)

     5,238       5,975       7,245  
(1)Calculated using monthly weighted average data.
(2)The year-end deposits by banks balance includes non-interest bearing items in the course of transmission of £326m (2014: £308m, 2013: £614m).

Abbey National Treasury Services plc and Abbey National North America LLC (ANNA LLC) issue commercial paper. Abbey National Treasury Services plc issues commercial paper with a minimum issuance amount of Euro 100,000 with a maximum maturity of 364 days. ANNA LLC and Abbey National Treasury Services plc, US Branch issue commercial paper with minimum denominations of US$100,000 and US$250,000, respectively, with maturity of up to 270 days from the date of issue.

On 1 July 2015, Abbey National Treasury Services plc, US Branch set up a US$20bn Commercial Paper Programme for the issuance of commercial paper. The new programme will replace the ANNA LLC US$20bn Commercial Paper Programme, and ANNA LLC will not issue any further commercial paper going forward.

Certificates of deposit and certain time deposits

The following table shows the maturities of our certificates of deposit and other large wholesale time deposits from non-banks over £50,000 (or the non-sterling equivalent of £50,000) at 31 December 2015. A proportion of our retail time deposits also exceeds £50,000 at any given date; however, the ease of access and other terms of these accounts means that they may not have been in excess of £50,000 throughout 2015. Also, the customers may withdraw their funds on demand by paying an interest penalty. For these reasons, no maturity analysis is presented for such deposits.

    

Not more than three
months

£m

   

In more than three months but
not more than six months

£m

   

In more than six months but
not more than one year

£m

   

In more than one
year

£m

   

Total

£m

 

Certificates of deposit:

          

- UK

   2,326     933     342     -     3,601  

- Non-UK

   664     95     108     5     872  

Wholesale time deposits:

          

- UK

   943     60     187     110     1,300  
    3,933     1,088     637     115     5,773  

30  Santander UK plc


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DEBT SECURITIES IN ISSUE

We have issued debt securities in a range of maturities, interest rate structures and currencies, to meet our liquidity, funding and capital needs.

      Note    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Trading liabilities

    28     2,794       3,211       2,918  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

    29     2,016       2,848       3,407  

Debt securities in issue

    30     49,615       51,790       50,870  

Subordinated liabilities

    31     3,885       4,002       4,306  
           58,310       61,851       61,501  

We classify most of the debt securities that we have issued as ‘Debt securities in issue’ in our balance sheet. We classify the rest of them separately in the balance sheet, either because they qualify as ‘Trading liabilities’ or we designated them upon initial recognition as ‘Financial liabilities designated at fair value’, or there are key differences in their legal terms, such as liquidation preferences, or subordination of the rights of holders to the rights of holders of certain other liabilities (Subordinated liabilities). See Notes 28 to 31 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Our commercial balance sheet is almost entirely denominated in sterling. So when we raise funding by issuing debt securities in currencies other than sterling (mainly euro, US dollars and Japanese yen) we enter into cross-currency derivatives which swap the foreign currency liabilities back into sterling.

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS

For the amounts and maturities of contractual obligations in respect of guarantees, see Note 35 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Other contractual obligations, including payments of principal and interest where applicable, are shown in the table below. Interest payments are included in the maturity column of the interest payments themselves, and are calculated using current interest rates.

     Payments due by period 
      

Total

£m

     

Less than 1 year

£m

     

1-3 years

£m

     

3-5 years

£m

     

Over 5 years

£m

 

Deposits by banks(1) (2)

     11,055       9,315       1,447       185       108  

Deposits by customers - repos(1)

     7,012       6,512       -       -       500  

Deposits by customers - other(2)

     164,213       153,194       9,375       1,586       58  

Derivative financial instruments

     21,508       2,882       2,465       2,238       13,923  

Debt securities in issue(3)

     54,425       12,363       13,123       8,198       20,741  

Subordinated liabilities

     3,885       60       63       54       3,708  

Retirement benefit obligations

     9,004       263       581       662       7,498  

Operating lease obligations

     495       79       144       128       144  

Purchase obligations

     430       430       -       -       -  
      272,027       185,098       27,198       13,051       46,680  
(1)Securities sold under repurchase agreements.
(2)Includes deposits by banks and deposits by customers classified in the balance sheet as trading liabilities.
(3)Includes debt securities in issue classified in the balance sheet as trading liabilities and financial liabilities designated at fair value.

The table is based on contractual maturities, so it takes no account of call features in our Subordinated liabilities. The repayment terms of the debt securities may be accelerated in line with the covenants in the loan agreements.

For details of deposits by banks and deposits by customers, see Notes 26 and 27 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. We have entered into outsourcing contracts where, in some circumstances, there is no minimum specified spending requirement. In these cases, anticipated spending volumes have been included within purchase obligations.

Under current conditions, our working capital is expected to be sufficient for our present needs and to pursue our planned business strategies.

OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS

In the ordinary course of business, we issue guarantees on behalf of customers. The main guarantees we issue are standby letters of credit under which we take on credit on behalf of customers when actual funding is not required. This is normally because a third party won’t accept the credit risk of the customer. We include these guarantees in our impairment loss allowance assessment with other forms of credit exposure.

In addition, we give representations, indemnities and warranties on the sale of our subsidiaries, businesses and other assets, as is normal in such activity. The maximum potential amount of any claims made against these is usually much higher than actual settlements. We make provisions for our best estimate of the likely outcome, either at the time of sale, or later if we receive more information.

See Note 35 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for more information on our guarantees, commitments and contingencies. See Note 21 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for more information on our off-balance sheet arrangements.

In the ordinary course of business, we also enter into securitisation transactions as set out in Note 17 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. We consolidate the securitisation companies and we continue to administer the assets. The securitisation companies provide us with an important source of long-term funding.

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

INTEREST RATE SENSITIVITY

Interest rate sensitivity is the relationship between interest rates and net interest income caused by the periodic repricing of assets and liabilities. Our largest administered rate items are residential mortgages and retail deposits, most of which bear interest at variable rates.

We mitigate the impact of interest rate movements on net interest income by repricing our variable rate mortgages and variable rate retail deposits separately, subject to competitive pressures. We also offer fixed-rate mortgages and savings products on which the interest rate is fixed for an agreed period at the start of the contract. We manage the margin on fixed-rate products by using derivatives matching the fixed-rate profiles. We reduce the risk of prepayment by imposing early termination charges if the customers end their contracts early.

We manage the risks from movements in interest rates as part of our overall non-trading position. We do this within limits as set out in the Risk review.

Changes in net interest income - volume and rate analysis

The following table shows changes in interest income, interest expense and net interest income (including amounts classified in discontinued operations). It allocates the effects between changes in volume and changes in rate. Volume and rate changes have been calculated on the movement in the average balances and the change in the interest rates on average interest-earning assets and average interest-bearing liabilities. The changes caused by movements in both volume and rate have been allocated to rate changes.

      2015/2014     2014/2013 
     

Total

change

     

Changes due to

increase/(decrease) in

     

Total

change

     

Changes due to

increase/(decrease) in

 
      £m     

Volume

£m

     

Rate

£m

     £m     

Volume

£m

     

Rate

£m

 

Interest income

                        

Loans and advances to banks:

                        

- UK

     (12)       9       (21)       (20)       (36)       16  

- Non-UK

     (14)       (11)       (3)       11       7       4  

Loans and advances to customers:

                        

- UK

     (58)       290       (348)       (392)       (44)       (348)  

- Non-UK

     1       -       1       -       -       -  

Other interest earning financial assets:

                        

- UK

     (19)       13       (32)       31       29       2  

- Non-UK

     -       -       -       (3)       (3)       -  

Total interest income

                        

- UK

     (89)       312       (401)       (381)       (51)       (330)  

- Non-UK

     (13)       (11)       (2)       8       4       4  
      (102)       301       (403)       (373)       (47)       (326)  

Interest expense

                        

Deposits by banks:

                        

- UK

     (18)       3       (21)       (107)       (39)       (68)  

Deposits by customers - demand:

                        

- UK

     188       157       31       (8)       165       (173)  

- Non-UK

     (8)       (2)       (6)       8       10       (2)  

Deposits by customers - time:

                        

- UK

     (258)       (98)       (160)       (502)       (245)       (257)  

- Non-UK

     (12)       (8)       (4)       (23)       (9)       (14)  

Deposits by customers - other:

                        

- UK

     (4)       (8)       4       (61)       (68)       7  

- Non-UK

     1       -       1       -       1       (1)  

Subordinated liabilities:

                        

- UK

     (13)       (15)       2       45       12       33  

Debt securities in issue:

                        

- UK

     (110)       -       (110)       (192)       (68)       (124)  

- Non-UK

     4       (1)       5       (6)       1       (7)  

Other interest-bearing financial liabilities:

                        

- UK

     (13)       (10)       (3)       2       1       1  

Total interest expense

                        

- UK

     (228)       29       (257)       (823)       (242)       (581)  

- Non-UK

     (15)       (11)       (4)       (21)       3       (24)  
      (243)       18       (261)       (844)       (239)       (605)  

Net interest income

     141       283       (142)       471       192       279  

32  Santander UK plc


IncomeBalance sheet      Cash
statement review     review

flows

AVERAGE BALANCE SHEET

Year-end balances may not reflect activity throughout the year, so we present average balance sheets below. They show averages for our significant categories of assets and liabilities, and the related interest income and expense.

                   2015                   2014                   2013 
      

Average

Balance(1)

£m

     

Interest(4,5)

£m

     

Average

rate

%

     

Average

balance(1)

£m

     

Interest(4,5)

£m

     

Average

rate

%

     

Average

balance(1)

£m

     

Interest(4,5)

£m

     

Average

rate

%

 

Assets

                                    

Loans and advances to banks:

                                    

- UK

     20,859       99       0.47       19,263       111       0.58       26,432       131       0.50  

- Non-UK

     6,432       16       0.25       10,078       30       0.30       7,453       19       0.25  

Loans and advances to customers:(3)

                                    

- UK

     196,148       6,490       3.31       187,843       6,548       3.49       189,048       6,940       3.67  

- Non-UK

     179       1       0.56       5       -       -       6       -       -  

Debt securities:

                                    

- UK

     9,300       89       0.96       8,312       108       1.30       6,009       77       1.28  

- Non-UK

     -       -       -       -       -       -       166       3       1.81  

Total average interest-earning assets, interest income(2)

     232,918       6,695       2.87       225,501       6,797       3.01       229,114       7,170       3.13  

Impairment loss allowances

     (1,315)       -       -       (1,502)       -       -       (1,704)       -       -  

Trading business

     19,756       -       -       18,549       -       -       25,032       -       -  

Assets designated at FVTPL

     2,737       -       -       2,793       -       -       3,140       -       -  

Other non-interest-earning assets

     32,278       -       -       34,204       -       -       38,414       -       -  

Total average assets

     286,374       -       -       279,545       -       -       293,996       -       -  

Non-UK assets as a % of total

     2.31%       -       -       3.61%       -       -       2.59%       -       -  

Liabilities

                                    

Deposits by banks:

                                    

- UK

     (7,122)       (63)       0.88       (6,855)       (81)       1.18       (8,624)       (188)       2.18  

- Non-UK

     (139)       -       -       (2)       -       -       (13)       -       -  

Deposits by customers - demand:

                                    

- UK

     (116,462)       (1,326)       1.14       (102,346)       (1,138)       1.11       (89,441)       (1,146)       1.28  

- Non-UK

     (2,002)       (13)       0.65       (2,202)       (21)       0.95       (1,245)       (13)       1.04  

Deposits by customers - time:

                                    

- UK

     (32,506)       (514)       1.58       (37,219)       (772)       2.07       (46,113)       (1,274)       2.76  

- Non-UK

     (953)       (16)       1.68       (1,307)       (28)       2.14       (1,574)       (51)       3.24  

Deposits by customers - other:

                                    

- UK

     (6,092)       (108)       1.77       (6,542)       (112)       1.71       (10,766)       (173)       1.61  

- Non-UK

     (703)       (2)       0.28       (1,141)       (1)       0.09       (628)       (1)       0.16  

Debt securities:

                                    

- UK

     (46,531)       (911)       1.96       (46,517)       (1,021)       2.19       (49,292)       (1,213)       2.46  

- Non-UK

     (4,427)       (15)       0.34       (4,730)       (11)       0.23       (4,512)       (17)       0.38  

Subordinated liabilities:

                                    

- UK

     (3,871)       (138)       3.56       (4,285)       (151)       3.52       (3,860)       (106)       2.75  

Other interest-bearing liabilities:

                                    

- UK

     (269)       (14)       5.20       (422)       (27)       6.40       (406)       (25)       6.16  

Total average interest-bearing liabilities, interest expense(2)

     (221,077)       (3,120)       1.41       (213,568)       (3,363)       1.57       (216,474)       (4,207)       1.94  

Trading business

     (18,873)       -       -       (22,242)       -       -       (30,546)       -       -  

Liabilities designated at FVTPL

     (2,391)       -       -       (3,556)       -       -       (4,997)       -       -  

Other non-interest bearing liabilities

     (28,876)       -       -       (26,603)       -       -       (29,003)       -       -  

Equity

     (15,157)       -       -       (13,576)       -       -       (12,976)       -       -  

Total average liabilities and equity

     (286,374)       -       -       (279,545)       -       -       (293,996)       -       -  

Non-UK liabilities as a % of total

     2.87%       -       -       3.36%       -       -       2.71%       -       -  
(1)Average balances are based on monthly data.
(2)The ratio of average interest-earning assets to interest-bearing liabilities for the year ended 31 December 2015 was 105.36% (2014: 105.59%, 2013: 105.84%).
(3)Loans and advances to customers include non-performing loans. See the ‘Credit risk’ section of the Risk review.
(4)The net interest margin for the year ended 31 December 2015 was 1.53% (2014: 1.52%, 2013: 1.29%). Net interest margin is calculated as net interest income divided by average interest earning assets. This differs from the Banking Net Interest Margin, a non-IFRS measure (see page 332) and discussed in the CEO’s review, which is calculated as net interest income divided by average customer assets.
(5)The interest spread for the year ended 31 December 2015 was 1.46% (2014: 1.44%, 2013: 1.19%). Interest spread is the difference between the rate of interest earned on average interest-earning assets and the rate of interest paid on average interest-bearing liabilities.

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

Cash flows

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Net cash (outflow)/inflow from operating activities

     (3,897)       (5,533)       4,757  

Net cash (outflow)/inflow from investing activities

     (518)       (4,145)       182  

Net cash (outflow)/inflow from financing activities

     (2,914)       (361)       (8,428)  

Decrease in cash and cash equivalents

     (7,329)       (10,039)       (3,489)  

The major activities and transactions that affected Santander UK’s cash flows during 2015, 2014 and 2013 were as follows:

In 2015 the net cash outflow from operating activities of £3,897m resulted from the increase in trading balances, increased customer lending partially offset by an increase in customer savings and deposits from other banks. In 2015 the net cash outflow from investing activities of £518m principally reflected the purchase and sale of available-for-sale securities, purchase of property, plant and equipment and the acquisition of PSA Finance UK Limited. In 2015 the net cash outflow from financing activities of £2,914m principally reflected the repayment of debt securities maturing in the year of £16,098m offset by new issues of debt securities of £13,267m, the issuance of £750m Perpetual Capital Securities and the payment of interim dividends on ordinary shares and other equity instruments of £701m. In 2015 cash and cash equivalents decreased by £7,329m principally from the decrease in cash held at central banks and also debt securities both of which are held as part of the liquidity pool. This has decreased due to a reduction in wholesale funding with a maturity of less than 30 days.

In 2014, the net cash outflow from operating activities of £5,533m resulted from lower trading balances and higher customer lending partly offset by higher customer savings and deposits from other banks. In 2014, the net cash outflow from investing activities of £4,145m mainly reflected purchases and sales of available-for-sale securities. In 2014, the net cash outflow from financing activities of £361m reflected repayments of debt securities that matured of £20,310m offset by new issues of debt securities of £19,936m and the issuance of £800m Perpetual Capital Securities. We also paid interim dividends of £447m on ordinary shares and £40m of dividends on other equity instruments. In 2014, cash and cash equivalents decreased by £10,039m mainly from the increase in customer lending and purchase of available-for-sale securities.

In 2013, the net cash inflow from operating activities of £4,757m resulted from the continued reduction in our lending portfolios, partly offset by lower customer savings and deposits from other banks. In 2013, the net cash inflow from investing activities of £182m was in principle derived from the purchase and sale of UK Treasury bills, partly offset by purchases of property, plant and equipment. In 2013, the net cash outflow from financing activities of £8,428m reflected repayments of debt securities that matured of £32,880m partly offset by new issues of debt securities of £25,469m. We also paid dividends of £665m on ordinary shares. In 2013, cash and cash equivalents decreased by £3,489m mainly from the repayments of matured debt securities offset by lower customer lending.

34  Santander UK plc


Risk review

This Risk review consists of audited financial information except where it is marked as unaudited.

The audited financial information is an integral part of the Consolidated Financial Statements.

36Risk developments in 2015(unaudited)

 

38Top and emerging risks(unaudited)

Stephen Jones outlines the financial results for

2014.

41Risk governance

41Risk Framework

48Risk Appetite

49Stress testing

50How risk is distributed across our business(unaudited)

51Credit risk

52Santander UK group exposure

62Retail Banking

77Commercial Banking

89Global Corporate Banking

95Corporate Centre

102Market risk

104Trading market risk

108Banking market risk

111Liquidity risk

129Capital risk(unaudited)

139    Pension risk(unaudited)

142Operational risk(unaudited)

146Conduct risk(unaudited)

149Other key risks and areas of focus

150Financial crime risk(unaudited)

151Strategic risk(unaudited)

152Reputational risk(unaudited)

153Regulatory risk(unaudited)

153Model risk(unaudited)

154Country risk exposure

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Risk developments in 2015(unaudited)

Each and every one of us at Santander UK takes personal
responsibility for managing risk.

We have also developed a framework to help improve the way we manage risks associated with the various models we use to make risk-based decisions.

We continued to make progress against our Operational Risk Transformation Programme, updating our strategic systems and IT, helping us maintain our robust risk management infrastructure.

LOGO ��

2015 performance

Retail and corporate credit quality remained robust in a supportive credit environment. Continuing improvements in the UK economy, coupled with prudent lending criteria, helped improve our NPL ratio to 1.54% from 1.80% in 2014. Reflecting this, our loan loss allowances decreased to £1,157m from £1,439m in 2014.

We have also maintained a strong CET 1 capital ratio of 11.6% and an improved leverage ratio of 4.0%. Capital risk continued to be of key focus.

The Santander UK Group Holdings plc group (including the Santander UK group) exceeded the Bank of England’s 2015 stress test threshold requirement of 4.5%, with a stressed CET 1 capital ratio of 9.5%. This shows our resilience to potential deterioration in global and domestic economic conditions.

In November 2015, the FCA published a consultation paper covering, among other things, proposed time restrictions on future claims for the mis-selling of PPI, and the Plevin case. In response to this we have increased our PPI conduct remediation provision by £450m to £465m. This represents our best estimate of the remaining redress and costs, notwithstanding the ongoing nature of the consultation.

Risk management in 2015

During 2015, we made significant progress in embedding our Risk Framework across the business to align with our values of being Simple, Personal and Fair. This included the ongoing roll-out of our I AM Risk programme where we have been particularly successful in raising awareness of personal accountability for risk management.

We have also made further improvements to our risk governance and Risk Framework. These include giving greater prominence to financial crime risk, reflecting the increasing importance of this discipline as technology in the banking industry develops. This has been reinforced via our Financial Crime Transformation Programme.

In 2015, our Conduct Risk Strategy Programme has enhanced the way we report and monitor conduct risk, and how we assess conduct risk in our business decisions. In addition, we continue to improve the outcomes that we deliver to our customers through:

–   Guidance on how we treat and help vulnerable customers

–   Simplification of our retail product range, which has helped customers and staff understand and take better advantage of our products

–   Further enhancements to our staff incentive schemes to focus on the delivery of quality of outcomes for customers.

Top risks

We set out the developments in our top risks in 2015 on pages 38 and 39.

The key developments that continue to affect the profile of our top risks include:

The interest rate environment

The current low Bank of England Bank Rate (Base Rate) environment persisted during 2015. This continued to set challenges for both our net margin performance, and also the risks associated with our pension fund.

1I2I3 account

In September 2015, we announced changes to the 1I2I3 Current Account and the 1I2I3 Credit Card. This was the first set of changes since the launch of the products, and we have made them in response to continuing challenges in the market and the ‘low for longer’ Base Rate environment. We are still in the early stages of knowing the real impact of the fee and cashback changes on customer acquisition, loyalty and satisfaction. We are carefully monitoring the consequences of this decision, including the impacts on our customers.

36  Santander UK plc


    Risk

    developments

Top and

    in 2015

emerging risks                   

 

LOGO

 

 

Medium-term funding (‘MTF’) issuanceBanking Reform

During 2015, our regulators issued various consultation papers bringing further clarity to areas such as capital and liquidity requirements, intra-group exposures and governance. Against this backdrop, we continue to work on our plans for implementation. Banking Reform is one of £12.9bn (sterling equivalent)a number of both regulatory and business-led change initiatives such as our investments in 2014 included £7.7bndigital technology. We are closely monitoring the operational risks associated with the growing change agenda to ensure successful delivery.

Cyber crime

In common with other large UK financial institutions, we saw an increase in the scale and complexity of senior unsecured issuance. Overall the cost of wholesale fundingattempted cyber crime activity during 2015. We have continued to fall duringstrengthen our defence against these attacks, including participation in the year,Bank of England’s industry-wide cyber security testing exercise. We also continued our significant programme of investment to improve the prevention and detection of financial crime.

Emerging risks

We set out the developments in our emerging risks in 2015 on page 40.

We face a background of uncertainty regarding the UK economy, and interest rates in particular. This is coupled with economic and political pressures in Europe, as lower cost new issuance replaced more expensive maturing fundingwell as significant volatility in a more stable capital markets environment.

Capitalcertain markets. All of these could affect our risk profile and leverage(D)

The CET 1 capital ratio improvedstrategy. In addition, changes in the regulatory environment, and the demanding agenda, continue to 11.9% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 11.6%(3)), with the PRA end-point T1 leverage ratio at 3.8% (2013: 3.3%). During 2014, we issued £800m of AT1 capital, and redeemed £265m of preferred shares.

RWAs increased £4.6bn to £82.3bn at 31 December 2014, reflecting higher customer loans, a recalibration of risk models in Commercial Banking and a small increase in mortgage risk weights.

PRA stress test results

The latest PRA stress test results were released in December 2014. Santander UK exceeded the PRA’s 2014 stress test threshold requirement of 4.5%, with a stressed CET 1 ratio of 7.9% after PRA-allowed management actions.impact our business.

The PRA stress test centred onWe track emerging risks in the context of the four major forces shaping the UK banking market:

Economic environment

While the current economic outlook for the UK is supportive, we remain aware of the risks in the medium term which could have an unprecedented UK housing market stress and therefore was particularly focused on banks with significant UK residential mortgage exposure. Notwithstanding this focus,adverse impact. These include the outcome demonstrated Santanderpotential implications from the forthcoming referendum of the UK’s continuing resilience, robust balance sheet and credit strength.membership of the European Union.

OutlookRegulatory development

We expect the developments in the business, and investments made to date to help maintain our strong performance.

A further reduction in the overall cost of deposits is expected to compensate for any further asset margin declines. Our tight control of business-as-usual costsregulatory environment will continue, while we invest further in the transformation of our business.

The momentum of the UK economy should continue to be supportivefocused on financial strength, customer experience and competition. While we remain confident that we can continue to grow the business safely against this backdrop, there remain risks associated with the scale and pace of change across the business.

Market competition

We anticipate increasing competitive pressure, both from established incumbents refocusing on UK banking, and from new entrants leveraging technology and focusing on selected elements of the market.

Customer behaviour

The needs and demands of our business, although there is evidencecustomers are evolving more rapidly than ever, driven by changes in technology and the adoption of increasing liquiditydigital and mobile as part of multi-channel banking. These shifts in customer behaviour bring with them associated challenges in risk management, for example in developing strategies to tackle fraud.

Planned activities for 2016

The key areas of focus for the market resulting in competitive pressures in many business lines which may impact margins and slow the rate of growth.Risk Division for 2016 include:

We believe that our performance over time should continue to demonstrate the consistency and strength of Santander UK.

Continuing to embed our Risk Culture Programme ‘I AM Risk’, aligned to Simple, Personal and Fair
Investing in our retail and corporate credit systems infrastructure, helping to improve the speed and quality of our credit decisions
Making further enhancements to, and increasing automation around, our stress testing capability and our response to the forthcoming accounting standard IFRS 9 as it relates to credit provisioning
Continuing our strategic change programmes for conduct risk, risk data automation and aggregation, operational risk and financial crime risk.
 

 

(D)

Liquidity, funding, capital and leverage – CRD IV
 

 

 
 31 December2014
£bn
 2013   
£bn   
 
 

 

 

 

LCR eligible liquidity pool

 39.5   32.8     
LCR 110%   103%(3)  
CET 1 capital 9.8   9.0(3)  
CET 1 capital ratio 11.9%   11.6%(3)  
Risk Weighted Assets (‘RWAs’) 82.3   77.7(1)  

PRA end-point Tier 1 leverage ratio(2)

 

 3.8%   3.3%     
 

 

 

 

(1)  Adjusted for consistency to reflect the CRD IV rules as if they had applied on 31 December 2013 as described in ‘Risk-weighted assets’ in theI AM RISK – our Risk review on page 123.Culture Programme

 

(2)  The leverage ratio definedAt Santander UK every one of us takes personal responsibility for managing risk by doing our part to:

–  Identify risks and opportunities

–  Assess their probability and impact

–  Managethe PRA uses an exposure measure consistent withrisks and suggest alternatives

–  Report, challenge, review, learn and ‘speak up’.

I AM Risk helps ensure that every business area is accountable for the Basel Committee’s January 2014 Leverage Ratio Framework.management of the risks arising from their activities.

 

(3)  Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.Risks need to be considered as part of the governance around any and every business decision.

The success of the I AM Risk programme has been reflected in our staff surveys, where 97% of the respondents acknowledged their personal responsibility for risk management.

For more on this programme, see ‘Making change happen: I AM Risk’ in the section ‘How we approach risk – our culture and principles’.

LOGO

 

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Top risks(unaudited)

All our activities involve identifying, assessing, managing and reporting risks. A top risk is a current risk within our business that could have a material impact on our financial results, reputation and the sustainability of our business model.

Our top risks and their causes are outlined below, as well as how they link to our 2013-2015 strategic priorities. We also explain the key developments in the year.

 

Annual Report 201417


Strategic report    Risk descriptionRisk features and impact

2013-2015

strategic

priorities

HelpingCredit

Deterioration in the credit quality of our customers and counterparties could reduce the value of our assets, and increase our write-downs and allowances for impairment losses. The macroeconomic environment and other factors can cause our credit risk to increase. The factors include increased unemployment, falling house prices, increased corporate insolvency levels, reduced corporate profits, increased personal insolvency levels, increased interest rates and/or higher tenant defaults.

LOGO See ‘Credit risk’ on page 51.

LOGO

LOGO

LOGO

Market (Banking market)

Banking market risk could lead to lower income or a loss of value from changes in market risk factors such as interest rates. The current low Base Rate environment remains a key concern for the industry as a whole. If rates were not to increase, margins would remain under pressure.

LOGO See ‘Market risk’ on page 102.

LOGO
Liquidity

Like all major banks, we can be impacted by changes in confidence in the banking sector, the wholesale funding markets or the Company itself. We can also be affected by changes in the structure or the regulation of the banking sector. If we are unable to obtain sustainable funding (whether due to exceptional circumstances, industry restructuring or regulatory change), our ability to pay our financial obligations could be affected. This could disrupt our day-to-day operations and business model.

LOGO See ‘Liquidity risk’ on page 111.

LOGO
Capital

Capital risk has the potential to disrupt our business model and stop our normal functions. It could also cause us to fail to meet regulatory capital requirements. If that happened, our regulators would have powers to restrict our payments, such as dividends and AT1 coupons, or to wind up the Company. Our capital risk is driven mainly by credit risk and the effects of regulatory change as well as our ability to raise capital over the economic cycle.

LOGO See ‘Capital risk’ on page 129.

LOGO
Pension

We face pension risk as a sponsor of defined benefit pension schemes. It arises where the assets of the schemes do not fully match the timing and amount of the schemes’ liabilities. This can be due to uncertainty over future investment returns and the projected value of schemes’ liabilities. For instance, deterioration in the funding valuation position could mean we have to make material contributions to reduce deficits.

LOGO See ‘Pension risk’ on page 139.

LOGO
Operational

Operational risk is inherent in all our business and support processes, as well as our suppliers. It happens where unexpected or unplanned events related to people, processes, systems or external events prevent us from achieving our business objectives. It includes cyber security, and businesses prosperlosses from conduct issues.

LOGO See ‘Operational risk’ on page 142.

LOGO

LOGO

LOGO

Conduct

This is a key risk to us in view of the evolving regulatory agenda and to enable us to meet our aim to be the best bank for our customers. We are mainly exposed to conduct risk through: products and services not meeting our customers’ needs; failing to deal with complaints effectively; and the risk that we sell our customers unsuitable products or we do not give them the right information to make informed decisions.

LOGO See ‘Conduct risk’ on page 146.

LOGO

LOGO

LOGO

 

 

Corporate

Governance review

LOGO

Lord Burns

Chair

LOGO   

See page 152 for details
of the activities of the Board,
its Committees and their
composition

LOGO   

See page 146 for list of
directors at 31 December
2014

LOGO   

See page 153 for details
of changes to the Board

During 2014, the Board continued to devote a significant amount of time to driving our strategic transformation.

Corporate governance

38  Santander UK as a subsidiary of the Banco Santander group, has its own autonomous operating framework and is regulated in the UK by the PRA and the FCA.

At Santander UK, we remain committed to achieving the highest standard of corporate governance. We have complied with the UK Corporate Governance Code in a manner appropriate to our ownership and have adopted an integrated approach to corporate governance across the group to ensure effective management and control.

The Board and its committees

The roles of Chair and CEO are separated and clearly defined. The CEO has delegated authority from the Board for the day-to-day operation of the business and implementation of the Board’s strategy and business plan. In turn he delegates a number of duties to his

direct reports. The CEO and his direct reports are supported by a number of senior level committees to assist them in executing their duties.

The Board delegates certain responsibilities to its Committees which comprise independent Non-Executive Directors. These committees play a central role in supporting the Board to discharge its duties and implement its vision and strategy while providing focused oversight of key aspects of the business.

Board composition at 31 December 2014

  Chairplc

Deputy Chair

Lord Burns(1)

Juan Rodríguez Inciarte

  Executive Directors

  Nathan Bostock

Stephen Jones

  Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer

  Steve Pateman

  Head of UK Banking

  Non-Executive Directors

  Ana Botín

José María Fuster

  José María Carballo

Manuel Soto

  Antonio Escámez

  Independent Non-Executive Directors

  Mike Amato

Alain Dromer

  Roy Brown

Rosemary Thorne

Bruce Carnegie-Brown(2)

Scott Wheway

(1)  On 1 January 2015, Shriti Vadera was appointed Non-Executive Director and Joint Deputy Chair. She will succeed Lord Burns as Chair on 30 March 2015

(2)  Bruce Carnegie-Brown ceased to be deemed independent upon his appointment to the Board of Banco Santander, S.A. on 12 February 2015.

18Santander UK plc


Our heritage    Risk

    developments

Top and

Santander UK today

Chair’s

review

Chief Executive Officer’s reviewKPIs

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

Corporate    in 2015

Governance review 

Lord Burns sets out an overview of our Corporate

Governance, the Board and how it spent its time

in 2014 and looks forward to 2015.

emerging risks
                   

 

 

LOGO

How the Board spent its time in 2014

During 2014, the Board continued to devote a significant amount of time to driving Santander UK’s strategic transformation, focusing on the three strategic priorities.

The Board reviewed global trends in financial markets, with particular emphasis on the implications for the UK banking sector. This also informed the Board’s assessment of our forward plan and vision during its annual Strategy Day, held in May 2014.

Another significant area of effort for the Board in 2014 was the increasing regulatory agenda, in particular the banking reform proposals which will impact our business model and legal structure, proposed leverage requirements, and regulatory scrutiny of competition in financial services.

The Board also closely monitored the effectiveness of the risk management framework and internal controls through enhanced risk management information and reporting.

The Board maintained close attention on customer experience as well as the continuing development of the Santander UK culture, with the aim of ensuring good outcomes for our customers. Following the launch of the Santander Way, the Board also continued to review the process of implementation and embedding of a strong and effective customer-centric culture.

Lastly, the Board has continued to review its composition to ensure an appropriate mix of skills and experience, and to ensure effective succession planning.

Priorities for 2015

For 2015, the Board will continue to focus on helping people and businesses prosper and working to achieve our strategic priorities. Banking reform will be a particular area of attention, together with the ongoing embedding of an effective risk culture, digital innovation programme and the Santander Way. By remaining concentrated on continuous improvement, the Board will aim to further enhance its effectiveness.

 

LOGOSantander UK Group Holdings LimitedFor risk definitions, see ‘How weStrategic priority key:
define risk’ on page 42
LOGO

Loyal and satisfied retail customers

Santander

LOGO

‘Bank of Choice’ for UK Boardcompanies

LOGO

Consistent profitability and a strong balance sheet

              Risk indicator

Developments in 2015

            LOGO

In 2015, credit quality improved further, supported by our conservative risk profile and supportive economic environment. Our NPL ratio improved to 1.54% (2014: 1.80%), and total loan loss allowances decreased to £1,157m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £1,439m), with all loan portfolios performing well.

Our residential mortgages NPL ratio decreased to 1.47% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 1.64%), with impairment releases and the decrease in NPL and coverage ratios reflecting the continued good performance of the portfolio supported by low interest rates and rising house prices. Our Commercial Banking NPL ratio decreased to 2.80% (2014: 3.56%), with strong credit quality. We continue to adhere to our prudent lending criteria as we grow lending.

            LOGO

Banking NIM(1) remained broadly flat at 1.83% in 2015 (2014: 1.82%).

The movement in NIM sensitivity in 2015 was largely due to changes in the underlying models used for risk measurement purposes. The assumptions used in these have been updated to better reflect the current low Base Rate environment.

            LOGO

Our LCR improved to 120% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 110%(2)). Our LCR eligible liquidity pool decreased £0.8bn to £38.7bn at 31 December 2015, reflecting lower liquidity requirements, largely due to the phasing of short-term funding and of medium-term maturities. Wholesale funding with a residual maturity of less than one year decreased £2.0bn to £21.1bn (2014: £23.1bn), reflecting changes in the maturity profile of our medium-term funding.

Our LCR eligible liquidity pool significantly exceeded wholesale funding of less than one year, with a 183% coverage ratio (2014: 171%).

            LOGO

We are making good progress with our capital and funding plan towards meeting future regulatory structure and TLAC/MREL requirements. Our CET 1 capital ratio was 11.6% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 11.9%), adversely impacted by the PPI provision charge of £450m. Our PRA end point Tier 1 leverage ratio was 4.0% at 31 December 2015, up from 3.8% at 31 December 2014, driven by the £750m AT1 issuance in June 2015.

Our total capital ratio increased to 18.2% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 17.9%), driven by the £750m AT1 and US$1.5bn Tier 2 issuances. This increase was partially offset by the decline in our CET 1 capital ratio, the adverse impact of CRD IV Minority Interest and grandfathering rules, as well as the partial buy-back of four capital instruments in June 2015.

            LOGO

In 2015, as in previous years, the pension scheme was managed within the pension risk appetite triggers and limits. The risk profile of the pension scheme also remained stable. In 2015, VaR (1 year, 95% confidence interval) decreased slightly to £1,260m (2014: £1,340m). This was mainly due to the slightly higher real interest rate reducing the size of the discounted liability.

In 2015, the accounting position of the pension scheme and other funded arrangements improved. The overall position was a £483m surplus at 31 December 2015 (2014: £156m surplus). The improvement in the position was mainly driven by gains of £319m from adjustments in actuarial assumptions in the year.

            LOGO

In 2015, we developed an Operational Risk Transformation Programme to help us deliver our new Operational Risk Framework. We are rolling out the programme, including new technology, in phases to the end of 2016. This will enable us to achieve market best practice in our operational risk management.

In 2015 and 2014 most of our operational risk losses related to charges for conduct remediation, mainly relating to historic sales of PPI.

        LOGO

Our Conduct Risk Strategy Programme has delivered substantial improvements since it was set up in 2013. In 2015, we continued to enhance the way we report and monitor conduct risk. We also improved how we assess conduct risk in our business decisions.

We have provided £450m in response to the recent FCA consultation paper on PPI, including the Plevin case. While we saw a reduction in PPI redress costs in the first half of the year, we have seen an increase in the third quarter in line with industry trends, with the fourth quarter remaining flat. The total provision for PPI redress and related costs was £465m at 31 December 2015.

Other conduct provisions were £172m at 31 December 2015, which included £43m of additional provisions taken in the third quarter of 2015 relating to wealth and investment products.

(1)Non-IFRS measure. See page 332.
(2)Non-IFRS measure. See page 117.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Emerging and future risks(unaudited)

An emerging and future risk is a risk with largely uncertain outcomes which may develop or crystallise in the future. Crystallisation of an emerging risk could have a material effect on long-term strategy. The table below includes the emerging risks we tracked in 2015. The timeframes are indicative of when these risks could have an impact.

    Board AuditTimeframeBoard NominationRisk description and mitigationBoard RemunerationBoard Risk

  Committee

Committee2013-2015
strategic

Oversight Committeepriorities

Committee

  
1-3 years

OversightEconomic environment

UK economy

LOGO

Our financial performance is strongly linked to the health of financial reportingthe UK economy. We are particularly affected by factors that impact our larger credit portfolios, such as the housing market and internal control matters.unemployment. The prospects of the UK are also linked to the economies of other major trading areas, such as the eurozone, China and emerging markets.

If the UK economy continues to improve, interest rates are expected to rise, especially if inflation moves back towards the Bank of England’s target rate. If this happens, the behaviour of our customers and market participants could change. This could include increased customer movement and require more competitive product pricing.

If the UK economy doesn’t continue to recover as expected, or even experiences a downturn, Bank of England interest rates may remain at record low levels, placing pressure on forecast net interest margins.

We closely monitor indicators and reports relating to the UK’s economic performance and also of other major trading areas in the global economy.

We quantify these impacts wherever possible in our risk reporting. This analysis includes, for example, any resulting customer credit deterioration, impacts on funding and capital issuance plans, and stress analysis on our net interest margin and pension fund deficit.

OversightUK membership of Boardthe EU

The UK Government has pledged to renegotiate the terms of the UK’s membership of the EU, and Board Committee compositionthen hold a referendum. It now seems more likely that a referendum will be held in 2016, sooner than the original pledge to hold it by the end of 2017.

We are closely monitoring political developments in the lead up to the referendum, assessing potential risks, and effectiveness,planning mitigating actions where appropriate. Our risk assessment considers both potential outcomes.

Customer behaviour

The needs and Boarddemands of our customers are evolving more rapidly than ever, driven by changes in technology and Executive appointmentsthe adoption of digital and succession plans.mobile as part of multi-channel banking. These shifts in customer behaviour bring with them associated challenges in risk management, for example in developing strategies to tackle fraud.

Our marketing and product design teams monitor changing demographics, trends, and customer behaviours. They provide feedback in order to reshape distribution channels and redesign products to meet changing demands.

Market competition

We have seen established incumbents refocusing on UK banking, and new financial services providers enter the market with new business models and new technology-oriented approaches.

We monitor and report on the activities of existing and emerging competitors including the new digital entrants. We analyse the risks to our business plans, customer base and revenue streams and take decisions to mitigate those risks where necessary. As part of this approach we have designed and implemented our own digital business strategy and we continue to respond to the rapid changes in the methods, targets and sophistication of cyber fraud.

Regulatory development

2015 continued to see a large amount of new regulation affecting our business. In response, we are progressing some significant change projects, including those relating to the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013. While the requirements for Banking Reform have become clearer during this year, considerable challenges remain for us to implement a business model that both meets the regulatory demands and delivers our strategic aims.

We regularly review the potential impact on our risk profile, including strategic risk and operational risk. We do this against a backdrop of many other complex regulatory programmes already in progress. We also assess the potential increase in our costs that these regulations will cause. However, there remain significant areas of emerging regulation where the impact and timing are still uncertain.

 

Oversight of overarching principles and parameters of remuneration policy.Oversight and advice to the Board on current and future risk exposures and management of overall risk appetite.

LOGO

 

LOGO

LOGO

LOGO

LOGO

LOGO

LOGO

Annual Report 2014

More than

3 years

19


Economic environment

EU economies

There are still concerns about the growth in eurozone economies, and significant differences remain between the economic performance of individual member states. Increased levels of migration from areas of conflict have seen a disparity of views between member states. We monitor the economic performance of the EU, the evolving political landscape and the eurozone (monetary union and redenomination risk).

Strategic reportHelping people and businesses prosperLOGO

 

 

Corporate

Governance review

continued

LOGO   

See Directors’ Remuneration
report on page 170

Remuneration

Santander UK’s success depends upon the performance and commitment of our employees. Our remuneration approach is designed to attract, retain and motivate high-calibre individuals to deliver our business strategy in line with our values.

We operate and apply a consistent reward methodology for employees ensuring that we remain within the parameters of the PRA Remuneration Code.

Remuneration reporting40  

Santander UK wishes to build on its previous commitment to enhance its pay transparency. To expand on extensive voluntary disclosures made in our 2013 report, we have continued to improve understanding of the link between performance and pay.

The full Directors’ Remuneration report, in which we outline remuneration and fees paid to the Executive and Non-Executive Directors for 2014, is shown on pages 170 to 181.

Directors’ remuneration(E)plc

The Board, through its Remuneration Oversight Committee, continued to review and enhance the quality and performance of the remuneration structures for the Executive Directors and throughout the business.

We remain aware that remuneration for executives generally, and in the financial services sector specifically, has been under close scrutiny from many stakeholders in recent years and remains a key topic for regulators and shareholders.

As we report, the Board continues to believe that our remuneration policies at all levels, including those for the Executive Directors, need to encourage staff to deliver strong, long-term sustainable growth, robust risk management processes and appropriate behaviours, as well as the right customer outcomes.

Additionally, the remuneration for our Non-Executive Directors, including the Chair, is reviewed annually, taking into account fees paid in similar companies, and time commitment for the role to ensure we can attract and retain individuals of the right calibre needed to successfully deliver the Board’s strategy.

(E)

 

Directors’ remuneration

 

 

 

 
 

 

Aggregate Directors’ remuneration

2014

£

 

 

2013  

£  

 

 
 

 

 

 

Salaries and fees

 6,697,041   6,183,203    
Performance-related payments(1) 5,459,000   4,800,051    

Other taxable benefits

 

    –    
 

 

 

 

Total remuneration excluding pension contributions

 12,156,041   10,983,254    
Pension contributions    –    

Compensation for loss of office

 

    –    
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12,156,041

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

10,983,254  

 

  

 

 

 

 

(1)  In accordance with the PRA Remuneration Code, a proportion of the performance-related payment was deferred.

     

20Santander UK plc


Our heritage and

Santander UK today

Chair’s

review

Chief Executive Officer’s reviewKPIs

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

Corporate

Governance review

Lord Burns provides some examples of digital

innovation in Santander UK.

Digital innovation

Our philosophy is to ensure banking is Simple, Personal and Fair, and available to all customers, when and where they require it.

In 2014, we continued to invest in branch refurbishments and digital technology, allowing customers to interact with us in the way that suits them best; face to face, by phone, through our ATMs or by dedicated in-branch online booths. Our new ‘smart’ ATMs, introduced this year, allow customers to view detailed transactions history and save regular transactions to their profile so they can make their usual withdrawal quickly from the welcome screen.

We have also refreshed our online banking platform in response to customer feedback. The new award-winning website is simpler, clearer and easier to use and can be tailored to personalise the customer experience.

We began the roll-out of contactless debit and credit cards so our customers can take advantage of this technology, which is becoming more widespread as a payment option among retailers. Contactless payments are a convenient option for customers and are increasingly popular for every day purchases and our customers can also earn cashback by using their cards to pay for journeys on the London Underground.

Active mobile users

1,000 new

users each day

LOGO

LOGO

SmartBank is our new free student specific mobile banking platform. Available on both android and iOS smartphones, SmartBank shows a snapshot of a user’s account including activity for the previous seven days, a breakdown of spending and provides weekly and monthly spending patterns. The app has received great customer feedback – averaging 5 stars on Google play store and Apple app store.

Mortgage customers

1-in-5 refinance

loans online

LOGO

We have also introduced Connect, a new online platform for our corporate customers. Connect gives our customers the flexibility to use their accounts 24/7, wherever they are, and can be tailored to meet their needs as well as offer a full range of UK and international payment services. In the future, capability for trade transactions and supplier payments on our UK systems will be provided so we can deliver bespoke pricing for foreign exchange.

Personal current accounts

232,000

opened online

Annual Report 201421


Strategic reportHelping people and businesses prosper

Corporate Social

Responsibility review

LOGO

Training development

95%

Staff took advantage of the wide training resources available, with 95% undertaking some form of learning in 2014.

We recognise the importance of social responsibility and are committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and conducting business in a responsible way.

Our culture

Santander UK is committed to maintaining high ethical standards, adhering to laws and regulations, conducting business in a responsible way and treating all stakeholders with honesty and integrity. These principles are reflected in our Ethical Code of Conduct which sets out clearly the standards expected of all our people and is implemented through the Santander Way.

We are also committed to protecting and respecting human rights, with our Human Rights Policy applying to employees, customers and suppliers as well as the communities in which we operate. As we continue to operate in accordance with the highest international standards, the policy remains aligned with international standards and regulations regarding labour, social and environmental affairs.

Our people

Our goal to be the best bank for our customers is only achievable if we reach our aspiration to become the best bank for our people. Key to this is having a workplace that provides excellent opportunities for career progression and that encourages accountability and teamwork.

In 2014, we recorded an average of five training days per employee (2013: four days), and more than 95% of staff undertook either face-to-face or eLearning modules. The employee turnover and average length of service were broadly stable at 13% and 8.3 years respectively.

We also focus on creating a safe and healthy working environment and provide training, coaching and practical advice to all colleagues on health, safety and wellbeing. We provide employees and immediate family members with an Employee Assistance Programme offering free, confidential telephone advice and support, including face-to-face counselling.

Schemes such as Flexi Working, Flexi Leave, Voluntary Home Working and Career Break are also in place to support work-life balance of our staff.

Communication and consultation

We continue to involve and inform employees on matters that affect them. Through our intranet, team meetings, regional roadshows and national conferences, we keep employees informed of company news and strategic developments and through initiatives such as Better Together we seek the ideas of our people to build on this work.

We are particularly pleased with a successful history of working in partnership with our recognised trade unions, Advance and the Communication Workers Union, whom we consult on significant proposals and change initiatives at both national and local levels.

Diversity and inclusion(F)

We believe in supporting diversity and creating an inclusive culture where all our people feel valued and able to fulfil their potential. During 2014, more than 250 senior leaders attended our Inclusive Leadership course and we launched a mentoring programme for all colleagues to help them fulfil their potential.

(F)

Diversity and inclusion
 

 

 
 31 DecemberTotal Female No. Female % Male No. Male %   
 

 

 

 

Board Directors

 16   2   12   14   88    
Senior managers(1) 233   39   17   194   83    

Employees

 

 20,676   11,829   57   8,847   43    
 

 

 

 

(1)  In accordance with sections 414C(9) and 414C(10) of the Companies Act 2006, a senior manager is defined as an employee of the Company with responsibility for planning, directing or controlling the activities of the Company, or a strategically significant part of the Company, including directors of significant subsidiaries.

      

22Santander UK plc


Our heritage and

Santander UK today

Chair’s

review

Chief Executive Officer’s reviewKPIs

Chief Financial

Officer’s review

Corporate

Governance review

Lord Burns gives an overview of our Corporate

Social Responsibility Report.

LOGO

LOGO

Our Embrace, Enable, Women in Business and Cultural Awareness networks encourage colleagues to connect on issues related to sexuality, disability, gender and culture and to feel confident and supported in being who they are. In 2014 we invested in online functionality and user experience for our networks to make sure they are simple to navigate and more personal for members. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (‘LGBT‘) network expanded as a result of these enhancements and we now have actively involved champions in the business across the LGBT spectrum.

Gender equality is a focus area for us and in addition to our Women in Business network we continued our partnership with Everywoman, giving our staff access to tools and networks to help them develop their careers. In 2014 Santander UK was recognised as one of the Top 30 Employers for Working Families(1) and one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Women. In 2014, we also introduced a policy to ensure there is a female candidate on all short lists for senior roles within the business.

We remain mindful of Lord Davies’ report ‘Women on Boards’ published in 2011 and its aspirational target of 25% female representation on the FTSE 100 companies Boards by 2015. Following the adoption of the Board diversity policy in March 2014, our Board committed to have 25% female representation by 2017. With the appointment of Shriti Vadera, our female Board representation is now 18%.

Our communities

Support for society at Santander UK is focused on three priority areas: education, employment and enterprise. Support for students is co-ordinated via Santander Universities, Breakthrough assists SMEs and the Santander UK Foundation provides grants to local charities. Together through these three flagship programmes and further funding we contributed £21m to society in 2014.

The Santander UK Foundation provides grants to UK registered charities particularly in communities where Santander branches, business centres and offices are located. Through its three grant programmes focused on funding for education, training and financial capability projects more than 2,700 charities benefited over the year.

At the end of 2014, Santander Universities had partnerships with 77 UK universities providing funding to students and staff to support their studies, with £10m contributed to the sector in the UK.

Through our Breakthrough programme we provide fast-growth companies with the resources and knowledge they need to achieve their growth potential. During 2014, more than 370 businesses benefited from overseas trade missions, roundtable events, master classes and internships. This programme also supported 39 SMEs with £38m of Growth Capital and £88m of other growth-related finance providing these companies with the opportunity and support to create over 1,300 jobs in the UK economy.

Our community priorities:

LOGO

Female Board members

January 2015

18%

We have improved our female Board representation and remain committed to 25% target by 2017.

(1)    Top Employers for Working Families Awards 2014, announced 22 September 2014

Community Day

volunteering projects

+250

4,200 employees dedicated their time to Community Days in 2014.

Annual Report 201423


Strategic reportHelping people and businesses prosper

Corporate Social

Responsibility review

continued

LOGO

Waste recycling

98%

We recycle paper, plastic, aluminium and general waste produced at our offices and branches.

We also encourage our people to give back to local communities through our Community Day volunteering projects. Santander UK also co-sponsored the ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ installation at the Tower of London at which many Santander UK people volunteered their time to plant ceramic poppies to mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War.

The environment(G)

We are committed to creating a strong business that is not achieved at the expense of the environment. Our Environmental Management System defines responsibilities and processes in relation to waste, energy, water, travel and supply chain management at our 14 major offices. Our head office is also ISO 14001 compliant.

Smart meter technology is installed across the business and we are able to track the individual performance of our properties. This allows us to monitor ongoing consumption profiles, and alter plant operational times in line with the requirements of each property,

reducing energy wastage. We are very pleased with 2014 results which show energy usage in 2014 continued to reduce with electricity across the estate reducing by 2% and gas reducing by 12%. We recycle 98% of the paper, plastic, aluminium and general waste produced at our offices and branches.

Climate change

The main greenhouse gas generated as a result of running our business is carbon dioxide, generated from our use of fuels in heating, cooling and lighting for our offices and branches, and through business travel.

We are committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions and our electricity was sourced solely from green supplies in 2014 which has zero-rated carbon dioxide emissions. On the British mainland our electricity is sourced from bio-mass via Haven Power and in Northern Ireland from wind and other forms of natural green energy via Airtricity. In 2014, we launched a ‘No Travel Week’ campaign for our employees highlighting video and telephone conferencing technology as alternatives to business travel.

(G)

 

The environment

 

 

 

 

 

Emissions data

 
 
2014
Tonnes CO2e
  
(1) 
 
 
2013  
      Tonnes CO2e(1)
  
  
 

 

 

 

CO2 from fuel

 7,017   8,000    

CO2 from business travel

 

 8,415   10,450    
 

 

 

 

Total

 

 15,432   18,450    
 

 

 

 

CO2 released per FTE

 

 0.63   0.76    
 

 

 

 

(1)  Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (‘DEFRA’) conversion factors for greenhouse gas reporting. DEFRA Standard Set 2013

     

The Strategic Report, on pages 2 to 24, incorporates our heritage and Santander UK today, the Chair’s review, the Chief Executive Officer’s review, the Chief Financial Officer’s review, and the Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility review.

By order of the Board.

Nathan Bostock

Chief Executive Officer

24 February 2015

24Santander UK plc


          Risk review

26Risk governance

26Risk Framework

33Risk Appetite(unaudited)

34Stress testing(unaudited)

34Economic capital(unaudited)

35Distribution of risk(unaudited)

36Top and emerging risks

39Credit risk

39Credit risk management

51Credit risk review

51– Santander UK group exposure

59– Retail Banking

72– Commercial Banking

81– Corporate & Institutional Banking

85– Corporate Centre

90Market risk

92Trading market risk

96Balance sheet management risk

96Banking market risk

101Liquidity risk

117Capital risk(unaudited)

125Pension risk(unaudited)

126Other risks

126Operational risk(unaudited)

129Conduct risk(unaudited)

131Regulatory risk(unaudited)

132Legal risk(unaudited)

133Strategic risk(unaudited)

134Reputational risk(unaudited)

135Model risk(unaudited)

136Areas of focus and other items

136Country risk exposure

144Enhanced Disclosures Task Force recommendations

Annual Report 201425


Risk review

This Risk review contains audited financial information except as otherwise marked as unaudited. The audited financial information in this Risk review forms an integral part of the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Following a strategic review, the segmental financial information reported to the Board (Santander UK’s chief operating decision maker) was revised in the fourth quarter of 2014, and prior periods restated, principally to designate three distinct main customer business segments, which reflect how we now manage and operate: Retail Banking, Commercial Banking and Corporate & Institutional Banking, as well as Corporate Centre. The financial information in this Risk review has been presented on this basis for all periods. See Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Risk governance

As a significant financial services provider, risk is at the core of Santander UK’s day-to-day activities. The understanding and control of risk on an enterprise-wide basis is critical for the effective management of the business. Santander UK aims to employ a prudent approach and advanced risk management techniques to facilitate the delivery of robust financial performance, and ultimately build sustainable value for all our stakeholders.

Santander UK aims to maintain a predictable medium-low risk profile, consistent with its business model, which is key to the successful achievement of our strategic objectives.

RISK FRAMEWORK

In December 2013, the Board approved an updated Risk Framework, which was implemented and embedded during 2014. This framework was not significantly changed from the framework set out in the 2013 Annual Report. The key components include:

Risk definition;
Risk culture, overriding principles and minimum standards;
Governance, roles and responsibilities; and
Internal control system.

Good progress has been made in implementing the Risk Framework and embedding enterprise-wide risk management. Progress has been reviewed by Board Risk Committee, linked to annual Risk Framework attestations which are evidence based and approved by Executive Committee members. Risk management is becoming more effective as a result through the improved identification, assessment, management and reporting of risk.

The key changes introduced as part of this new framework included improvements to the risk definitions, including a simplification of the key risk types, and enhancements of the governance structure, including a streamlining of the lines of defence model. There was no change to the overriding principles. The main changes were:

With respect to risk definition and structure:

The main risks types were simplified as: Credit, Trading Market, Balance Sheet Management (previously known as Structural) including Banking Market (previously known as Non-traded Market), Operational, Conduct, Regulatory and Legal; and
The additional classification of financial / non-financial risks was removed as this was deemed as unnecessary.

With respect to governance, roles and responsibilities:

A Risk Culture Statement was included in order to formalise standards across Santander UK; and
The three lines of defence model was simplified.

Further updates to the Risk Framework were approved by the Board in December 2014, and included:

The addition of Strategic, Reputational and Model risk as risk types;
The adoption of the Risk Framework by Santander UK Group Holdings Limited; and
The rationalisation of the risk management committee structure.

26Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

Risk governance

As a financial services provider, managing risk is a core part of our day-to-day activities. To be able to manage our business effectively, it is critical that we understand and control risk in everything we do. We aim to use a prudent approach and advanced risk management techniques to help us deliver robust financial performance and build sustainable value for our stakeholders.

We aim to keep a predictable medium-low risk profile, consistent with our business model. This is key to achieving our strategic objectives.

RISK FRAMEWORK

Our Risk Framework sets out how we manage and control risk. It is based on the following key elements which we describe in more detail in the next pages:

    SectionContent
  

How we define risk

We describe each of our key risk types.
  

How we approach

risk – our culture and

principles

We describe our risk culture and explain how we make it a day-to-day reality across the business.
  

Our risk governance

structure

We describe how we consider risk in all our business decisions as part of our organisational structure, and the responsibilities of our people and our committees.
  

Our internal control

system

 We describe our internal control system and how it helps us manage and control risk.

We continued to make good progress in 2015 in embedding the Risk Framework across the business. The Board Risk Committee reviewed our progress, linked to annual Risk Attestations (see ‘Internal control system’ in this section for more on these). These are evidence-based and approved by the Executive Committee members. As a result, we are managing risk more effectively by improving how we identify, assess, manage and report it.

In 2015, we also updated our Risk Framework to reflect how some risks have become more important to us. We now:

Include financial crime risk as a key risk type on its own. This reflects its growing importance as technology in the banking industry develops
Include legal risk within our operational risk activities to improve its day-to-day management
Present banking market risk, liquidity risk, capital risk and pension risk separately in our list of key risks due to their importance. In the past, we combined them as balance sheet management risk.

We also enhanced the responsibility for some risks in 2015. Our:

Chief Conduct and Compliance Officer (CCCO) now has direct responsibility for conduct and regulatory risks
Capital Committee is now an Executive Committee in its own right, recognising the critical importance of capital. In the past it was a sub-committee of the Executive Risk Committee.

 

 

Annual Report 2015

Risk definitionreview

How we define risk

Risk is defined as theany uncertainty around Santander UK’s abilityabout us being able to achieve itsour business objectives. It specifically equates tocan be split into a numberset of risk factors that have the potential to adversely impact Santander UK’skey risks, each of which could affect our results and our financial resources. Enterprise-wide risk (‘EWR’) is defined as the overall combined set of risks to the objectives of the enterprise. The mainOur key risks are:

 

Risk

Definition

Credit    Key risk

Description
Credit

The risk of financial loss arising fromdue to the default or credit quality deterioration of a customer or counterparty to which Santander UK has directlywe have provided credit, or for which it haswe have assumed a financial obligation.

 

Market risk

Market

Trading market risk is the risk of losses in on- and off-balance sheet trading positions, arising fromdue to movements in market prices or other external factors.

 

Balance sheet
management risk

Balance sheet management risk comprises banking market risk, pension risk, liquidity risk and capital risk.

Banking market risk is the risk of loss of income or economic value arising fromdue to changes to interest rates in the banking book or to changes in exchange rates, where such changes would affect Santander UK’sour net worth through an adjustment to revenues, assets, liabilities and off-balance sheet exposures in the banking book.

 

 
Liquidity

Pension risk is the risk caused by Santander UK’s contractual or other liabilities to or with respect to a pension scheme (whether established for its employees or those of a related company or otherwise). It also refers to theThe risk that, Santander UK will make payments or other contributions to or with respect to a pension scheme because of a moral obligation or because it needs towhile still being solvent, we do so for some other reason.

Liquidity risk is the risk that Santander UK, although solvent, does not have sufficient liquid financial resources available to enable it to meet itsour obligations as they fall due, or we can only secure such resources at excessive cost.

It is generally split into three types of risk:

–  

Funding or structural liquidity risk is the risk that Santander UKwe may not have sufficient liquid assets to meet the payments required at a given time due to maturity transformation.

–  

Contingent liquidity risk is the risk that future events may require a larger than expected amount of liquidity i.e. the risk of not having sufficient liquid assets to meet sudden and unexpected short-term obligations.

–  

Market liquidity risk is the risk that assets held by Santander UKwe hold to mitigate the risk of failing to meet itsour obligations as they fall due, which are normally liquid, become illiquid when they are needed.

 
Capital

CapitalThe risk is the risk of Santander UKthat we do not havinghave an adequate amount or quality of capital to meet itsour internal business objectives, regulatory requirements, market expectations and market expectations.dividend payments, including AT1 coupons.

 

Pension

The risk caused by our contractual or other liabilities with respect to a pension scheme (whether established for our employees or those of a related company or otherwise). It also refers to the risk that we will make payments or other contributions with respect to a pension scheme due to a moral obligation or for some other reason.

 

Operational risk

 

The risk of direct, or indirect, loss resulting fromdue to inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems, or from external events.

 

Conduct risk

Conduct

The risk that Santander UK’sour decisions and behaviours lead to a detriment or poor outcomes for our customers and that the Santander UK group failswe fail to hold to and maintain high standards of market integrity.

 

Other key risks

Financial crime risk – the risk that we are used to legitimise the proceeds from criminal activity which conceal their true origins. This includes money laundering, financing terrorism, sanctions, and bribery and corruption.

Strategic risk – the risk of significant loss or damage arising from strategic decisions that impact the long-term interests of our key stakeholders or from an inability to adapt to external developments.

Reputational risk – the risk of damage to the way our reputation and brand are perceived by the public, clients, government, colleagues, investors or any other interested party.

 

Regulatory risk

The – the risk of reductions in earnings and/or value,loss, through financial or reputational loss, from failing to comply with applicable codes and regulatory rules.regulations.

Legal risk

The risk of an impact arising from legal deficiencies in Santander UK’s contracts, its failure to take appropriate measures to protect its assets, its failure to manage legal disputes appropriately or its failure to assess or implement the requirements of a change in law.

Strategic risk

The risk of not achieving the strategic business plan due to strategic decisions taken or the inability to respond to changes in the business environment.

Reputational risk

The risk of damage to the way Santander UK is perceived by the public, clients, investors, or any other interested party.

 

Model risk

The – the risk of loss arising from decisions mainly based on results of models, due to errors in thetheir design, application or usage of such models.use.

 

Annual Report 201427


Risk review

Risk governance

continued

Enterprise wide risk is the aggregate view of all the key risks described above.

 

 

Risk culture, overriding principles and minimum standards42  (unaudited)

Objectives

Risk culture plays a significant role in Santander UK’s aim to be the best bank for our people, customers, shareholders and communities. Having a strong unified culture is critical to success and was a key focus throughout 2014 ensuring risk culture is fully embedded on an enterprise-wide basis through the emphasis on the importance of the identification, assessment, management and reporting of all risks. Risk culture is embedded into all business units through the implementation of the Santander UK Risk Framework, Risk Attestations and initiatives aligned to the Risk Culture Statement.plc

The following overriding principles and minimum standards underpin the Risk Framework:

Every business unit is accountable for the management of the risks arising from its activities;
Risk needs to be considered as part of the governance around any and every business decision;
All material risk exposures must be identified, assessed, managed and reported in a timely and accurate manner;
A comprehensive internal control system must be in place to ensure that risk management and control is executed in accordance with the agreed overriding principles, minimum standards, risk appetite, policies, mandates and delegated authorities; and
Risk needs to be included within objective setting, performance management and variable remuneration to ensure a balanced approach to risk taking at all levels and in all parts of Santander UK.

The CEO, Chief Risk Officer (‘CRO’) and other senior executives are responsible for promoting a corporate culture from the top, driving cultural change and increased accountability across the Santander UK group.

The Risk Culture Statement confirms that “Santander UK will only take risks that it understands and will always remain prudent in identifying, assessing, managing and reporting all risks. We actively encourage our people to take personal responsibility for doing the right thing and to challenge without fear. We ensure decisions are taken in the best interests of all our stakeholders and are in line with ‘The Santander Way’.” The Risk Culture Statement is agreed by the Board, communicated to, and by, line management and is reviewed annually by the Risk Division.

People, performance, remuneration and training

During 2014, a programme of initiatives was delivered to help strengthen and further embed a risk management culture aligned to the Risk Framework principles and Risk Culture Statement. This included embedding risk management competencies into the whole employee lifecycle including recruitment, performance management, training and development, and reward. We actively encourage our people to speak up and raise ideas, suggestions and issues resulting in proactive changes.

A training programme to help embed risk management across Santander UK was delivered during 2014 highlighting personal accountability for managing risk at all levels of Santander UK. The strong culture of risk management and control provides the foundation for improving performance and delivering future success.

Mandatory risk management training and other online and face to face training were completed throughout the year to promote the understanding of Santander UK’s values and risk culture.

28Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

How we approach risk – our culture and principles

The complexity and importance of the financial services industry demands a strong risk culture. We have extensive systems, controls and safeguards in place to manage and control the risks we face, but it is also crucial that everyone takes personal responsibility for managing risk.

Our risk culture plays a key role in our aim to be the best bank for our people, customers, shareholders and communities. It is vital that everyone in our business understands that, to achieve this, our people have a strong, shared understanding of what risk is, and what their role is in helping to control it. We express this in our Risk Culture Statement:

    Risk Culture Statement

Santander UK will only take risks that it understands and other itemswill always remain prudent in identifying, assessing, managing and reporting all risks. We actively encourage our people to take personal responsibility for doing the right thing and to challenge without fear. We make sure we take decisions in the best interests of all our stakeholders and in line with The Santander Way.

The Board reviews and approves our Risk Culture Statement every year. The CEO, Chief Risk Officer (CRO) and other senior executives are responsible for promoting our risk culture from the top. They drive cultural change and increased accountability across the business.

We reinforce our Risk Culture Statement and embed our risk culture in all our business units through our Risk Framework, Risk Attestations and other initiatives. This includes highlighting that:

It is everyone’s personal responsibility to play their part in managing risk
We must identify, assess, manage and report risk quickly and accurately
We make risk part of how we assess our people’s performance, how we recruit, develop and reward them
Our internal control system is essential to make sure we manage and control risk in line with our principles, standards, Risk Appetite and policies.

We use Risk Attestations to confirm how we manage and control risks in line with our Risk Framework and within our Risk Appetite. As an example, every year, each member of our Executive Committee confirms in writing that they have managed risk in line with the Risk Framework in the part of the business for which they are responsible. Their attestation lists any exceptions and the agreed actions taken to correct them. This is a very tangible sign of the personal accountability that is such a key part of our risk culture.

Making change happen: ‘I AM Risk’ – everyone’s personal responsibility for managing risk

We launched our approach to raise awareness of, and embed, the right risk management culture across Santander UK in November 2012 under the ‘I AM Risk’ banner. We have learned from the reviews of other banks after the financial crisis and the increased regulatory focus on strong risk management in banks. This programme aims to make sure our people:

Identify risks and opportunities
Assess their probability and impact
Manage the risks and suggest alternatives
Report, challenge, review, learn and ‘speak up’.

We use I AM Risk in our risk attestations, risk frameworks, and all our risk-related communications. We also include it in our mandatory training and induction courses for our staff. To support this, we launched the I AM Risk learning website which includes short films, factsheets and discussion boards.

Among other things, I AM Risk is how we make risk management part of everyone’s life as a Santander employee, from how we recruit them and manage their performance to how we develop and reward them. It is also how we encourage people to take personal responsibility for risk, speak up and come up with ideas that help us change. To do this, we embedded the behaviours we want to encourage in key processes and documents. These included:

Individual annual performance reviews
New induction and training courses
Codes of conduct
Reward and incentives
Risk frameworks and governance.

As part of the programme, we added mandatory risk objectives for all our people – from our Executive Committee to branch staff. We also added risk technical and behavioural requirements to our job profiles, and similar elements to other initiatives.

In 2015, we created The Santander Way Steering Committee to coordinate all our culture initiatives under the sponsorship of the CEO. The I AM Risk initiatives are reported quarterly to the CRO, and to the Executive Risk Committee and Board Risk Committee twice a year.

We also continued to embed our risk management culture. We:

Reinforced I AM Risk messages through enhanced communication, education and training at all levels
Embedded risk management across the whole employee life-cycle, including our recruitment practices
Increased and promoted our range of escalation channels
Updated the mandatory risk objectives for all our people including our Executive Committee
Measured change through a range of measures including ‘speaking up’ escalation channels, surveys and mandatory training completion rates
Improved how we identify and manage risk in our change and strategic planning processes.

I AM Risk continues to play a key part in our aim to be the best bank for our people, customers, shareholders and communities. In 2015, we built on the progress made in Retail Banking and Commercial Banking, and extended our focus to Global Corporate Banking and Corporate Centre.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Our risk governance structure

We are committed to the highest standards of corporate governance in every part of our business. This includes risk management. For details of our governance, including the Board and its Committees, see the ‘Governance’ section of this Annual Report.

The Board delegates authority to committees as needed and where appropriate. Our risk governance structure strengthens our ability to identify, assess, manage and report risks, as follows:

Committees: A number of Board and Executive committees are responsible for specific parts of our Risk Framework
Roles with risk management responsibilities: There are senior roles with specific responsibilities for risk
Risk organisational structure: We have ‘three lines of defence’ built in to the way we run our business.

Committees

The Board and the Board Risk Committee responsibilities for risk are:

      Board/
      Board Committee

Main risk responsibilities

The Board

Has overall responsibility for business execution and for managing risk

Reviews and approves the Risk Framework and Risk Appetite.

Board Risk

Committee

Assesses the Risk Framework and recommends it to the Board for approval

Advises the Board on our overall Risk Appetite, tolerance and strategy
Oversees our exposure to risk and our future strategy and advises the Board on both

Reviews the effectiveness of our risk management systems and internal controls.

The Executive Level Committee responsibilities for risk are:

      Executive
      Committees

Main risk responsibilities

Executive Committee

Reviews and approves business plans in line with our Risk Framework and Risk Appetite before they are sent to the Board to approve

Receives updates on key risk issues managed by CEO-level committees and monitors the actions taken.

Executive Risk

Committee

Reviews Risk Appetite proposals before they are sent to the Board Risk Committee and the Board to approve

Ensures that we comply with our Risk Framework, Risk Appetite and risk policies

Reviews and monitors our risk exposures and approves any steps we need to take.

Asset and Liability

Committee (ALCO)

Reviews liquidity risk appetite proposals before they are sent to the Board to approve

Ensures we measure and control structural balance sheet risks, capital, funding and liquidity, in line with the policies, strategies and plans set by the Board

Reviews and monitors the key asset and liability management activities of the business to ensure we keep our exposure in line with our Risk Appetite.

Pensions Committee

Reviews pension risk appetite proposals before they are sent to the Board to approve
Approves actuarial valuations and the impact they may have on our contributions, capital and funding

Consults with the pension scheme trustees on the scheme’s investment strategy.

Capital Committee

Puts in place effective risk control processes, reporting systems and processes to make sure capital risks are managed within our Risk Framework

Reviews capital adequacy and capital plans, including the Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP), before they are sent to the Board to approve.

44  Santander UK plc


Governance, roles and responsibilities

Santander UK is committed to achieving the highest standards of corporate governance in every aspect of the business, including risk management. Details of Santander UK’s governance arrangements, including descriptions of the Board and its Committees are set out in the Governance section of this Annual Report.

The growing complexity and importance of the financial services industry demands a strong risk culture. Santander UK’s risk governance structure strengthens risk identification, assessment, management and reporting. To enable the Board to achieve its objectives, it delegates authority to various committees as required and appropriate. Furthermore, a number of Board and Executive committees specifically consider risk across the Santander UK group:

The key risk responsibilities of the Board and its Risk Committee include:

Board/

Board Committee

    Risk

Main risk responsibilities

  
The Board

  Overall responsibility for business execution and risk management.

  
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

   Review and approval of the Risk Framework and Risk Appetite.Conduct risk

 

  

Board Risk

Committee

  Assess, review and recommend the Risk Framework to the Board for approval.

   Advise the Board on Santander UK’s overall Risk Appetite, tolerance and strategy.

   Oversee and advise the Board on Santander UK’s current risk exposures and future risk strategy.

   Review the effectiveness of the risk management systems and internal controls.Other key risks

 

The key risk responsibilities of the Executive Level Committees include:

Executive

Committees

Main risk responsibilities

Executive

Committee

   Consider and approve business plans aligned with Risk Framework and Risk Appetite prior to submission to the Board for approval.

   Receive updates from CEO-level committees on key risk issues and monitor actions taken.

Executive Risk Committee

   Review Santander UK’s Risk Appetite proposal prior to recommendation to the Board Risk Committee and the Board.

   Monitor compliance with Risk Framework, Risk Appetite and risk policies.

   Review and monitor risk exposures and approve any corrective action required.

Asset and Liability

Committee

   Review liquidity risk appetite proposals.

   Ensure proactive measurement and control of structural balance sheet risks, capital, funding and liquidity, in accordance with the policies, strategies and future plans set by the Board.

  Review and monitor Financial Management & Investor Relations (‘FMIR’) and ensure any exposures in excess of the Risk Appetite are appropriately dealt with.

Strategic Pensions

Committee

  Review pension risk appetite proposals.

   Approve actuarial valuations and related impacts on Santander UK’s contributions, capital and funding arrangements.

   Consult with the pension scheme trustees on scheme investment strategy.

In addition, risk management committees and forums ensure that effective risk control frameworks are in place and risk is managed within the Risk Appetite limits set by the Board.

Annual Report 201429


Risk review

Risk governance

continued

 

 

Risk management

The Board delegates full responsibility to the CEO for the execution of business activities and theRoles with risk management of risk on a day-to-day basis. As the leader of the Risk Division, the CRO provides oversight and challenge. The CRO reports to the Board through the Board Risk Committee, and also reports to the CEO for operational purposes. The Chief Internal Auditor (‘CIA’) reports to the Board through the Board Audit Committee, and also reports to the CEO for operational purposes. The CIA also has a direct reporting line to the CIA of Banco Santander, S.Aresponsibilities

Chief Executive Officer

The Board delegates responsibility for our business activities and managing risk on a day-to-day basis to the CEO. The key risk responsibilities of the CEO are to:

Propose and execute aour strategy and business plan, for Santander UKput them into practice and manage the risks that arise in the execution of this strategy and business plan with delegated authority from the Board for this purpose.involved
Ensure that an appropriatewe have a suitable system of risk management controls is in placeto manage risk and report to the Board on the management of risk.it
PromoteFoster a corporate culture ensuringthat promotes ethical practices and social responsibility are fostered, and that
Ensure all our staff know about the policies and corporate values approved by the Board are effectively communicated throughout Santander UK.Board.

Chief Risk Officer

As the leader of the Risk Division, the CRO oversees and challenges plans and activities. The CRO reports to the Board through the Board Risk Committee, and also reports to the CEO for operational purposes. The CRO also reports directly to the CRO of Banco Santander SA. The key risk responsibilities of the CRO are to:

Propose a Risk Framework to the Board via(through the Board Risk Committee, a Risk Framework whichCommittee) that sets out how we manage the risks arising from Santander UK’sour business activities are managed within the Board-approvedapproved Risk Appetite.Appetite
Provide advice toAdvise the CEO, the Board Risk Committee and Board on the Risk Appetite associated with thelinked to our strategic business plan and on its appropriateness.why it is appropriate
Provide assurance toReassure the Board and externalour regulators that Santander UK’s material risks are appropriately identified, assessed, measuredwe identify, assess and reportedmeasure risk and that theour systems, controls and delegated authorities for the management of these risksto manage risk are adequate and effective.effective
Provide an assessment on key risks toAdvise the CEO, Board Risk Committee, Board and Santander UK’sour regulators on how risk is being managed,we manage key risks and escalate any issues andor breaches of appetite as necessary.Risk Appetite
Ensure that our culture promotes ethical practices and social responsibility
Ensure that our policies and corporate values approved by the Board are communicated so that our culture, values and ethics are aligned to our strategic objectives.

The CRO is responsible for the control and oversight of all risks except for legal, financial crime, conduct and regulatory risk. These are the responsibilities of the Chief Conduct and Compliance Officer (CCCO) and the General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer (GC&CAO).

General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer

The GC&CAO is responsible for the control and oversight of legal and financial crime risk. These are part of his responsibilities for legal, secretariat and financial crime. The GC&CAO has similar responsibilities to the CRO.

Chief Conduct and Compliance Officer

The CCCO is responsible for the control and oversight of conduct and regulatory risk. This is part of his responsibility for compliance. The CCCO has similar responsibilities to the CRO.

Chief Internal Auditor

The mainChief Internal Auditor (CIA) reports to the Board through the Board Audit Committee, and also reports to the CEO for operational purposes. The CIA also reports directly to the CIA of Banco Santander SA. The key responsibilities of the CIA are to:

Ensure that every significant activity and entity is within the scope of Internal Audit.Audit includes each main activity and entity
Design and implement a suitableuse an audit methodologysystem that identifies key risks and evaluates controls.controls
Develop an audit plan based on evaluatingto assess existing risks and deliver it through issuingthat involves producing audit, and other assurance and monitoring reports.reports
UndertakeCarry out all audits, special reviews, reports and commissions requested bythat the Board Audit Committee.Committee asks for
Undertake regularMonitor business monitoring through engagementactivities regularly by consulting with internal control functionsteams and external audit.our External Auditors
Develop and implement anrun internal auditor training plan withthat includes regular skills assessment.assessments.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

 

 

30Santander UK plc

Risk organisational structure

We use the three lines of defence model to manage risk. This model is widely used in the banking industry and has a clear set of principles to implement a cohesive operating model across an organisation. It does this by separating risk management, risk control and risk assurance.

The diagram below shows the reporting lines to the Board with respect to risk:

LOGO

46  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk            
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

    

Risk organisational structure

The three lines of defence is an industry-wide model for the management of risk, understood as a clear set of principles by which to implement a cohesive operating model across an organisation. The reporting lines with respect to the management of risk are set out below:

LOGO

Annual Report 201431


Risk review

Risk governance

continued

 

Internal control system

TheOur Risk Framework providesis an overarching view of theour internal control system which supportsthat helps us manage risk across the management of risk on an enterprise-wide basis across Santander UK.business. It sets out at a high level the overriding guiding principles, the minimum standards, the roles and responsibilities, and the governance for internal control. The internal control system is split into the following categories:

 

 

LOGOLOGO

 

Category

 

Description

 
Risk Frameworks

Set out how we should manage and control risk should be managed and controlled for:

– The Santander UK group (overall framework);

KeyOur key risks (risk type frameworks); and

KeyOur key risk activities (risk activity frameworks).

 

  

Risk Management

Responsibilities

Set out the Line 1 risk management responsibilities for business units and business support units.

Risk Appetite

Statement

Defines the type and the level of risk that the Santander UK group iswe are willing and able to accept in pursuit of its strategic objectives as expressed intake on to achieve our business plans. PoliciesThe policies set out what action we must (or must not) be takentake to ensuremake sure we stay within the Santander UK group remains within agreed Risk Appetite. Overarching policies are

Risk control units set by Risk Control Units.overarching policies. Business and Business Support Unitssupport units have operational policies, standards and procedures in place which align with and support the implementation ofthat put these overarching policies.policies into practice.

 

 

Delegated

Authorities/
Mandates

 

Define who can do what under the authority delegated to the CEO by the Board.
  
Risk Attestations

SetBusiness units, business support units or risk control units set out how risksthey have been managed and/or controlled risks in line with the requirements set out in the risk frameworks and within the agreed Risk Appetite, notingAppetite.

They are completed at least once a year. They also explain any remedial action required of the Business Units, Business Support Units or Risk Control Unit. These are fundamental processes designed to enforce personal accountability.taken. This process helps ensure people can be held personally accountable.

 

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

 

 

RISK APPETITE

How we control the risks we are prepared to take

When our Board sets our strategic objectives, it is important that we are clear about the risks we are prepared to take to achieve them. We express this through our Risk Appetite Statement, which defines the amount and kind of risk we are willing to take. Our Risk Appetite and strategy are closely linked – our strategy must be achievable within the limits set out in our Risk Appetite.

The principles of our Risk Appetite

Our Risk Appetite Statement lists ten principles that we use to set our Risk Appetite.

32Santander UK plcWe always aim to have enough financial resources to survive severe but plausible stressed economic and business conditions
We should be able to predict how our income and losses might vary – that is, how volatile they are. That applies to all our risks and lines of business
Our earnings and dividend payments should be stable, and in line with the return we aim to achieve
We are an autonomous business, so we always aim to have strong capital and liquidity resources
The way we fund our business should give us diverse sources and duration of funding. This helps us to avoid relying too much on wholesale markets
We set controls on large concentrations of risk, such as to single customers or specific industries
There are some key risks we take, but for which we do not actively seek any reward, such as operational, conduct, financial crime and regulatory risk. We take a risk-averse approach to all such risks
We comply with all regulations – and aim to exceed the standards they set
Our pay and bonus schemes should support these principles and our risk culture
We always aim to earn the trust of our people, customers, shareholders and communities.

How we describe the limits in our Risk Appetite

Our Risk Appetite sets out detailed limits for different types of risk, using metrics and qualitative statements.

Metrics

We use metrics to set limits on losses, capital and liquidity. We set:

Limits for losses for our most important risks, including credit, market, operational and conduct risk
Capital limits, reflecting both the capital that regulators expect us to hold (regulatory capital) and our own internal measure (economic capital)
Liquidity limits according to the most plausible stress scenario for our business.

These limits apply in normal business conditions, but also when we might be experiencing a far more difficult trading environment. A good example of this might be when the UK economy is performing much worse than we expected. We refer to conditions such as this as being under stress.

There is more on economic capital and stress scenarios later in this section.

Qualitative statements

For some risks we also use qualitative statements that describe in words the controls we want to set. For example, in conduct risk, we use them to describe our Risk Appetite for products, sales, after-sales service, and culture. We also use them to exclude or restrict risks from some sectors, types of customer and activities.

How we set our Risk Appetite, and stay within it

We control our Risk Appetite through our Risk Appetite Framework. Our Board approves and oversees the Risk Appetite Statement every year. This ensures it is consistent with our strategy and reflects the markets in which we operate. Our Executive Committee is responsible for ensuring that our risk profile (the level of risk we are prepared to accept) is consistent with our Risk Appetite Statement. To do this they monitor our performance, business plans and budgets each month. At least every six months, we use stress testing to review how our business plan performs against our Risk Appetite Statement. This shows us if we would stay within our Risk Appetite under stress conditions. It also helps us to identify any adverse trends or inconsistencies.

We embed our Risk Appetite by setting more detailed risk limits for each business unit and key portfolio. These are set in a way so that if we stay within each detailed limit, we will stay within our overall Risk Appetite. When we use qualitative statements to describe our appetite for a risk, we link them to lower-level key risk indicators, so that we can monitor and report our performance against them.

We provide a programme of communication and training for our staff which helps ensure that Risk Appetite is well understood.

48  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk            

RISK APPETITE(unaudited)

The Risk Appetite defines the type and the level of risk that Santander UK is willing and able to accept in pursuit of its strategic objectives. The Risk Appetite is set on an enterprise-wide basis and is closely linked with the strategy of Santander UK. The strategy must be achievable within the agreed boundaries determined by the Risk Appetite.

The Risk Appetite is expressed through the principles, metrics, and qualitative statements contained within our Risk Appetite Statement.

Principles

The principles that govern the Risk Appetite Statement, which are based on Santander UK’s strategic objectives and the Risk Framework, require that Santander UK should maintain:

A strong foundation of financial resources, capable of successfully withstanding severe but plausible stressed conditions.
A risk profile that delivers predictable income and loss volatility, on an enterprise-wide basis across all business lines and risks.
Stability in earnings and disbursements, commensurate with the desired level of return.
Strong capital and liquidity ratios as an autonomous subsidiary.
A funding strategy that avoids excessive reliance on wholesale funding, and provides effective diversification in sources and tenor.
Control over large concentrations to single obligors and industry sectors.
A risk-averse approach to Operational, Conduct, Regulatory and Legal risk.
Compliance with, and exceeding, all regulatory requirements.
Remuneration and incentive schemes that support the wider risk management principles and Risk Culture Statements.
The trust of its people, customers, shareholders and communities.

Primary metrics

These metrics are the primary articulation of the Risk Appetite. Limits are set covering losses, capital adequacy and liquidity under stress conditions. The scope of the limits for losses covers all appropriate key risk types including credit risk, market risk, operational risk and conduct risk. Capital limits consider both regulatory and economic capital, whilst liquidity risk appetite is set with reference to the current most plausible stress scenario.

Complementary metrics

The main objective of these metrics is to control risk concentrations. Their scope includes limits around large and single-name exposures, products, sectors, sovereigns and certain geographical regions.

Qualitative statements

For aspects of risk that do not lend themselves to expression through metrics, qualitative statements are employed. For example, in the case of conduct risk, qualitative statements express our risk appetite around products, sales, after sales servicing and culture. Statements are also used to cover specific exclusions and restrictions in respect of certain sectors, types of customer and business activities.

The Board approves and oversees the annual formulation of the Risk Appetite Statement, ensuring that it continues to be consistent with our strategy, and reflective of the markets in which we operate.

It is the responsibility of executive management to ensure the risk profile of Santander UK, reflected in the annual budget and business plan, remains consistent with the Risk Appetite Statement. Monthly monitoring is undertaken to support this. In addition, at least semi-annually, the performance of the business plan against the Risk Appetite under stressed conditions is assessed to detect any adverse trends or inconsistencies.

After the Risk Appetite has been set, it is cascaded down to business unit or portfolio level as appropriate ensuring enterprise-wide coverage. To help ensure the Risk Appetite is properly communicated and embedded, lower level limits and thresholds are set at a business unit or portfolio level, which are linked to the Risk Appetite Statement. For risk types where the Risk Appetite is expressed through qualitative statements, appropriate lower level Key Risk Indicators are used, so that performance against the statements can also be monitored and reported.

Annual Report 2014    governance33Credit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks


Risk review

Risk governance

continued

 

 

STRESS TESTING(unaudited)

Santander UK uses stressStress testing as a risk management tool in order to improve business planninghelps us understand how different events and enterprise-wide risk management. The main objective of stress testing is to enhance senior management’s understanding of the sensitivity of Santander UK’seconomic conditions could affect our business plan, earnings and risk profile to stressedprofile. This helps us plan and manage our business better.

Scenarios for stress testing

To see how we might cope with difficult conditions, we regularly develop challenging scenarios that we might face. We consult a broad range of internal stakeholders when we design and choose our most important scenarios, including Board members. The scenarios cover a wide range of outcomes, risk factors, time horizons and market conditions.

Governance

Santander UK’s Stress Testing Framework has been They are designed to ensure that stress testing has enterprise-wide coverage and is an integral part of:test:

Risk identification, assessment, management and reporting;The impact of shocks affecting the economy as a whole or the markets we operate in
Business and capital planning;Key potential vulnerabilities of our business model
Potential impacts on specific risks such as market risk, credit risk and pension risk.

We describe each scenario using a narrative setting out how events might unfold, as well as a market and/or economic context. For example the key economic factors we reflect in our ICAAP scenarios include house prices, interest rates, unemployment levels and the size of the UK economy. One scenario looks at what might happen in a recession where the output of the economy shrinks by around 3%, unemployment reaches over 9%, and house prices fall by around 20%.

We use a comprehensive suite of stress scenarios to explore sensitivities to market risk, including those based on historic market events.

How we use stress testing

We use stress testing to estimate the effect of these scenarios on our business and financial performance, including:

Our business plan, and its assessment against our Risk Appetite;Appetite
Liquidity and contingency planning; andOur capital strength, through our ICAAP
Compliance with prevailing regulatory requirements.Our liquidity position, through our Internal Liquidity Adequacy Assessment Process (ILAAP)
Impacts on other risks such as market and credit risk.

Various governance committeesWe use a wide range of models, approaches and assumptions. These help us interpret the links between factors in markets and the economy, and our financial performance. For example, one model looks at how changes in unemployment rates might affect the number of customers who might fall into arrears on their mortgage.

Our stress testing models are involvedsubject to a formal review, independent validation and approval process. We highlight the key weaknesses and related model assumptions in the reviewapproval process for each stress test. In some cases, we overlay expert judgement onto the results of our models. Where this is material to the outcome of the stress test, the approving governance committee reviews it.

We take a multi-layered approach to stress testing to capture risks at various levels. This ranges from sensitivity analyses of a single factor to a portfolio, to wider exercises that cover all risks across our entire business. We use stress testing outputs to design action plans that aim to mitigate damaging effects.

We also conduct reverse stress tests. These are tests in which we identify and challengeassess scenarios that are most likely to cause our business model to fail.

Board oversight of stress testing

The Executive Risk Committee approves the design of the scenarios in our ICAAP. The Board Risk Committee approves the stress testing framework and the annual programme of stress testing. The Board considersreviews the outputs of stress testing outputs duringas part of the approval processes for the ICAAP, the ILAAILAAP, our Risk Appetite and Risk Appetite. It is supportedregulatory stress tests.

Regulatory stress tests

We take part in a number of external stress testing exercises. These can include stress tests of the UK banking system conducted by the Board Risk Committee which approves the Stress Testing Framework and the annual programme ofPRA. We also contribute to stress testing to be conducted. The Executive Risk Committee is responsible for ensuring the integritytests of the stress testing approaches, processes and results as well as the overall adherence to the Stress Testing Framework.wider Banco Santander group.

For more details on capital and liquidity stress testing, see the ‘Capital risk’ and ‘Liquidity risk’ sectionssections.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

HOW RISK IS DISTRIBUTED ACROSS OUR BUSINESS(unaudited)

As well as assessing how much regulatory capital we are required to hold, we use an internal Economic Capital (EC) model to measure our risk.

We use EC to get a consistent measure across different risks, including credit, market and operational risk. EC also takes account of the Risk Review.how concentrated our portfolios are, and how much diversification there is between our various businesses.

Scenarios

Santander UK regularly develops forward-looking hypothetical stress scenarios. These considerAs a broadconsequence we can use EC for a range of potential outcomes, exploring both the key vulnerabilities of Santander UK’s business model, as well as external economic shocks. The scenario design and selection process engages a broad range of internal stakeholders, including Board members. In addition to a descriptive narrative, the scenarios are defined using projections for key economic variables such as GDP, house price indices, unemployment and interest rates. The range of scenarios features diverse severities and time horizons of typically between three and five years.risk management activities. For example, one scenario considers an economic recessionwe can use it to help us compare requirements in which GDP suffers an overall contractionour ICAAP or to get a risk-adjusted comparison of approximately 4% with unemployment reaching rates as high as 12%income from different activities.

The table below shows the proportion of our regulatory capital risk weighted assets we held in different parts of our business, and housing prices falling by upfor different types of risk. It shows how risk was distributed at 31 December 2015 and 2014.

LOGO

2015 compared to 35% from their peak level.2014

Models, approaches and assumptions

A rangeOur distribution of quantitative models, approaches and assumptions are used to estimate forecasted stressed results. These include the linkages between underlying economic factors and stressed risk parameters, as well as those for the balance sheet and income statement. Where stress testing models are deemed material they are subject to a formal review, independent validation and approval process. The key weaknesses and associated assumptions of the models are highlighted during the approval process for the stress test in question. In some cases, the results generated by the stress testing models will be supplemented with expert management judgement. Where this is material to the outcome of the stress test, it is subject to review by the approving governance committee.

A multi-layered approach to stress testing has been designed in order to capture risks at various levels; this extends from sensitivity analyses of a single risk factor to an individual portfolio, through to comprehensive exercises that cover all risk types across the entire business. Stress testing outputs form the basis for designing appropriate action plans aimed at mitigating potentially damaging effects.

Santander UK also conducts reverse stress tests. These are tests in which Santander UK is required to identify and assess scenarios that are most likely to cause the failure of its current business model. The results of the reverse stress test are reviewed and approved by senior management and ultimately by the Board.

External stress testing exercises

Santander UK also takes part in a number of external stress testing exercises. During 2014, these included the concurrent stress test of the UK banking system conducted by the PRA, as describedchanged very little in the ‘Top Risks’ section, as well as contributing to the stress testyear. The largest category was credit risk in Retail Banking, which accounted for most of Banco Santander, S.A. orchestrated by the EBAour risk-weighted assets. This reflects our business strategy and balance sheet. Market risk arises primarily as part of their test of the resilience of banksour trading book activities within Global Corporate Banking. Our operational risk capital requirements remained small, and were concentrated in our Retail Banking activities.

For more on this, see ‘Risk weighted assets’ in the EU.

ECONOMIC CAPITAL(unaudited)

The Economic Capital (‘EC’) model is used as an internal measure of risk to which Santander UK is exposed. It is used as a risk management tool alongside approaches such as stress testing, and complements the assessment of regulatory capital requirements. The model has been developed internally in conjunction with Banco Santander, S.A., and is regularly monitored and updated as required. It has been subject to independent validation, and formal review and approval.

The model allows for consistent assessment across various risk types, including credit risk, trading market risk, banking market risk, pension risk, operational risk and strategic risk. Critically, the model also considers portfolio concentration and diversification between businesses. The time horizon and confidence interval of the model can be adjusted to allow it to be used for a variety of risk management purposes. For example, EC is used to supplement the analysis of regulatory capital within the ICAAP, and also to compare the risk-adjusted returns of business lines and individual transactions.

‘Capital risk’ section.

 

 

34Santander UK plc

50  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk            
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

DISTRIBUTION OF RISK(unaudited)

As homogenous measures of risk, both EC and regulatory capital can be used to illustrate the distribution of risk across those risk types for which capital is considered an effective mitigant. The table below sets out the distribution of regulatory RWAs across Santander UK at 31 December 2014 and 2013, by key risk type and by business unit.

 

 

LOGO

During 2014, the relative distribution of risk across Santander UK, as measured by regulatory RWAs, was broadly unchanged.  Credit risk in Retail Banking remained the largest consumer of RWAs, reflecting our balance sheet structure and business strategy.

For additional information, see ‘Risk weighted assets’ in the ‘Capital risk’ section on page 117.

 

Annual Report 201435


Risk review

Top risks

All of our activities involve, to varying degrees, identification, assessment, management and reporting of risk or combinations of risks. During 2014, senior management focused on our top and emerging risks and their causes. These are described in the following section, including how they link to our strategic business priorities which are described in more detail on page 13.

  Risk description

 

Risk features and impact

Capital

LOGO

Capital risk has the potential to disrupt our business model and stop the normal functions of Santander UK. It could also cause Santander UK to fail to meet the capital requirements of regulators, who would then have powers to constrain disbursements, such as the payment of dividends, or to resolve Santander UK. Capital risk in Santander UK is driven primarily by credit risk and the effects of regulatory change as well as management’s ability to raise capital to meet demand over the economic cycle.

LOGO See ‘Capital risk’ on page 117.

Capital Risk is the risk of Santander UK not having an adequate amount or quality of capital to meet its internal business objectives, regulatory requirements and market expectations.

Conduct

LOGO

Conduct risk is a key risk to Santander UK in view of the evolving regulatory environment and to enable us to meet our aim to be the best bank for our customers. Specific conduct risks to which we are exposed include: products and services not meeting customer needs; failing to deal with complaints effectively; and the risk that customers are sold unsuitable products or not provided with adequate information to make informed decisions.

LOGO See ‘Conduct risk’ on page 129.

Conduct risk is the risk that Santander UK’s decisions and behaviours lead to a detriment or poor outcomes for our customers and that Santander UK fails to hold to and maintain high standards of market integrity.

Credit

LOGO

Deterioration in the credit quality of our customers and counterparties could reduce the value of our assets, and increase our write-downs and allowances for impairment losses. A deterioration in credit risk can be caused by a range of macroeconomic environment and other factors, including increased unemployment, falling house prices, increased corporate insolvency levels, reduced corporate profits, increased personal insolvency levels, increased interest rates and/ or higher tenant defaults.

LOGO See ‘Credit risk’ on page 39.

Credit risk is the risk of financial loss arising fromdue to the default or credit quality deterioration of a customer or counterparty to which we have directly provided credit, or for which we have assumed a financial obligation.

 In this section, we explain how we manage credit risk and analyse our credit risk profile and performance.
We begin by discussing credit risk at a Santander UK group level. Then we cover each of our business segments: Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Global Corporate Banking and Corporate Centre, separately in more detail in the sections that follow. For details of the businesses in each of our segments, see Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
Key metrics

NPL ratio of 1.54% continued to improve
In 2015, credit quality improved further, supported by both our conservative risk profile and supportive economic environment.

Loan loss allowances decreased to £1,157m
Total loan loss allowances decreased in 2015, with retail and corporate loans performing well in a supportive credit environment.

Average LTV of 65% on new mortgage lending
We maintained our prudent lending criteria, with an average LTV of 65% on new lending. Our lending with an LTV of over 85% accounted for 16% of the new business flow.

NPL coverage ratio decreased to 38%

The NPL coverage ratio reduced to 38% in 2015, from 42% in 2014.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

  Credit risk – Santander UK group level

Overview

Liquidity

LOGO

All major banks, including Santander UK, can be impacted by changes in confidence in the banking sector, the wholesale funding markets or the banking institution, as well as by changes in the structure or the regulation of the banking sector. Should Santander UK be unable to continue to source sustainable funding (whether due to exceptional circumstances, industry restructuring or regulatory change), our ability to fund our financial obligations could be adversely affected, potentially disrupting the day-to-day operations, business model or leading to the insolvency of Santander UK plc.

LOGO See ‘Liquidity risk’ on page 101.

Liquidity risk is the risk that Santander UK, although solvent, either does not have sufficient financial resources available to meet its obligations as they fall due, or can secure them only at excessive cost.

  Credit risk management  Credit risk review
  

Operational

LOGO

OperationalIn this section, we set out our products and services that expose us to credit risk, is inherent within alland we explain how we manage credit risk depending on the business and support processes Santander UK and its suppliers undertake and occurs where unexpected or unplanned events associated with people, processes, systems or external events may prevent us from achieving anytype of our desired business objectives.customer.

 

LOGO See ‘Operational risk’ on page 126.

OperationalWe also set out our approach to credit risk isacross the credit risk of direct, or indirect, loss to Santander UK resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, peoplelifecycle. This includes risk strategy and systems, or external events.planning, assessment and origination, monitoring, arrears management (including forbearance), and debt recovery.

We also explain how we measure and control risk, including the key metrics we use.

    

Pension

LOGO

Santander UK faces pensionIn this section, we analyse our maximum and net exposures to credit risk, as a sponsorincluding their credit quality and concentrations of defined benefit pension schemes. Pension risk arises to the extent that the assets of the schemes do not fully match the timing and amount of the schemes’ liabilities due to the uncertainty of future investment returns and the projected value of schemes’ liabilities. For instance, deterioration in the funding valuation position could result in a requirement to make material contributions to reduce deficits.risk.

 

LOGO See ‘Pension risk’ on page 125.We also summarise our credit performance, and forbearance activities.

Pension risk is the risk to Santander UK caused by its contractual or other liabilities to or with respect to its defined benefit pension schemes.

CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT

Exposures

Exposures to credit risk arise in our business segments from:

 

Strategic

LOGO

Strategic risk can be reduced by developing a sound evidence base and grasp of key trends in the UK marketplace, anticipating changes in the operating environment and customer behaviour, and having a strong understanding of a bank’s own capabilities. Effective management of strategic risk is therefore important to maintain market share, revenues and returns to shareholders.

LOGO See ‘Strategic risk’ on page 133.

Strategic risk is the risk of material deviations in expected/target shareholder value as a result of poor definition or implementation of Santander UK’s strategy.

    Retail Banking

 

Commercial Banking

Global Corporate Banking

Corporate Centre

  Residential mortgages, unsecured lending (overdrafts, personal loans, credit cards and business banking) and vehicle consumer finance.

  We provide these to individuals and small businesses.

  Loans, bank accounts, treasury services, invoice discounting, cash transmission, trade finance and asset finance.

  We provide these to mid-corporates and SMEs, Commercial Real Estate and Social Housing customers.

  Loans and treasury products, and from treasury markets activities.

  We provide these to large corporates, financial institutions, sovereigns and other international organisations.

  Asset and liability management of our balance sheet, as well as our non-core and Legacy Portfolios being run down.

  Exposures include sovereign and other international organisation assets held for liquidity.

Our types of customer and how we manage them

We manage credit risk across all our business segments in line with the credit lifecycle shown in the next section. We tailor the way we manage risk across the lifecycle to the type of customer. We classify customers as standardised or non-standardised:

 

36
Santander UK plc

    Standardised

Non-standardised

  Mainly individuals and small businesses. Transactions are for relatively small amounts of money, and share similar credit characteristics.

  Mainly medium and large corporate customers and financial institutions. Transactions are for larger amounts of money, and have more diverse credit characteristics.

  In Retail Banking, Commercial Banking and Corporate Centre (for non-core portfolios).

  In Commercial Banking, Global Corporate Banking and Corporate Centre.

  We manage risk using automated decision-making tools. These are backed by teams of analysts who specialise in this type of risk.

  We manage risk through expert analysis. This is supported by decision-making tools based on internal risk assessment models.

52  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk            
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

Our approach to credit risk

LOGO

We manage our portfolios across the credit risk lifecycle, from drawing up our risk strategy, plans, budgets and limits to making sure our actual risk profile stays in line with our plans and within our Risk Appetite.

Risk strategy and planning

All relevant areas of the business – Risk, Marketing, Products and Finance – work together to create our business plans. Our aim is to balance out strategy, business goals, financial and technical resources and our attitude towards risk (our Risk Appetite). The result is an agreed set of targets and limits that help us direct our business.

To do this, we focus particularly on:

Economic and market conditions and forecasts
Regulations
Conduct considerations
Profitability, returns and market share.

Assessment and origination

We undertake a thorough risk assessment to make sure customers can meet their obligations before we approve a credit application. We consider:

The credit quality of the customer
The underlying risk – and anything that mitigates it, such as netting or collateral
Our risk policy, limits and appetite
Whether we can balance the amount of risk we face with the returns we could get.

We make these decisions with authority from the Board.

Monitoring

We measure and monitor changes in our credit risk profile on a regular and systematic basis against budgets, limits and benchmarks. We monitor credit performance by portfolio, segment, customer or transaction. If our portfolios do not perform as we expect, we investigate to understand the reasons. Then we take action to mitigate it as far as possible and bring performance back on track.

We monitor and review our risk profile through a formal structure of governance and committees across our business segments. These agree and track any steps we need to take to manage our portfolios, to make sure the impact is prompt and effective. This structure is a vital feedback tool to co-ordinate issues, trends and developments across each part of the credit lifecycle.

A core part of our monitoring is credit concentrations, such as the proportion of our lending that goes to specific borrowers, groups or industries. We set concentration limits in line with our Risk Appetite and review them on a regular basis.

Arrears management

Sometimes our customers face financial difficulty and they may fall into payment arrears or breach conditions of their credit facility. If this happens, we work with them to get their account back on track. We aim to support our customers and keep our relationship with them. We do this by:

Finding affordable and sustainable ways of repaying to fit their circumstances
Monitoring their finances and using models to predict how we think they will cope financially. This helps us design and put in place the right strategy to manage their debt
Working with them to get their account back to normal as soon as possible in a way that works for them and us
Monitoring agreements we make to manage their debt so we know they are working.

 

 

Top risks

Annual Report 2015

A topRisk review

Forbearance

When a customer gets into financial difficulties, we can change the terms of their loan, either temporarily or permanently. We do this to help customers through temporary periods of financial difficulty so they can get back on to sustainable terms and fully pay off the loan over its lifetime, with support if needed. This is known as forbearance. We always try to do this before the customer defaults. Whatever we offer, we assess it to make sure the customer can afford the repayments. Forbearance improves our customer relationships and our credit risk profile. It also means that we only use foreclosure or repossession as a last resort. We review our approach regularly to make sure it is still effective.

In a currentfew cases, we can help a customer in this way more than once. This can happen if the plan to repay their debt doesn’t work and we have to draw up another one. When this happens more than once in a year, or more than three times in five years, we call it multiple forbearance.

Debt recovery

Sometimes, even when we have taken all reasonable and responsible steps we can to manage arrears, they prove ineffective. If this happens, we have to end our relationship with the customer and try to recover the whole debt, or as much of it as we can.

Risk measurement and control

We measure and control credit risk within our business that could potentiallyat all stages across the credit lifecycle. We have a material impact on our financial results, reputationrange of tools, processes and the sustainability of our business model.approaches, but we rely mainly on:

Credit control: as a core part of risk management we generate, extract and store accurate, comprehensive and timely data to monitor credit limits. We do this using internal data and data from third parties like credit bureaux
Models: we use models widely to measure credit risk and capital needs. They range from statistical and expert models to benchmarks
Review: we use formal and informal forums across the business to approve, validate, review and challenge our risk management. We do this to help us predict if our credit risk will worsen.

Strategic priority key:We use two key metrics to measure and control credit risk: Expected Loss (EL) and Non-Performing Loans (NPLs).

 

LOGO

Loyal and satisfied retail customers

LOGO

‘Bank of Choice’ for UK companies

LOGO

Consistent profitability and a strong balance sheet

Developments in 2014    Metric

During 2014, regulatory developments continued to have the potential to impact Santander UK’s capital plans materially and were mitigated through close monitoring, scenario analysis and capital issuance. Santander UK participated in the PRA’s concurrent stress testing exercise in the year. Santander UK exceeded the PRA’s stress test threshold requirement of 4.5%, with a stressed CET 1 capital ratio of 7.9% after PRA-selected management actions.

Our CET 1 capital ratio improved to 11.9% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 11.6%(1)), with the PRA end point Tier 1 leverage ratio at 3.8% (2013: 3.3%). RWAs increased by £4.6bn to £82.3bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £77.7bn), reflecting higher customer loans, a recalibration of risk models in Commercial Banking and a small increase in mortgage risk weights. We plan to continue to strengthen our leverage ratio through organic capital growth and, where necessary, AT1 capital issuance. We expect to meet the proposed UK minimum leverage requirements as they fall due and the PRA Total Loss-Absorbing Capacity (‘TLAC’) requirement, whilst maintaining our strategic plan to grow and further diversify our business.

 

During 2014, we continued to embed enhanced management of conduct risk throughout the business, including a comprehensive cultural change project. The focus for 2015 will be to ensure this is embedded across all business areas. It is expected that a number of remediation projects will also come to a close during 2015.

In 2014, a total charge of £140m, including related costs, was made for further conduct remediation. Of this, £95m related to payment protection insurance (‘PPI’), following a review of recent claims activity, which indicated that claims are now expected to continue for longer than originally anticipated. There was a £45m charge related to existing remediation activities of other products and an additional provision taken principally for wealth and investment products.

At 31 December 2014, the remaining provision for PPI amounted to £129m (2013: £165m). Monthly redress costs, including pro-active customer contact, decreased to an average of £11m per month (2013: £18m).

During 2014, the overall Santander UK NPL ratio improved to 1.80% (2013: 2.04%), with the performance across the business units as follows:

The Retail Banking NPL ratio decreased to 1.62% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 1.89%), with an improvement across all the principal portfolios, supported by the benign economic environment for UK households, low interest rates, rising house prices and falling unemployment. The Commercial Banking NPL ratio decreased to 3.56% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 3.83%) due to credit quality remaining strong. We continue to adhere to our prudent lending criteria as we further deliver on our business plan to expand lending. The Corporate & Institutional Banking NPL ratio increased to 1.01% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 0.33%), due to a single infrastructure loan which moved to non-performance. The Corporate Centre NPL ratio decreased to 1.62% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 2.36%), reflecting the on-going sale and run-off of the non-core corporate and legacy treasury portfolios which continued with no significant impact on the income statement.

The Liquidity Coverage Ratio (‘LCR’)(2) rules were finalised by the European Banking Authority (‘EBA’) in October 2014. The LCR eligible liquidity pool increased by £6.7bn to £39.5bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £32.8bn). At 31 December 2014, the LCR was 110% (2013: 103%). Wholesale funding with a residual maturity of less than one year increased by £1.9bn to £23.1bn at 31 December 2014, due to the timing of secured funding maturities. The LCR eligible liquidity pool significantly exceeded wholesale funding of less than one year, with a coverage ratio of 171%.

Medium-term funding issuance of £12.9bn (sterling equivalent) in 2014 included £7.7bn of senior unsecured issuance. Overall, the cost of wholesale funding continued to fall during the year, as lower cost new issuance replaced more expensive maturing funding in a more stable capital markets environment.

During 2014, we continued to develop and embed our operational risk management framework, including the inception of an Operational Risk Transformation Programme (‘ORTP’) due to be completed in 2016. The ORTP incorporates significant developments in the key components of Operational Risk Assessments, scenario analysis, key risk indicator monitoring, change assessments and loss/incident data collection.

We paid specific attention to industry-wide concerns about cyber-crime throughout the year. We worked closely with other financial organisations, government bodies and security specialists, and continued to focus on investing in technology, process improvements and education programmes to reduce cyber risk and enhance data security.

During 2014, the latest triennial Trustee pension scheme funding valuation, at 31 March 2013, was agreed. Following this, an updated schedule of deficit funding contributions was agreed with the Scheme Trustee. During 2014, the risk profile of the Santander UK group’s defined benefit pension scheme remained stable with the focus on positive performance of the assets relative to liabilities, whilst managing volatility through hedging.

The Scheme’s accounting position improved by £670m to a surplus of £156m at 31 December 2014, attributable to positive asset returns, additional contributions by Santander UK, and a £218m net gain arising from Scheme changes that limit future defined benefit pension entitlements and provide for the longer-term sustainability of our staff pension arrangements.

Risks to banks’ strategies continued in 2014, as factors such as regulatory, economic and to some degree political uncertainty, technological change and the emergence of new bank business models challenged the industry. Regulatory initiatives including the implementation of UK bank ‘ring-fencing’ legislation, the recently announced market investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, and other macro-prudential, micro-prudential and conduct-related announcements continued to affect banks’ operating environment.

During 2014, we made continued progress towards achieving our strategic objectives as set out in the Strategic Report. Our business model, with its strong customer focus and low risk approach, helps us respond to the above challenges and meet our strategic goals.

(1) Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

(2) Non-IFRS measure. See page 106.

Annual Report 201437


Risk review

Emerging and

future risks

Emerging and future risks

An emerging and future risk is a risk with largely
uncertain outcomes which may develop or
crystallise in the future. Crystallisation of an
emerging risk could have a material effect on
long-term strategy.

Timeframe

Risk description and mitigationDescription

Less than

1 year

The UK economy

LOGO   

The financial performance of Santander UK is intrinsically linked to the UK economy. This is particularly so for those aspects of the economy that have greatest influence on our larger credit portfolios, such as the housing market and unemployment. In turn, the prospects for the UK are also dependent, to a degree, on the economies of other major trading areas, such as the eurozone.

In the event that the UK economy continues to improve, there is a greater likelihood of a higher interest rate environment. In such a scenario, the reaction of our customers and other market participants might result in different patterns of behaviour. These could include increased customer attrition and more competitive product pricing.

There remains a possibility that the UK economy will not continue to recover as expected, or even experience an economic downturn. In these circumstances, the outlook for interest rates may be lowered, with concomitant impacts on credit losses, interest margins and pension risk.

We continue to monitor these risks regularly, and assess their potential impacts with scenario analysis.

The UK political environment

Any significant changes in UK Government policies or political structure could have an impact on our business. In particular, the second half of 2014 saw increased debate around the UK’s relationship with the EU, including within the context of the UK’s general election in 2015. We continue to monitor the potential consequences such changes may have with action to be taken as appropriate. The impacts of this risk may also be seen over more than a one-year period.

New and emerging regulation

The aftermath of the financial crisis has seen the emergence of a significant volume of additional regulation in the UK, the US and other jurisdictions. In some cases, the impacts this regulation has on Santander UK have become clearer and more precisely quantified. In response to these, a number of significant change projects are already underway, including those relating to the ICB and the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013. We regularly assess the potential impacts of this regulation to gauge its implications for both our risk profile and requisite financial resources, including capital. However, there also remains a significant body of emerging regulation where the impact and timing remain uncertain.

Conduct risk

Although Santander UK continues to improve and embed its management of conduct risk, there is a risk that conduct-related issues will result in greater costs and losses than originally envisaged. Conduct risk also remains the subject of close regulatory scrutiny across the UK banking industry.

IT and business change

Santander UK continues to invest in the roll-out of new IT platforms and systems, to support its strategic growth plans. There are also a number of key business change initiatives underway, the successful delivery of which is crucial to meet regulatory demands and strategic aims. As with any significant change programmes of this nature, there is a need to ensure that the risks associated with the pace of change are properly monitored and controlled.

1-3 years

The UK economy

LOGO     

In the medium term, there is a greater probability that the UK economy will suffer a downturn, and that it proves to be more severe than we initially expect. Should this prove to be the case, then in addition to the impacts listed under the entry above, there will also be a greater prospect of increased customer defaults and associated credit losses.

Quality and stability of earnings

We remain aware that certain income streams could become subject to greater risk and uncertainty. Examples include fee income from retail products, increased customer attrition, and greater competition affecting the growth prospects for the Commercial Banking business.

More than

3 years

New competitors and technology

LOGO     

Innovations in technology applied to the delivery of financial services continued to develop at a rapid pace. We have also seen the advent of new financial services providers. These factors bring with them the potential for increased levels of competition in the medium term.

Strategic priority key:

LOGO

Loyal and satisfied retail customers

LOGO

‘Bank of Choice’ for UK companies

LOGO

Consistent profitability and a strong balance sheet

38Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

  
EL 

Credit risk

CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT

Credit risk is the risk of financial loss arising from the default or credit quality deterioration of a customer or counterparty to which Santander UK has directly provided credit, or for which Santander UK has assumed a financial obligation.

Exposures to credit risk arise in the following businesses:

Retail

Banking

Commercial

Banking

Corporate & Institutional

Banking

Corporate

Centre

  Exposures arise from residential mortgages, current accounts, unsecured personal loans, credit cards, business banking and other personal financial services products.

  Exposures arise from loans, bank accounts, treasury instruments, asset finance, cash transmission, trade finance and invoice discounting. These services are provided to corporates, including UK SMEs, and commercial real estate and Social Housing.

  Exposures arise from lending and treasury products provided to large corporates, and from treasury markets activities with financial institutions.

  Exposures arise from asset and liability management of the balance sheet, as well as the non-core and legacy portfolios being run down.

The credit risk arising in each of these businesses is covered in further detail in subsequent sections. The management of credit risk is tailored according to the type of customers, who are typically classified as either standardised or non-standardised as follows:

Standardised customers

Non-standardised customers

  Consist primarily of individuals and small businesses. Risk management is based on expert internal risk assessment and automated decision-making models, supported by teams of analysts specialising in this type of risk.

  Consist mostly of medium and large corporate customers and financial institutions where risk management is performed through expert analysis supplemented by decision-making support tools based on internal risk assessment models.

  Approach applied by Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, and Corporate Centre (for non-core portfolios).

  Approach applied by Commercial Banking, Corporate & Institutional Banking, and Corporate Centre.

Annual Report 201439


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

Approach to credit risk

Risk limit planning and setting

Risk limit planning and setting is a dynamic process involving the discussion of business proposals and the attitude to risk. This process culminates in an agreed risk limit plan, which is a comprehensive document used for the integrated management of the balance sheet and its inherent risks. All risk limit plans are monitored with management actions taken to deliver the plan, as necessary.

Risk analysis and credit rating process

Risk analysis is performed to establish the customer’s ability to meet its obligations. The analysis includes a review of customer credit quality, associated operational risk, and risk-adjusted returns. To aid this analysis, Santander UK uses a number of proprietary internal measurement tools including statistical models and rating systems. These are used for internal credit risk assessment and informing lending decisions, and are tailored to each risk classification.

For standardised customers, statistical models are typically employed that automatically assign a score to the proposed transaction or customer. Such scorecards typically work in conjunction with other policy rules, supported by credit references. Most decisions are automated although, in some cases, manual intervention is necessary. Risk assessment is not constrained to decisions at origination, as often scorecards exist across the customer lifecycle.

For non-standardised customers, specific proprietary rating systems are used. For many non-standardised counterparties with a global footprint, Santander UK employs rating tools, co-ordinated on a global basis by the Banco Santander group. Portfolios of this nature include sovereigns, large corporates and certain financial institutions. Risk assessment involves the analysis of the customer’s financial performance compared with macro-economic data, supplemented with an analyst’s expert judgement. Customer ratings are reviewed at least annually and more frequently in cases where monitoring indicates this is appropriate. The rating tools are regularly reviewed.

Transaction decision-making

Having analysed a credit transaction and rated the customer, a decision is then made about whether or not to approve the transaction. This decision-making process takes account of the credit quality of the customer, the underlying risk of the transaction (and the extent of any risk mitigation such as collateral); the associated risk policy, limits and appetite; and achievement of the desired balance between risk and associated return. All decisions to approve credit transactions are made under authority delegated by the Board. The approach to the decision-making process differs according to risk classification. For standardised customers, automated decision models are used to manage large volumes of credit transactions. In certain cases this is supplemented by the use of manual underwriting to ensure adherence to risk policy. For non-standardised customers, credit approval decisions are made under a system of delegated authorities to individuals. Larger transactions above pre-defined limits are referred to governance committees.

Risk monitoring

Monitoring is conducted at a portfolio, segment, customer and transaction level. Mitigating actions are proposed if deterioration is detected. Credit concentrations are also monitored. Concentration limits as defined by the Risk Appetite are reviewed and approved as necessary.

For standardised customers (principally retail and SME customers), scorecards and policies are monitored frequently, using both quantitative and qualitative key risk indicators in order to detect any variance in portfolio performance compared to forecasts. Adjustments to models and policy are made as required to bring portfolio performance back in line with expectations.

For non-standardised customers, monitoring is undertaken using a Watchlist process. There are a range of indicators that may trigger a case being added to the Watchlist, including downturn in trade, covenant breaches, major contract loss, early arrears or persistent excesses and resignation of key management. Such cases are assessed to determine the potential financial implications of these trigger events. The Watchlist uses the classifications of ‘enhanced monitoring’ and, for cases warranting more significant actions, ‘proactive management’. Proactive management strategies can range from an agreed reduction in credit exposure to the negotiation of additional security or the cancellation of exposure. Inclusion on the Watchlist indicates that a potential impairment event has been observed but it does not automatically mean there has been a default. Cases on the Watchlist are assessed for impairment collectively, unless the debt management activity has been transferred to the Restructuring & Recoveries team, at which point impairment is assessed individually. Cases that become non-performing are no longer included on the Watchlist and are also assessed for impairment individually.

40Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

Risk measurement and control

Changes in Santander UK’s credit risk position are measured and controlled against budgets, limits and benchmarks. The potential future impact of any changes arising from either strategic decisions or the external operating environment is assessed to establish any mitigating action. Several metrics are used to measure and control credit risk in this regard. The key metrics for risk management purposes:

Metric

Description
Expected loss (‘EL’)

This metric provides an indication of the likely future costs ofEL tells us what credit risk andis likely to cost us. It is the product of the probabilityof:

–   Probability of default (‘PD’),(PD) – how likely customers are to default. We estimate this using customer ratings or the exposurecredit scores for the transaction

–   Exposure at default (‘EAD’) and the loss given default (‘LGD’), all of which are parameters based on internal risk models and the CRD IV assessment of(EAD) – how much customers or transactions that constitutes a judgementwill owe us if they default. We calculate this by comparing how much of their agreed credit quality:

–  PD is calculated by observing the cases of new defaults in relation to the final rating assigned to(such as an overdraft) customers or to the scoring assigned to the related transactions.

–  EAD is calculated by comparing the use of committed facilities at the time ofhave used when they default and their use under normal (i.e. performing) circumstances, so aswith how much they normally use. This allows us to estimate the eventualfinal extent of use of the facilitiescredit in the event of default.default

–   LGD is calculated by observingLoss given default (LGD) – how much we lose when customers actually default. We work this out using the recoveries of defaultedactual losses on loans takingthat default. We take into account the income, costs and expenses associated withtiming of the recovery process, as well as the timing and indirect costs arising from the recovery process.

PD, EAD and LGD are all calculated in accordance with the requirements of CRD IV, and therefore include direct and indirect costs. We base them on our own risk models and our assessment of each customer’s credit quality. For the remainderrest of theour Risk Reviewreview, impairments, impairment losses and impairment loss allowances refer to calculations in accordance withinwith IFRS, unless specified as relatingwe specifically say they relate to CRD IV. For details of theour IFRS accounting policies forpolicy on impairment, calculated in accordance with IFRS refersee Note 1 to note 1 of the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

The way we calculate impairment under IFRS will change from 1 January 2018 when IFRS 9 takes effect. It uses an expected credit loss (ECL) model rather than an incurred loss model used by IAS 39. There are also differences between the ECL approach used by IFRS 9 and the EL approach used by CRD IV. For more, see ‘Future accounting developments’ in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

  

Net movement in

NPLs

 

This metricWe use NPLs – and its components (includingrelated write-offs and recoveries) are usedrecoveries – to monitor changes in the behaviour of portfolios. Loans and advances are classifiedhow our portfolios behave. We classify loans as NPLs typically whenwhere customers do not make a counterparty fails to make paymentspayment for three months or longer,more, or where there is information available which indicates that there are significant doubts regarding the customer’s abilityif we have data to meet forthcoming contractualmake us doubt they can keep up with their payments. This information can varyThe data we have on customers varies across our business divisions andsegments. It typically includes circumstances where a customer:where:

 

Retail Banking

–    Has a bankruptcyThey have been reported bankrupt or insolvency indicator and is in arrears by lessinsolvent

–    Their loan term has ended, but they still owe us money more than three months;months later

–    Is in maturity default,They have had forbearance as an NPL, but have not caught up with the entire loan is contractually matured by at least three months and a balance remains;payments they had missed before that

–    Was forborne in a non-performing state and has not yet repaid all arrears prior to the forbearance;They have had multiple forbearance

–    Has been subject to multiple instances of forbearance; and/or

–  Has hadWe have suspended their fees and interest suspendedbecause they are in financial difficulties

–    We have repossessed the property. We have included these as a result of financial difficulties.NPLs from 2015.

 

Commercial Banking, Global Corporate & Institutional Banking and Corporate Centre

–   HasThey have had a winding upwinding-up notice issued, or suffers ansomething happens that is likely to trigger insolvency event;– for instance, another lender calls in a loan

–   Has had event(s) occur which areSomething happens that makes them less likely to adversely impact upon their abilitybe able to meet financial obligations (e.g. where a customer loses a keypay us – such as they lose an important client or contract);contract

–   HasThey have regularly and persistently missed/missed or delayed payments, but whereeven though they have not gone over the account has been maintained below 90 days past due;three-month limit for NPLs

–   IsTheir loan is due to mature within six months, and where the prospects of achieving a refinancing are considered low; and/it is unlikely to be refinanced or repaid in full

–   HasTheir loan has an excessive LTV with little prospect of this being rectified.and it is unlikely that it will be resolved (such as by a change in planning policy, pay- downs from rental income, or increases in market values).

 

Santander UK uses a number of measurement tools for assessing credit risk, making lending decisions and calculating regulatory capital in accordance with CRD IV requirements, but these are not used in the calculation of impairment loss allowances for accounting purposes under IFRS. For the remainder of the Risk Review, impairments, impairment losses and impairment loss allowances refer to calculations in accordance with IFRS unless specified as relating to CRD IV. For details of the accounting policies for impairment calculated in accordance with IFRS, see Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Risks areWe also assessedassess risks from various complementaryother perspectives, including internal rating deterioration, geographical location, business area, product and process, in order to identify specific areas requiring remediation. Stresswe need to focus on. We also use stress testing techniques are also employed to establish vulnerabilities to economic deterioration.

Debt management

Debt management is fundamentalOur business segments tailor their approach to our business, and is deployed through specialist units. It is a strategic, integrated business activity that aimscredit risk to deal fairly but efficiently with customers that are experiencing financial difficulties. Effective debt management is dependent on:

Supporting the customer with affordable and sustainable repayment solutions based on their individual circumstances;
Predicting customer behaviours and treating customers fairly by monitoring and modelling customer profiles and financial performance, and designing and implementing appropriate customer communication and debt management strategies;
On-going dialogue and negotiation with the customer to return the account to normal statustheir own customers. We explain their approaches in the shortest affordable and sustainable period; and
Monitoring and evaluating debt management agreements to ensure they are producing the desired outcomes.

Debt management activity consists of the following phases, which are tailored to each business segment and are discussed in the sections that follow: Arrears management; Forbearance; Other changes in contractual terms; Other forms of debt management and Exit strategies.

Annual Report 201441


Risk review

Credit risk

continuedlater on.

 

 

CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT – RETAIL BANKING

Approach to credit risk54  Santander UK plc

  Santander UK is principally a retail lender. Retail lending commonly consists of a high volume of loans that, individually, are of relatively small denomination. As such these are typically managed on a portfolio or customer segment level. Nonetheless, each retail customer and lending facility is assessed to establish the customer’s ability to meet their obligations through the term of the borrowing. Alongside the application data provided by our customers, the following key factors are taken into consideration:

Credit policy:Our credit policy is specifically designed, and regularly reviewed, to ensure that any business written is responsible, affordable (both initially and on an on-going basis) and of a good credit quality;

Credit scoring: Santander UK typically employs statistical models that assign a score to the proposed transaction or customer. Scoring models are monitored regularly, with both quantitative and qualitative triggers embedded; and

Credit references:Credit performance data provided through external agencies is employed in the lending decision and supports both credit scoring and policy.

Many decisions are automated as these factors are often embedded within our risk systems. There are cases however where additional qualification and manual intervention is necessary for a lending decision.

  Risk assessment is not constrained to decisions at origination, as risk management tools exist across the customer lifecycle. Once loans have been accepted, credit risk in Retail Banking is managed through the use of a set of Board-approved Risk Appetite limits and portfolio-based exposure limits.

  The largest area of exposure to credit risk in Retail Banking is in residential lending on mortgages. Residential lending is subject to lending policy and lending authority levels.

Credit risk management and mitigation

Portfolio

Description
Mortgages

Mortgages are provided subject to a rigorous credit risk assessment of the borrower and property. The approval process is supported by manual underwriting. Affordability is assessed by reviewing a customer’s expenditure, other credit commitments and capacity to repay under stressed interest rates. The affordability model is regularly reviewed and refined as required by changes to regulation, economic conditions and risk performance. For example, changes were made in 2014 to our stressed interest rates and the cost of living criteria. Additional metrics are also used, including product limits, loan-to-income and loan-to-value (‘LTV’) ratios.

Prior to granting any first mortgage loan on a property, Santander UK has the property valued by an approved and qualified surveyor. The valuation is based on internal guidelines, which build upon the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (‘RICS’) guidance on valuation. For re-mortgages and qualifying purchases where the LTV is 75% or lower, an automated valuation may be used instead of a surveyor’s valuation subject to acceptance criteria.

For revaluation and loan loss allowance calculation purposes, current property values are estimated quarterly by an independent agency through statistical models using information from recent property transactions and valuations in that local area. In certain instances, HPI is used where agency model confidence levels drop below a Santander UK pre-defined threshold.

Banking and

Consumer Credit

Santander UK provides a range of unsecured finance products to personal and Business Banking customers. These include bank accounts, with and without lending facilities, personal loans, credit cards and finance leases. The quality and performance are monitored on a regular basis to ensure that they are within agreed portfolio limits and risk profiles.

The provision of unsecured lending facilities is subject to an initial affordability and credit risk assessment process together with ongoing monitoring and control. This process uses a range of decisioning systems and models that incorporate information from multiple sources, typically including details provided by the customer, information on the customer’s existing holdings of Santander UK products, and credit reference agency data on a customer’s broader financial position.

Debt management – mortgages

Debt management strategies can start prior to actual payment default or as early as the day after a repayment is past due and can continue through to legal action. Different collection strategies are applied to different segments of the portfolio subject to the perceived levels of risk and the individual circumstances of each case. Wherever possible, rehabilitation tools are used to encourage customers to find their own way out of financial difficulties with a solution agreeable to Santander UK. Customer retention, where appropriate, is important and helping customers through difficult times can improve loyalty.

42Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk  

Arrears management

Arrears management makes use of collection and rehabilitation tools such as debt counselling and field visits, as well as exercising legal right of set-off against other designated bank accounts. Our focus is on understanding the nature of customers’ circumstances so that the most appropriate assistance is offered in our efforts to bring the customer account up to date as soon as possible.

Forbearance

Forbearance on mortgage accounts occurs where Santander UK agrees a temporary or permanent change of contractually agreed terms and conditions with a borrower who has been identified as being in financial difficulty. Forbearance strategies are employed to assist customers through temporary periods of financial difficulty and ensure that foreclosure or repossession is a last resort. The effectiveness of our forbearance approach is regularly reviewed.

The factors considered when concluding whether a borrower is experiencing financial difficulties can include significant changes in economic circumstances such as the loss of income or employment, and significant changes in personal circumstances such as divorce or bereavement. The aim of such concessions is to bring the account back on to sustainable terms where the mortgage can be fully serviced over its lifetime. Santander UK’s policies and practices are based on criteria which, in the judgment of management, indicate that repayment is likely to continue and that after the initial period of financial difficulties the customer can revert to the previous terms, with appropriate support where necessary.

Santander UK may offer the following forbearance solutions provided that the affordability assessments indicate that the borrower will be able to meet the revised payment arrangements:

Action

  Description
Capitalisation  

Arrears may be added to the mortgage balance where the customer is consistently repaying the agreed monthly amounts (typically for a minimum of six months) but where they are unable to increase repayments to repay these arrears over a reasonable period. Capitalisation is often combined with term extensions and interest-only concessions.

Term extension  

The repayment period may be extended to reduce monthly repayments within credit policy criteria for age at maturity (typically no more than 75 years old) and loan term.

Interest-only  
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

The monthly repayment may be reduced to interest payment only for a limited period (typically up to 12 months) with capital repayment deferred if all other collection tools have been exhausted and a term extension is either not possible or affordable. The expectation is that the customer will return to repayment on a capital and interest basis after the expiry of this concession. Periodic reviews of the customer’s financial situation are undertaken to assess when the customer can afford to return to the repayment method.Conduct risk

 

Accounts subject to such concessions which are granted due to financial difficulties are subsequently reported as forborne. Many of these accounts remain in the performing portfolio but are identified and reported separately from the other performing accounts, and are subject to higher provisioning rates. Where a case which is subject to forbearance is already classified in NPL at the point the forbearance is agreed, the case is retained in the NPL category, until all arrears prior to the forbearance have been repaid. Under Santander UK’s forbearance methodology, a case remains classified as forborne until full repayment is achieved.

In limited circumstances, a customer may have their loan forborne more than once, when an agreed plan to mitigate the customer’s financial difficulty has not achieved the intended or desired result and an alternative plan is required. Customers that have more than one forbearance event in a given year or more than three events in any rolling five year period are classified as multiple forbearance.

Loan loss allowances are assessed taking into account the value of collateral held as estimated by mark to market valuation models using postcode data as well as the cash flow available to service debt over the period of the forbearance, amongst other factors. These loan loss allowances are assessed regularly and are independently reviewed.

Other changes in contractual terms

In addition to the forbearance arrangements described above, there are other changes in contractual terms that have been carried out historically, due to commercial reasons, for borrowers who are not exhibiting signs of being in financial difficulty (such as a change of term or change to method of repayment). These changes are not classified as forbearance as no financial difficulty was evident at the time of the change in contractual terms and the majority of those modified subsequently continue to perform satisfactorily. The aim of the change in contractual terms is to retain the customer relationship.

Exit strategies

When a customer is unwilling or unable to adhere to an acceptable agreement regarding arrears, the account is escalated to the litigation and recovery phase. Santander UK will consider delaying litigation, or action once in litigation under certain circumstances, such as where the customer presents evidence that the mortgage will be redeemed or the arrears cleared, or where the customer is making a regular payment of at least the instalment amount. These policies exist to ensure that repossession is only used as a last resort. To ensure that estimated losses inherent in the stock of repossessed properties are realistic in relation to the current economic conditions, two independent valuations are requested on all repossessed properties together with estimated disposal costs. These form the basis for the calculation of the impairment loss allowance.

Other key risks

 

Annual Report 201443


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

Higher risk loans and other segments of particular interest

Santander UK is principally a retail prime lender and does not originate sub-prime or second charge mortgages, or lend on original LTV of over 90% (except where we do so in support of UK Government mortgage schemes to a maximum LTV of 95%). Nonetheless, there are some mortgage types that may present higher risks than others, or which may be of particular interest. These consist of:

Product

Description

Interest-only loans

and part interest-

only, part repayment

loans

Interest-only mortgages require monthly interest payments and the repayment of principal only at maturity. Part interest-only, part repayment mortgages permit a customer to have a component of their loan repaid on a capital and interest basis through the term of the loan, with the remaining loan component requiring monthly interest payments only, with the principal of this loan component repayable only at maturity.

Since 2009, the risk associated with interest-only mortgages has been decreased by reducing the maximum LTV on new interest-only mortgages and increasing the minimum credit score acceptable, resulting in higher quality loans. Since 2012, the maximum LTV on new interest-only mortgages has been 50%. In addition, sale of the property is now only an acceptable repayment plan where the amount of equity exceeds a predefined minimum.

Santander UK requires that customers with interest-only mortgages have made arrangements to repay the principal in full at maturity in line with their responsibilities. In addition, a strategy is in place to ensure that customers with interest-only mortgage components are aware of their repayment obligations. Communications to customers to reinforce this include targeted messaging within annual mortgage statements, as well as periodic contact campaigns asking them to advise us of their repayment plans (initially completed for customers with mortgages maturing before 2020 but to be extended to all interest-only customers).

Santander UK actively engages with customers who either acknowledge they will have a shortfall at maturity or have interest-only loans that have already passed their contractual maturity date. Where it is deemed to be in the interest of the customer (and subject to affordability assessments) alternative solutions are considered, including converting the balance in part or full to capital and interest with a further term or extending the repayment term to accommodate the maturity of a future repayment vehicle. Litigation is considered only as a last resort.

Flexible loans

Flexible mortgages permit customers the flexibility to pre-pay capital and to ‘drawdown’ additional funds at any time up to a predefined credit limit. By doing so, customers are able to vary their monthly payments, or take payment holidays. Drawdowns are subject to conditions, which include:

–  Drawdowns in a month must not exceed the limit (if any) in the current tariff of charges.

–  The customer must not be more than two payments in arrears.

–  The customer must not have had any insolvency events, which can include county court judgments, bankruptcies, individual voluntary arrangements, administration orders and debt relief orders.

Customers may request credit limit reviews, but any request will be subject to the standard full credit approval process. Santander UK can lower the credit limit at any time to ensure that the total of the mortgage balance and the headroom within the credit limit does not exceed 90% of the property’s current market value.

Loans with

loan-to-value

>100%

Where loans have loan-to-value ratios greater than 100%, liquidation of the collateral will not yield sufficient funds to cover the loan advanced. In addition, arrears and the costs of liquidation can increase any ultimate shortfall. Prior to 2009, in limited circumstances, customers were able to borrow more than 100% of the value of the secured property. Additionally, previous decreases in house prices have resulted in the current LTV of some loans now being over 100%.

Buy-to-let loans

Santander UK targets new or small volume investor landlords. The general principle behind the buy-to-let proposition is that it is self-financing, but there is a risk that income from the property may not cover the costs, e.g. as a result of periods where the property is vacant. The proposition has its own suite of policies against which every application is manually assessed by an underwriter unless already declined by an automated system decision.

44Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    

Debt management – banking and consumer credit

Arrears management

Arrears management makes use of collection and rehabilitation tools such as debt counselling and field visits, as well as exercising legal right of set-off against other designated bank accounts. Solutions offered to customers will vary according to both the type of credit facility (e.g. overdraft, credit card, monthly repayment loan) and the individual customer’s circumstances. In all cases our focus is on providing the most appropriate assistance in our efforts to bring the customer account up to date as soon as possible.

Forbearance

Unsecured lending

Forbearance arrangements for unsecured lending follow a similar set of principles to those applied to mortgages. Arrangements are managed on an individual basis taking into consideration each customer’s circumstances to ensure that arrangements are appropriate and sustainable. A range of potential solutions are in place that includes:

Action

Description

Reduced repayments

via a debt

management plan

Where customers experience financial difficulty, collection activities and fees and interest can be frozen for up to 60 days while a reduced payment plan is agreed. Longer term suspension of interest and fees may also be considered as part of a repayment programme.

Informal reduced

payment

arrangements

The same flexibility as noted above is offered where a customer does not have a formal debt management plan in place but is experiencing financial difficulties.

Reduced settlement

A reduced lump sum payment may be accepted with the remaining balance written off.

In addition to these forbearance strategies, Santander UK also complies with insolvency solutions for credit card customers which are governed by relevant regulations and codes of practice. Insolvency solutions are not considered forbearance as they are not at the discretion of Santander UK but rather are complied with when applicable.

Finance leases

There is no significant forbearance activity in the finance lease business.

Exit strategies

When a customer is unwilling or unable to adhere to an acceptable agreement regarding arrears, the account is escalated to the litigation and recovery phase. This will only happen after all reasonable attempts to restore the account back to order have been exhausted. Recovery activity includes the use of external debt collections agencies, debt sale to external purchasers, litigation and enforcement action as appropriate.

Annual Report 201445


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT – COMMERCIAL BANKINGREVIEW

Approach to credit risk

  Risk analysis is performed to establish the customer’s ability to meet its obligations through the term of the credit facility. Lending is based on robust credit policies, and risk appetite limits and portfolio monitoring and management.

  All transactions are considered using credit limits approved by the appropriate credit authority. The most senior risk committee in Santander UK in this respect is the Executive Risk Committee which reviews and approves the highest value transactions.

  All customers are assigned a credit rating employing specific, internally-developed rating systems (see ‘credit quality’ in the ‘Santander UK group exposure’ section that follows). The tools utilised contain both quantitative and qualitative components through the analysis of the relative financial performance of the customer supplemented by an analyst’s expert judgement. Internal ratings are reviewed at least annually.

  Risk appetite limits are used to measure and control exposures. Credit policies are designed to support lending within the approved limits.

  Credit risk is measured on a regular basis and reporting covers individual exposures as well as exposures by industries, geographical areas, products and other relevant concentrations. A detailed analysis of credit exposures and credit risk trends is reported on a monthly basis to the Executive Risk Committee, and larger exposures are reported monthly to the Board Risk Committee.

Credit risk management and mitigation

Portfolio

Description

Mid-Corporate and

SME

Typically incorporates secured and unsecured lending, with the credit worthiness of the customer underpinned by financial and non-financial covenants, and debenture security. Guarantees are not classified as collateral and value is not attributed to them unless supported by tangible security. Lending decisions are assessed against trading cash flows and in the event of a default Santander UK does not typically take possession of the business’ assets, although an administrator may be appointed in more severe cases.

Asset finance and invoice finance is provided to certain UK corporate clients secured by a charge over the assets and debtor book being financed. Financed assets (typically vehicles and equipment) are reviewed prior to lending and their value assessed. For invoice finance, companies’ ledgers are subject to periodic reviews with funding provided against eligible debtors meeting pre-agreed criteria. In the event of a default, assets and debtors will be repossessed and sold, or collected out, respectively.

Commercial Real

Estate

Collateral is in the form of a first charge over commercial real estate assets. Lending is undertaken against stringent policy criteria that include the condition, age and location of the property, the quality of the tenant, the terms and length of the lease, and the experience and creditworthiness of the sponsors. Properties are viewed by Santander UK prior to lending and annually thereafter. An independent professional valuation is obtained prior to lending, providing both a value and an assessment of the property, the tenant and future demand for the property (e.g. market rent compared to the current rent). Loan agreements typically permit bi-annual valuations thereafter or more frequently if it is likely that the covenants may be breached. However for the commercial mortgage element of the portfolio no rights of revaluation exist.

When a loan is transferred to the Watchlist, Santander UK typically undertakes a revaluation of the collateral as part of the process for determining the strategy to be pursued. An assessment is made of the need to establish an impairment loss allowance based on the valuation in relation to the loan amount outstanding while also taking into consideration any forbearance solution to be adopted (e.g. whether provision of additional security or guarantees is available, the prospects of additional equity and the ability to enhance value through asset management initiatives). Collateral is rarely taken into possession.

Social Housing

The Social Housing portfolio is secured by a first legal charge on portfolios of residential real estate owned and let by UK Housing Associations. This collateral is re-valued at least every five years (in line with industry norms) and the valuation is based on standard social housing methodologies, which generally involve the properties’ continued use as social housing. If the valuation were based upon normal residential use the value would be considerably higher. To date, Santander UK has suffered no defaults or losses on this type of lending and has not had to take possession of any collateral. The value of the collateral is in all cases in excess of the loan balance. Typically, the loan balance represents 25% to 50% of the implied market value of collateral using Santander UK’s LGD methodology.

Older social housing loans that are not consistent with Santander UK’s business strategy are managed and reported in Corporate Centre.

46Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

Debt management

Problem debt is identified through close monitoring and is supported by the Watchlist process. Debt management activity is performed initially by the relationship manager supported by the relevant credit risk expert, and subsequently by the Restructuring & Recoveries team if the circumstances of the case become more acute or specialist expertise is required and where the case becomes non-performing.

Debt management strategies typically start prior to actual payment default and can continue through to legal action. Different strategies are applied to different segments of the portfolio subject to the perceived levels of risk and the individual circumstances of each case.

Wherever possible, rehabilitation tools are used to encourage customers to find their own way out of financial difficulties with a solution agreeable to Santander UK. Customer retention, where appropriate, is important and helping customers through difficult times can improve loyalty.

Arrears management

Santander UK seeks to detect weakening financial performance early through close monitoring of regular financial and trading information, periodic testing to ensure compliance with both financial and non-financial covenants and regular dialogue with corporate clients. The Watchlist process is used proactively on cases which need enhanced management activity ranging from increased frequency and intensity of monitoring through to more specific activities to reduce exposure, enhance security or in some cases seek to exit the position altogether.

Once categorised as Watchlist, a strategy is agreed with Credit Risk and monitored through monthly Watchlist meetings attended by Restructuring & Recoveries for each portfolio. Where the issues identified are perceived to have become more acute or longer term, a recommendation may be made for the case to be transferred to Restructuring & Recoveries. Once a case enters NPL status, it is removed from the Watchlist and transferred to Restructuring & Recoveries.

Forbearance

Forbearance occurs where Santander UK agrees a temporary or permanent change of contractually agreed terms and conditions with a borrower who has been identified as being in financial difficulty. The factors considered when concluding whether a borrower is experiencing financial difficulties can include the results of covenant testing, reviews of trading and management information provided under the loan terms or directly from the customer as part of Santander UK’s ongoing relationship dialogue. The aim of such concessions is to bring the account back on to sustainable terms where the loan can be fully serviced over its lifetime. Santander UK’s policies and practices are based on criteria which, in the judgment of management, indicate that repayment is likely to continue and that after the initial period of financial difficulties the customer can revert to the previous terms, with appropriate support where necessary.

Forbearance strategies are employed in order to improve the management of customer relationships, maximise collection opportunities and, if possible where the loan is secured, avoid foreclosure or repossession. The effectiveness of our forbearance approach is kept under review.

Santander UK may offer the following forbearance solutions provided that the affordability assessments indicate that the borrower will be able to meet the revised payment arrangements:

Action

Description
Term extension

The term of the credit facility may be extended to reduce the regular periodic repayments and where, as a minimum, the interest can be serviced and there is a realistic prospect of full or improved recoveries. Customers may be offered a term extension where they are up-to-date but showing evidence of financial difficulties, or where the loan is about to mature and near term refinancing is not possible on current market terms.

Interest-only

Regular periodic repayment may be reduced to interest payment only for a limited period with capital repayment deferred where other options are not available and the issues are viewed as temporary. The customer’s financial situation is regularly reviewed to assess when they can afford to return to the repayment method.

Payment rescheduling

Payment terms may be varied through lowering the level of near term obligations to provide time for a business to address issues that may temporarily be affecting its cashflow before being restored to higher levels once the borrower’s payment capacity has recovered. This may also include capitalisation of arrears or incorporating into an overdraft facility.

Annual Report 201447


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

Accounts subject to such concessions which are granted due to financial difficulties are subsequently reported as forborne. Many of these accounts remain in the performing portfolio but are identified and reported separately from the other performing accounts, and are subject to higher provisioning rates. Where a case which is subject to forbearance is already in NPLs at the point the forbearance is agreed, the case is initially retained in the NPL category, until evidence of consistent compliance with the new terms is demonstrated before being reclassified out of NPLs (typically timely repayments for a minimum of three months).

Other forborne loans (i.e. those performing at the time of forbearance), are typically classified as sub-standard for an initial period and once the case has demonstrated continued compliance with the new terms and the risk profile is deemed to have improved, it may be reclassified as fully performing. Under Santander UK’s forbearance methodology, a case remains classified as forborne until full repayment is achieved.

In limited circumstances, a customer may have their loan forborne more than once, when an agreed plan to mitigate the customer’s financial difficulty has not achieved the intended or desired result and an alternative plan is required. Customers that have more than one forbearance event in a given year or more than three events in any rolling five year period are classified as multiple forbearance.

Loan loss allowances are assessed taking into account, amongst other factors, the value of collateral held as confirmed by third party professional valuations and the cash flow available to service debt over the period of forbearance. Loan loss allowances are assessed regularly and are independently reviewed.

Other forms of debt management

In addition to forbearance, Santander UK uses other forms of debt management which can include:

Action

Description
Covenant variations

Financial covenants breaches may be waived or covenant levels reset at levels which more accurately reflect the current and forecast trading position of the borrower. This may also be accompanied by a requirement for all surplus cash after operating costs to be trapped and used in reduction of Santander UK’s lending.

Payment

agreements

Payments from a borrower may on rare occasions be varied such that an element of the debt and or interest is forgiven or reduced. This may involve debt-for-equity swaps for larger companies.

Obtaining additional

security or

guarantees

Where a borrower has unencumbered assets, these may be charged as new or additional security in return for Santander UK changing contractual terms to existing facilities. Alternatively, Santander UK may take a guarantee from other companies within the borrower’s group and/or major shareholders provided it can be established the proposed guarantor has the resources to support such a commitment.

Seeking additional

equity

Where a business is over-leveraged, fresh equity capital will be sought from existing or new investors to adjust the capital structure in conjunction with Santander UK agreeing to forbear the residual debt.

Only a very limited number of debt-for-equity swaps have been undertaken. Under these arrangements, the converted debt is written off (net of existing loan loss allowances) upon completion of the debt conversion. The value of the equity acquired is initially held at nil value and reassessed periodically in light of subsequent performance of the borrower.

Exit strategies

Consensual arrangements

Where it is not possible to agree a forbearance arrangement, Santander UK may seek to exit the position by agreeing with the borrower an orderly sale of assets outside insolvency to pay down the debt, or arranging for the refinance of the debt with another lender.

Enforcement and recovery

Where it is not possible to agree a forbearance arrangement or to exit the position consensually, Santander UK will pursue recovery through an insolvency process, through the sale of any collateral held, or through a sale of the debt on the secondary market. A loan loss allowance is raised where a shortfall is identified between sale proceeds and the outstanding loan balance. Any shortfall is written off upon sale.

Higher risk loans and other segments of particular interest

The Commercial Real Estate market has experienced a particularly challenging environment over recent years following the financial crisis. Further analysis is provided on this sector in the section ‘Credit Risk – Commercial Banking’.

48Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT – CORPORATE & INSTITUTIONAL BANKING

Approach to credit risk

  Corporate & Institutional Banking supports lending to large corporates and treasury markets activities with financial institutions.

  The approach to credit risk in Corporate & Institutional Banking is consistent with the approach in Commercial Banking, as set out in ‘Credit risk management – Commercial Banking’.

  Credit risk on derivatives is taken under specific limits approved for each counterparty, and is controlled, managed and reported on a counterparty basis, regardless of whether the exposure is incurred by Corporate & Institutional Banking or by Corporate Centre. Credit risk on derivatives is calculated by adding the potential future exposure of the instruments to market movements over their lives to their current fair value. This is then included against the credit limits for individual counterparties along with other non-derivative exposures.

Credit risk management and mitigation

Portfolio

Description

Sovereign and

Supranational

The portfolio includes assets issued by local and central governments, and government guaranteed counterparties. It is normal market practice that there is no collateral associated with these assets.

Large Corporate

The portfolio consists of multinational companies and large UK counterparties. The credit risk is primarily concentrated on lending and treasury products to support working capital and liquidity needs. The majority of the portfolio consists of unsecured exposure, but credit agreements are underpinned by both financial and non-financial covenants. The initial, and on-going, lending decision is typically evaluated by a specialised analyst based upon factors including the financial strength of the client, its position in its industry and its management strengths.

Structured Finance

The portfolio includes Leverage Finance, Project Finance, Infrastructure Acquisition, Asset and Capital Structuring. Collateral is held in the form of a charge over the assets being financed. Lending facilities are underpinned by covenants that are monitored for early detection of financial distress.

Financial institutions

The portfolio consists primarily of derivatives and stock borrowing/lending transactions. Derivatives are governed by standard legal agreements provided by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association Inc. (‘ISDA’), which mitigate the credit risk derived from this type of instrument. Credit risk is further mitigated by the use of collateralisation and central counterparties.

Netting arrangementsCredit risk is mitigated by entering into transactions under industry standard agreements which facilitate netting of transactions in the jurisdictions where netting agreements are recognised and have legal force (primarily in the UK, the rest of Europe and the US). Netting arrangements do not generally result in an offset of balance sheet assets and liabilities for accounting purposes, as transactions are usually settled on a gross basis. However, the credit risk associated with contracts may be reduced by netting arrangements embodied in the agreements to the extent that if an event of default occurs, all amounts with the counterparty under the specific agreement can be terminated and settled on a net basis. In line with industry practice, Santander UK executes the standard documentation according to the type of contract being entered into. For example, derivatives will be contracted under the ISDA Master Agreements, repurchase and reverse repurchase transactions will be governed by Global Master Repurchase Agreement (‘GMRA’), and stock borrowing/lending transactions and other securities financing transactions are covered by Global Master Securities Lending Agreement (‘GMSLA’).

CollateralisationWe also mitigate credit risk to financial instrument counterparties through collateralisation, using industry standard agreements (i.e. the Credit Support Annex (‘CSA’)) in conjunction with the ISDA Master Agreement, whereby net exposures are collateralised with cash, securities or equities. For stock borrowing/lending and repurchase/reverse repurchase transactions collateral includes high quality and liquid debt securities and highly liquid equities listed in major developed markets. For derivatives collateral is cash or high quality liquid debt securities. Exposures and collateral are generally re-valued daily and collateral is adjusted accordingly to reflect deficits/surpluses. Processes exist to control collateral valuation and management, including documentation reviews and reporting collateral level differences. Collateral taken must comply with Santander UK’s collateral parameters policy, designed to control the quality and concentration risk of collateral taken such that collateral held can be liquidated when a counterparty defaults. Liquidity concentration restrictions are specified for both equities and debt securities. Collateral obtained in respect of purchase and resale agreements (including securities financing) is equal to at least 100% of the exposure.

Use of Central Counterparties (‘CCPs’)CCPs are intermediaries between a buyer and a seller (generally a clearing house). Santander UK uses CCPs as an additional means to mitigate counterparty credit risk in derivatives.

Debt management

Arrears management and forbearance

The approach to arrears management and forbearance in Corporate & Institutional Banking is the same as for Commercial Banking.

Annual Report 201449


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT – CORPORATE CENTRE

Approach to credit risk

  Corporate Centre manages capital and funding, balance sheet composition and structure and strategic liquidity risk for Santander UK. It also manages non-core corporate and legacy portfolios that include older Social Housing loans and commercial mortgages, as well as residual legacy assets from the acquisition of Alliance & Leicester plc not consistent with Santander UK’s business strategy. The approach to credit risk arising from this activity is consistent with the approach in Commercial Banking, as set out in ‘Credit risk management – Commercial Banking’. In addition, the co-brand credit cards business was managed as part of Corporate Centre prior to its sale in 2013.

  The approach to credit risk on derivatives is consistent with the approach in Corporate & Institutional Banking, as set out in ‘Credit risk management – Corporate & Institutional Banking’.

Credit risk management and mitigation

Portfolio

Description

Sovereign and

Supranational

The portfolio includes assets issued by local and central governments, and government guaranteed counterparties. It is normal market practice that there is no collateral associated with these assets.

Structured products

The portfolio contains the legacy Treasury asset portfolio that is being managed out for value over time, and an ongoing portfolio (the ‘ALCO portfolio’) which aims to manage Santander UK’s liquidity reserves by investing in high quality assets, which are selected to achieve diversification whilst also meeting regulatory liquidity regulations.

The Treasury asset portfolio principally comprises floating rate notes and asset-backed securities, including mortgage-backed securities. The instruments held are unsecured but benefit from senior positions in the creditor cascade and, in the case of structured products, their rating reflects the over-collateralisation inherent in the structure and the assets that underpin the cashflows and repayment schedules. The Treasury asset portfolio is monitored for potential impairment through a detailed expected cashflow analysis taking into account the structure and underlying assets of each individual security. Once specific events give rise to a reasonable expectation that future anticipated cash flows may not be received, the asset originating these doubtful cash flows is deemed to be impaired. Objective evidence of loss events includes significant financial difficulties of the issuer and default or delinquency in interest and principal payments (breach of contractual terms).

Derivatives

The portfolio consists primarily of historical total return swaps for liquidity purposes, and is being run off. Credit risk in derivatives is mitigated by netting agreements, collateralisation and the use of CCPs. For more details, see ‘Credit Risk Management – Corporate & Institutional Banking’.

Legacy portfolios in

run-off

These portfolios comprise assets inconsistent with Santander UK’s business strategy and are being managed out for value over time. Collateral is regularly held through a first legal charge over the underlying asset and in some circumstances in the form of cash. For commercial mortgage lending, a professional valuation of the real estate security is undertaken at the point of lending but no contractual right of revaluation exists although in the event of a default a revaluation may be undertaken. There are also a small number of Private Finance Initiative (‘PFI’) transactions where collateral is held in the form of a charge over the underlying concession contract.

Santander UK obtains independent third party valuations on fixed charge security such as aircraft or shipping assets. These valuations are undertaken in accordance with industry guidelines. An assessment is made of the need to establish an impairment loss allowance based on the valuation in relation to the loan balance outstanding (i.e. the LTV). This takes into account a range of factors including the future cashflow generation capability and the age of the assets as well as whether the loan in question continues to perform satisfactorily, whether or not the reduction in value is assessed to be temporary and whether other forms of recourse exist. Where a borrower gets into difficulty Santander UK would seek to ensure the disposal of the collateral, either consensually or via an insolvency process, as early as practicable in order to minimise the loss to Santander UK. Collateral is rarely taken into possession.

Social Housing

The Social Housing portfolio in Corporate Centre comprises older social housing loans that are not consistent with Santander UK’s business strategy. The approach to credit risk arising from these loans is consistent with the approach to the Social Housing portfolio in Commercial Banking, as set out in ‘Credit risk management – Commercial Banking’.

Debt management

Arrears management and forbearance

The approach to arrears management and forbearance in Corporate Centre is the same as for Commercial Banking

50Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

CREDIT RISK REVIEW

Santander UK group exposure

Maximum exposureOur maximum and net exposure to credit risk

The tables below set outshow the main differences between the Santander UK group’sour maximum exposure and net exposure to credit risk. They show the effects of collateral, netting, and risk transfer to mitigate the Santander UK group’sour exposure. The tables present only thoseshow the financial assets subject tothat credit risk.risk affects.

For balance sheet assets, the maximum exposure to credit risk representsis the carrying value after allowance for impairment.loan loss allowances. Off-balance sheet exposures compriseare guarantees, formal standby facilities, credit lines and other commitments. For off-balance sheet guarantees, the maximum exposure is the maximum amount that Santander UKwe would have to pay if the guarantees were to be called upon.on. For formal standby facilities, credit lines and other commitments that are irrevocable over the life of the respective facilities,facility, the maximum exposure is the fulltotal amount of the committed facilities.commitment.

 

Maximum exposure Collateral            Maximum exposure   Collateral           
Balance sheet Off-balance Cash(1) Non-cash(1) Netting(2) Risk    Net   Balance sheet asset                 
asset sheet       transfer(3) exposure    

 

 

Gross

amounts

£bn

  

  

  

   

 

 

Loan loss

  allowance

£bn

  

  

  

   

 

 

Net

  amounts

£bn

  

  

  

   

 

 

Off-balance

sheet

£bn

  

  

  

   

 

 

Cash

    

£bn

(1) 

  

  

  

 

 

Non-cash

    

£bn

(1) 

  

  

  

 

 

Netting

    

£bn

(2) 

  

  

  

 

 

Risk

transfer

£bn

  

(3) 

  

  

 

 

Net

exposure

£bn

  

  

  

£bn £bn £bn    £bn    £bn    £bn    £bn 

31 December 2014

2015

              

Cash and balances at central banks

 22.6   -   -      -      -      -      22.6     16.8          16.8                          16.8  

Trading assets:

              

– Loans and advances to banks

 5.9   -   -      -      (0.8)      -      5.1     5.4          5.4                  (0.4)        5.0  

– Loans and advances to customers

 3.0   -   -      (2.2)      -      -      0.8     6.0          6.0              (5.0)            1.0  

– Debt securities

 8.0   -   -      -      -      -      8.0     5.5          5.5                          5.5  

Total trading assets

 16.9   -   -      (2.2)      (0.8)      -      13.9     16.9          16.9              (5.0)    (0.4)        11.5  

Financial assets designated at fair value:

              

– Loans and advances to customers

 2.3   0.2   -      (2.4)      -      -      0.1     1.9          1.9     0.3         (2.2)              

– Debt securities

 0.6   -   -      -      -      -      0.6     0.5          0.5                          0.5  

Total financial assets designated at fair value

 2.9   0.2   -      (2.4)      -      -      0.7     2.4          2.4     0.3         (2.2)            0.5  

Available-for-sale debt securities

 8.9   -   -      -      -      -      8.9     8.9          8.9                          8.9  

Derivative financial instruments

 23.0   -   (1.3)      -      (19.2)      -      2.5     20.9          20.9          (1.1)        (17.3)        2.5  

Loans and advances to banks

 2.1   1.7   -      (0.3)      -      (0.1)      3.4     3.5          3.5     1.3         (0.8)    (0.3)        3.7  

Loans and advances to customers(4):

Loans and advances to customers:(4)

              

– Advances secured on residential property

 149.9   6.7   -      (156.5)      -      -      0.1     153.3     (0.4)     152.9     6.7         (159.2)(5)           0.4  

– Corporate loans

 29.4   14.9   (0.1)      (20.1)      -      -      24.1     31.9     (0.4)     31.5     16.4     (0.1)    (23.0)            24.8  

– Finance leases

 2.6   -   (0.1)      (2.2)      -      -      0.3     6.3     (0.1)     6.2     0.6     (0.1)    (5.3)            1.4  

– Other secured advances

                                         

– Other unsecured advances

 6.0   11.2   -      -      -      -      17.2     6.3     (0.3)     6.0     12.0                     18.0  

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures

 

 

0.8

 

  

 

 

 

-

 

  

 

 

 

-   

 

  

 

 

 

-   

 

  

 

 

 

-   

 

  

 

 

 

-   

 

  

 

 

 

0.8

 

  

 

   1.4          1.4                          1.4  

Total loans and advances to customers

 188.7   32.8   (0.2)      (178.8)      -      -      42.5     199.2     (1.2)     198.0     35.7     (0.2)    (187.5)            46.0  

Loans and receivables securities(4)

 0.1   -   -      -      -      -      0.1     0.1          0.1                          0.1  

Total

 265.2   34.7   (1.5)      (183.7)      (20.0)      (0.1)      94.6     268.7     (1.2)     267.5     37.3     (1.3)    (195.5)    (18.0)        90.0  

 

(1)The forms of collateral which Santander UK takeswe take to mitigatereduce credit risk include: residential and commercial property; other physical assets, including motor vehicles; liquid securities, including those transferred under reverse repurchase agreements; cash, including that which iscash used to collateraliseas collateral for derivative transactions; and receivables. In terms of exposure, chargesCharges on residential property representare most of the majority of collateral taken.we take.
(2)CreditWe can reduce credit risk exposures can be reduced by applying netting and set-off. Santander UK usesWe do this approach mainly for derivative and repurchase transactions with financial institutions. For derivatives, transactions, Santander UK useswe use standard master netting agreements (e.g. ISDA). These agreementsagreements. They allow for netting ofus to set off our credit risk exposure to a counterparty resulting from a derivative transaction against Santander UK’sour obligations to the counterparty in the event of default, to producedefault. This gives us a lower net credit exposure. They may also reduce settlement exposure. For more on this, see ‘Credit risk mitigation’ in the ‘Global corporate banking – credit risk management’ section.
(3)Certain financial instruments can be used to transfer credit risk from one counterpartyus to another.another counterparty. The main form of risk transfer employed by Santander UKwe use is through the use of credit default swaps, principallymainly transacted with other banks.
(4)Loans and advances to customers and loans and receivables securities are presented net of loan loss allowances, andBalances include interest we have charged to the customer’s account and accrued interest accrued butwe have not yet charged to the account.account yet.

(5)The collateral value we have shown is limited to the balance of each associated individual loan. It does not include the impact of overcollateralisation (where the collateral has a higher value than the loan balance).

 

 

Annual Report 201451


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

 

 

Maximum exposure Collateral           Maximum exposure     Collateral                      
Balance sheet Off-balance Cash(1) Non-cash(1) Netting(2) Risk    Net  Balance sheet asset                                   
asset sheet       transfer(3) exposure  

Gross

amounts

£bn

  

 

 

Loan loss

  allowance

£bn

  

  

  

  

 

 

Net

  amounts

£bn

  

  

  

   

 

 

Off-balance

sheet

£bn

  

  

  

    

 

 

 

Cash

    

£bn

(1) 

  

  

     

 

 

Non-cash

    

£bn

(1) 

  

  

     

 

 

Netting

    

£bn

(2) 

  

  

     

 

 

Risk

transfer

£bn

  

(3) 

  

     

 

 

Net

exposure

£bn

  

  

  

£bn £bn £bn    £bn    £bn    £bn    £bn 

31 December 2013

2014

                         

Cash and balances at central banks

 26.4      –      –      –      –      26.4   22.6     22.6                                        22.6  

Trading assets:

 –      –                              

– Loans and advances to banks

 9.3      –      (0.8)      (3.4)      –      5.1   5.9     5.9                          (0.8            5.1  

– Loans and advances to customers

 4.4      –      (4.2)      –      –      0.2   3.0     3.0                   (2.2                   0.8  

– Debt securities

 7.9      –      –      –      –      7.9   8.0     8.0                                        8.0  

Total trading assets

 21.6      –      (5.0)      (3.4)      –      13.2   16.9     16.9                   (2.2     (0.8            13.9  

Financial assets designated at fair value:

                         

– Loans and advances to customers

 2.2   0.2   –      (2.3)      –      –      0.1   2.3     2.3     0.2              (2.4                   0.1  

– Debt securities

 0.5      –      –      –      –      0.5   0.6     0.6                                        0.6  

Total financial assets designated at fair value

 2.7   0.2   –      (2.3)      –      –      0.6   2.9     2.9     0.2              (2.4                   0.7  

Available-for-sale debt securities

 5.0      –      –      –      –      5.0   8.9     8.9                                        8.9  

Derivative financial instruments

 20.0      (1.7)      –      (15.4)      –      2.9   23.0     23.0            (1.3            (19.2            2.5  

Loans and advances to banks

 2.3      –      (0.3)      –      (0.1)      1.9   2.1     2.1     1.7              (0.3            (0.1     3.4  

Loans and advances to customers(4):

Loans and advances to customers:(4)

                         

– Advances secured on residential property

 147.8   6.8   –      (154.3)      –      –      0.3   150.5 (0.6 149.9     6.7              (156.5)(5)                    0.1  

– Corporate loans

 27.6   13.4   (0.1)      (20.9)      –      –      20.0   29.9 (0.6 29.3     14.9       (0.1     (20.1                   24.0  

– Finance leases

 3.1      (0.1)      (2.1)      –      –      0.9   2.7     2.7            (0.1     (2.2                   0.4  

– Other secured advances

                                                 

– Other unsecured advances

 5.3   9.6   –      –      –      –      14.9   6.2 (0.2 6.0     11.2                                   17.2  

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures

 

 

0.8

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

–   

 

  

 

 

 

–   

 

  

 

 

 

–   

 

  

 

 

 

–   

 

  

 

 

 

0.8

 

  

 

 0.8     0.8                                        0.8  

Total loans and advances to customers

 184.6   29.8   (0.2)      (177.3)      –      –      36.9   190.1 (1.4 188.7     32.8       (0.2     (178.8                   42.5  

Loans and receivables securities(4)

 1.1      –      –      –      –      1.1   0.1     0.1                                        0.1  

Total

 263.7   30.0   (1.9)      (184.9)      (18.8)      (0.1)      88.0   266.6 (1.4 265.2     34.7       (1.5     (183.7     (20.0     (0.1     94.6  

 

(1)The forms of collateral which Santander UK takeswe take to mitigatereduce credit risk include: residential and commercial property; other physical assets, including motor vehicles; liquid securities, including those transferred under reverse repurchase agreements; cash, including that which iscash used to collateraliseas collateral for derivative transactions; and receivables. In terms of exposure, chargesCharges on residential property representare most of the majority of collateral taken.we take.
(2)CreditWe can reduce credit risk exposures can be reduced by applying netting and set-off. Santander UK usesWe do this approach mainly for derivative and repurchase transactions with financial institutions. For derivatives, transactions, Santander UK useswe use standard master netting agreements (e.g. ISDA). These agreementsagreements. They allow for netting ofus to set off our credit risk exposure to a counterparty resulting from a derivative transaction against Santander UK’sour obligations to the counterparty in the event of default, to producedefault. This gives us a lower net credit exposure. They may also reduce settlement exposure. For more on this, see ‘Credit risk mitigation’ in the ‘Global corporate banking – credit risk management’ section.
(3)Certain financial instruments can be used to transfer credit risk from one counterpartyus to another.another counterparty. The main form of risk transfer employed by Santander UKwe use is through the use of credit default swaps, principallymainly transacted with other banks.
(4)Loans and advances to customers and loans and receivables securities are presented net of loan loss allowances, andBalances include interest we have charged to the customer’s account and accrued interest accrued butwe have not yet charged to the account.account yet.
(5)The collateral value we have shown is limited to the balance of each associated individual loan. It does not include the impact of overcollateralisation (where the collateral has a higher value than the loan balance).

Credit quality

In the table below, we have used a single rating scale to ensure we are consistent across all our credit risk portfolios in how we report the risk of default. It has eight grades for non-defaulted exposures, from 9 (lowest risk) to 2 (highest risk). We define each grade by an upper and lower probability of default (PD) value and we scale the grades so that the default risk increases by a factor of 10 every time the grade number drops by 2 steps. For example, risk grade 9 has an average PD of 0.01%, and risk grade 7 has an average PD of 0.1%. We give defaulted exposures a grade 1 and a PD value of 100%. In the final column of the table we show the approximate equivalent credit rating grade used by Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P).

Santander UK risk grade    PD range        
      

Mid

%

     

Lower

%

     

Upper

%

     

S&P

equivalent

 

9

     0.010       0.000       0.021       AAA to AA-  

8

     0.032       0.021       0.066       A+ to A  

7

     0.100       0.066       0.208       A- to BBB+  

6

     0.316       0.208       0.658       BBB to BBB-  

5

     1.000       0.658       2.081       BB+ to BB-  

4

     3.162       2.081       6.581       B+ to B  

3

     10.000       6.581       20.811       B- to CCC  

2

     31.623       20.811       99.999       CC to C  

1 Default

     100.000       100.000       100.000       D  

 

 

52Santander UK plc

56  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

and other itemsConduct risk

Other key risks

The tables below show the credit rating of our financial assets subject to credit risk. For more on the credit rating profiles of key portfolios, see the Retail Banking (i.e. residential mortgages), Commercial Banking, Global Corporate Banking and Corporate Centre sections.

      Santander UK rating guide 
      

 

 

 

9

(AAA to

AA-)

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

8

(A+to A)

    

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

7

(A- to

BBB+)

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

6

(BBB to

BBB-)

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

5

(BB+ to

BB-)

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

4

(B+ to B)

    

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

1 to 3

(B- to D)

    

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

Other

    

    

£bn

(1) 

  

  

  

   

 

 

 

Total

    

    

£bn

  

  

  

  

2015

                                  

Cash and balances at central banks

     15.5                                                 1.3     16.8  

Trading assets:

                                  

– Loans and advances to banks

     0.2       1.4       3.5       0.3                                 5.4  

– Loans and advances to customers

     0.6       3.9       1.3       0.1                            0.1     6.0  

– Debt securities

     1.0       3.1       0.8       0.6                                 5.5  

Total Trading assets

     1.8       8.4       5.6       1.0                            0.1     16.9  

Financial assets designated at fair value:

                                  

– Loans and advances to customers

     0.8       0.4       0.6                                   0.1     1.9  

– Debt securities

     0.3       0.2                                               0.5  

Total Financial assets designated at fair value

     1.1       0.6       0.6                                   0.1     2.4  

Available-for-sale debt securities

     6.8       1.4       0.7                                        8.9  

Derivative financial instruments

     0.4       9.9       8.5       1.5       0.6                          20.9  

Loans and advances to banks

     1.4       1.9       0.1       0.1                                 3.5  

Loans and advances to customers:(2)

                                  

– Advances secured on residential property

     2.7       21.4       68.8       41.0       7.2       6.4       5.8            153.3  

– Corporate loans

     3.3       2.7       2.5       9.6       7.7       3.9       0.8       1.4     31.9  

– Finance leases

                   0.4       1.2       2.0       1.7       0.9       0.1     6.3  

– Other secured advances

                                                             

– Other unsecured advances

                   0.2       1.2       2.7       0.9       0.4       0.9     6.3  

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates & joint ventures

     1.4                                                      1.4  

Total Loans and advances to customers

     7.4       24.1       71.9       53.0       19.6       12.9       7.9       2.4     199.2  

Loans and receivables securities(2)

                                        0.1                   0.1  
      34.4       46.3       87.4       55.6       20.2       13.0       7.9       3.9     268.7  

Loan loss allowance

                                                           (1.2

Total

                                                           267.5  

Of which:

                                                             

Neither past due nor impaired:

                                  

– Cash and balances at central banks

     15.5                                                 1.3     16.8  

– Trading assets

     1.8       8.4       5.6       1.0                            0.1     16.9  

– Financial assets designated at fair value

     1.1       0.6       0.6                                   0.1     2.4  

– Available-for-sale debt securities

     6.8       1.4       0.7                                        8.9  

– Derivative financial instruments

     0.4       9.9       8.5       1.5       0.6                          20.9  

– Loans and advances to banks

     1.4       1.9       0.1       0.1                                 3.5  

– Loans and advances to customers

     7.4       24.1       71.9       53.0       19.5       12.8       3.4       2.4     194.5  

– Loans and receivables securities

                                        0.1                   0.1  

Total neither past due nor impaired

     34.4       46.3       87.4       55.6       20.1       12.9       3.4       3.9     264.0  

Past due but not impaired(3)

                                 0.1              3.1            3.2  

Impaired(4)

                                        0.1       1.4            1.5  
      34.4       46.3       87.4       55.6       20.2       13.0       7.9       3.9     268.7  

Loan loss allowance

                                                           (1.2

Total

                                                           267.5  

(1)Other items include cash in hand and smaller cases mainly in the consumer finance and commercial mortgages portfolios. We use scorecards for these items, rather than rating models.
(2)Balances include interest we have charged to the customer’s account and accrued interest we have not charged to the account yet.
(3)Balances include mortgage loans in arrears which have been assessed for incurred but not observed (IBNO) losses as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
(4)Impaired loans are loans we have assessed for observed impairment loss allowances.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

      Santander UK rating guide 
      

 

 

 

9

(AAA to

AA-)

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

8

(A+to A)

    

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

7

(A- to

BBB+)

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

6

(BBB to

BBB-)

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

5

(BB+ to

BB-)

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

4

(B+ to B)

    

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

1 to 3

(B- to D)

    

£bn

  

  

  

  

     

 

 

 

Other

    

    

£bn

(1) 

  

  

  

   

 

 

 

Total

    

    

£bn

  

  

  

  

2014

                                  

Cash and balances at central banks

     21.1                                                 1.5     22.6  

Trading assets:

                                  

– Loans and advances to banks

     0.1       1.2       4.6                                        5.9  

– Loans and advances to customers

            2.1       0.7       0.2                                 3.0  

– Debt securities

     2.3       4.0       1.1       0.6                                 8.0  

Total Trading assets

     2.4       7.3       6.4       0.8                                 16.9  

Financial assets designated at fair value:

                                  

– Loans and advances to customers

     0.4       0.8       1.0       0.1                                 2.3  

– Debt securities

            0.2       0.1       0.1              0.2                   0.6  

Total Financial assets designated at fair value

     0.4       1.0       1.1       0.2              0.2                   2.9  

Available-for-sale debt securities

     8.9                                                      8.9  

Derivative financial instruments

     0.4       10.8       9.7       1.4       0.4                     0.3     23.0  

Loans and advances to banks

     0.3       1.4       0.3       0.1                                 2.1  

Loans and advances to customers:(2)

                                  

– Advances secured on residential property

     2.3       16.1       65.2       44.2       8.1       7.7       6.9            150.5  

– Corporate loans

     2.3       4.0       2.6       8.0       7.1       3.6       0.8       1.5     29.9  

– Finance leases

                   0.2       0.5       0.8       0.7       0.4       0.1     2.7  

– Other secured advances

                                                             

– Other unsecured advances

                   0.2       1.0       2.5       1.0       0.5       1.0     6.2  

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates & joint ventures

     0.7                            0.1                          0.8  

Total Loans and advances to customers

     5.3       20.1       68.2       53.7       18.6       13.0       8.6       2.6     190.1  

Loans and receivables securities(2)

                   0.1                                        0.1  
      38.8       40.6       85.8       56.2       19.0       13.2       8.6       4.4     266.6  

Loan loss allowance

                                                           (1.4

Total

                                                           265.2  

Of which:

                                                             

Neither past due nor impaired:

                                  

– Cash and balances at central banks

     21.1                                                 1.5     22.6  

– Trading assets

     2.4       7.3       6.4       0.8                                 16.9  

– Financial assets designated at fair value

     0.4       1.0       1.1       0.2              0.2                   2.9  

– Available-for-sale debt securities

     8.9                                                      8.9  

– Derivative financial instruments

     0.4       10.8       9.7       1.4       0.4                     0.3     23.0  

– Loans and advances to banks

     0.3       1.4       0.3       0.1                                 2.1  

– Loans and advances to customers

     5.3       20.1       68.2       53.6       18.4       12.8       3.5       2.5     184.4  

– Loans and receivables securities

                   0.1                                        0.1  

Total neither past due nor impaired

     38.8       40.6       85.8       56.1       18.8       13.0       3.5       4.3     260.9  

Past due but not impaired(3)

                                 0.1              3.8            3.9  

Impaired(4)

                          0.1       0.1       0.2       1.3       0.1     1.8  
      38.8       40.6       85.8       56.2       19.0       13.2       8.6       4.4     266.6  

Loan loss allowance

                                                           (1.4

Total

                                                           265.2  

(1)Other items include cash in hand and smaller cases mainly in the consumer finance and commercial mortgages portfolios. We use scorecards for these items, rather than rating models.
(2)Balances include interest we’ve charged to the customer’s account and accrued interest we haven’t charged to the account yet.
(3)Balances include mortgage loans in arrears which have been assessed for incurred but not observed (IBNO) losses as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
(4)Impaired loans are loans we have assessed for observed impairment loss allowances.

58  Santander UK plc


    Risk            
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

    

Credit performance

 

  Customer loans(1) NPLs(2) NPL ratio(3) NPL coverage(4) Gross write-offs Loan loss 
           allowance 
  £bn    £m    %    %    £m £m 

 

31 December 2014

Retail Banking

 158.5      2,573      1.62      34      273   881  

– Residential mortgages

 150.1      2,459      1.64      24      68   579  

– Banking and consumer credit

 8.4      114      1.35      265      205   302  

Commercial Banking

 18.7      664      3.56      46      75   305  

Corporate & Institutional Banking

 5.2      53      1.01      138      11   73  

Corporate Centre

 

 8.3      134      1.62      134      64   180  
 

 

 

 

 

190.7   

 

 

  

 

 3,424      1.80      42      423   1,439  

31 December 2013

Retail Banking

 155.6      2,936      1.89      31      387   921  

– Residential mortgages

 148.1      2,788      1.88      21      103   593  

– Banking and consumer credit

 7.5      148      1.96      222      284   328  

Commercial Banking

 17.0      649      3.83      43      151   279  

Corporate & Institutional Banking

 5.1      17      0.33      453      10   77  

Corporate Centre

 

 9.4      221      2.36      125      227   278  
 

 

 

 

 

187.1   

 

 

  

 

 3,823      2.04      41      775   1,555  

Age of loans and advances that are past due but not impaired

At 31 December 2015, loans and advances of £3.2bn (2014: £3.9bn) were past due but not impaired. Of these balances, £0.1bn (2014: £0.1bn) were less than one month overdue, £1.0bn (2014: £1.2bn) were 1-2 months overdue, £0.6bn (2014: £0.8bn) were 2-3 months overdue, £0.8bn (2014: £1.0bn) were 3-6 months overdue, and £0.7bn (2014: £0.8bn) were more than six months overdue.

Concentrations of credit risk exposures

Managing concentrations of risk is a key part of risk management. We track how concentrated our credit risk portfolios are using various criteria, including geographical areas and countries, economic sectors, products and groups of customers. Although our operations are based mainly in the UK, we have built up exposures to entities around the world. As a result, we are exposed to concentrations of risk related to geographical area and industries. We analyse these below:

Geographical concentrations

As part of our approach to credit risk management and Risk Appetite, we set exposure limits to countries and geographical areas. We set our limits with reference to the country limits set by Banco Santander SA. These are determined according to how the country is classified (whether it is a developed OECD country or not), its credit rating, its gross domestic product, and the types of products and services the Banco Santander group wants to offer in that country. The tables below set out our loans and advances to banks and customers by geographical area.

      

UK

    

£bn

     

Peripheral

eurozone(1)

£bn

     

Rest of

eurozone

£bn

     

Rest of

Europe

£bn

     

US

    

£bn

     

Rest of

world

£bn

     

Total

    

£bn

 

2015

                            

Loans and advances to banks

     2.0                            0.5       1.0       3.5  

Loans and advances to customers:(2)

                            

– Advances secured on residential property

     153.3                                          153.3  

– Corporate loans

     30.5       0.2       0.1       0.3       0.4       0.4       31.9  

– Finance leases

     6.2                                   0.1       6.3  

– Other secured advances

                                                 

– Other unsecured advances

     6.3                                          6.3  

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures

                                        1.4       1.4  

Loans and advances to customers (gross)

     196.3       0.2       0.1       0.3       0.4       1.9       199.2  

Less: impairment loss allowance

                             (1.2

Loans and advances to customers, net of impairment loss allowance

  

                                 198.0  
                                                201.5  

2014

                            

Loans and advances to banks

     1.3                            0.7       0.1       2.1  

Loans and advances to customers:(2)

                            

– Advances secured on residential property

     150.5                                          150.5  

– Corporate loans

     28.5       0.1       0.2       0.5              0.6       29.9  

– Finance leases

     2.6                                   0.1       2.7  

– Other secured advances

                                                 

– Other unsecured advances

     6.2                                          6.2  

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures

                                        0.8       0.8  

Loans and advances to customers (gross)

     187.8       0.1       0.2       0.5              1.5       190.1  

Less: impairment loss allowance

                             (1.4

Loans and advances to customers, net of impairment loss allowance

  

                                 188.7  
                                                190.8  

 

(1)Customer loansThe peripheral eurozone is Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain.
(2)Balances include interest we have charged to the customer’s account but excludeand accrued interest accrued butwe have not yet charged to the account.account yet. They also exclude loans classified as ‘Financial assets designated at fair value’.

For more geographical information, see ‘Country risk exposure’.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Industry concentrations

As part of our approach to credit risk management and Risk Appetite, we set concentration limits by industry sector. These limits are set based on the industry outlook, our strategic aims and desired level of concentration, but also take into account any relevant limit set by Banco Santander SA.

      

Social

Housing
    

    

£bn

     

Banks
    

    

    

£bn

     

Corporate

and SME

(including

real estate)
£bn

     

Residential
    

    

    

£bn

     

Cards and

personal

unsecured

lending

£bn

     

Other
    

    

    

£bn

     

Total

    

    

    

£bn

 

2015

                            

Loans and advances to banks

            3.5                                   3.5  

Loans and advances to customers:(1)

                            

– Advances secured on residential property

                          153.3                     153.3  

– Corporate loans

     6.1              25.5                     0.3       31.9  

– Finance leases

                                        6.3       6.3  

– Other secured advances

                                                 

– Other unsecured advances

                                 6.3              6.3  

– Amounts due from fellow subs, associates and JVs

                                        1.4       1.4  

Loans and advances to customers (gross)

     6.1              25.5       153.3       6.3       8.0       199.2  

Less: impairment loss allowance

                             (1.2

Loans and advances to customers, net of impairment loss allowance

  

                                 198.0  
                                                201.5  

2014

                            

Loans and advances to banks

            2.1                                   2.1  

Loans and advances to customers:(1)

                            

– Advances secured on residential property

                          150.5                     150.5  

– Corporate loans

     5.8              23.2                     0.9       29.9  

– Finance leases

                                        2.7       2.7  

– Other secured advances

                                                 

– Other unsecured advances

                                 6.2              6.2  

– Amounts due from fellow subs, associates and JVs

                                        0.8       0.8  

Loans and advances to customers (gross)

     5.8              23.2       150.5       6.2       4.4       190.1  

Less: impairment loss allowance

                             (1.4

Loans and advances to customers, net of impairment loss allowance

  

                                 188.7  
                                                190.8  

(2) (1)Balances include interest we have charged to the customer’s account and accrued interest we have not charged to the account yet. They also exclude loans classified as ‘Financial assets designated at fair value’.

For more industry information, see ‘Country risk exposure’. We also provide further portfolio analyses on committed exposures, which are typically higher than the balance sheet value, in the following ‘Credit risk review’ sections.

Forbearance summary

The following table shows loans and advances to customers in the previous tables that are subject to forbearance. For more on forbearance on mortgages in Retail Banking, as well as forbearance in Commercial Banking, Global Corporate Banking, and Corporate Centre, see the sections that follow.

      2015           2014 
      

Forbearance

of NPL

£m

     

Forbearance

of non-NPL

£m

     

            Total

    

£m

           

Forbearance

of NPL

£m

     

Forbearance

of non-NPL

£m

     

            Total

    

£m

 

Retail Banking:

                            

– Mortgages(1)

     546       3,122       3,668           594       3,273       3,867  

– Unsecured loans

            1       1           1       3       4  

– Credit cards

     27              27           27              27  

– Bank accounts

     12              12           13              13  

Commercial Banking

     405       300       705           389       408       797  

Global Corporate Banking

     10              10           53              53  

Corporate Centre

     36       84       120            86       245       331  
      1,036       3,507       4,543            1,163       3,929       5,092  

(1)The table above shows forbearance based on the customer’s payment status at the year-end, split between NPL and non-NPL. This basis differs to that presented in the ‘Credit risk – Retail Banking’ section, which shows the customer’s payment status at the year-end, split between in arrears and performing.

Forbearance exit criteria

Under our forbearance policy, accounts remain in forbearance until settlement or write off. At 31 December 2015, £2,529m i.e. 56% (2014: £2,671m i.e. 52%) of the reported forbearance balance had been performing for 24 consecutive months since the last forbearance event and was less than 30 days past due after this performing period.

60  Santander UK plc


    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

Credit performance

The customer loans in the tables below and in the remainder of the ‘Credit risk’ section are presented differently from the ‘Loans and advances to customers’ balance in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. The main differences are that the customer loans below are presented on an amortised cost basis and include loans classified as ‘Trading assets’, ‘Financial assets designated at fair value’ and ‘Loans and advances to customers’ in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. In addition, the balances below exclude interest we have accrued but not charged to customers’ accounts yet.

      
 

 

Customer loans
    

£bn

  
  

  

     

 

 

NPLs

    

£m

(1) 

  

  

   

 

 

NPL ratio

    

%

(2) 

  

  

   

 

 

NPL coverage

    

%

(3) 

  

  

   
 

 

Gross write-offs
    

£m

  
  

  

     

 

 

Loan loss

allowance

£m

  

  

  

2015

                  

Retail Banking:

     164.8       2,373     1.44     32     212       762  

– Residential mortgages

     152.8       2,252     1.47     19     40       424  

– Banking and consumer credit

     12.0       121     1.01     279     172       338  

Commercial Banking(4)

     20.9       586     2.80     44     83       260  

Global Corporate Banking(4)

     5.5       10     0.18     330     28       33  

Corporate Centre

     7.4       87     1.18     117     45       102  
      198.6       3,056     1.54     38     368       1,157  

2014

                  

Retail Banking:

     158.5       2,573     1.62     34     273       881  

– Residential mortgages

     150.1       2,459     1.64     24     68       579  

– Banking and consumer credit

     8.4       114     1.35     265     205       302  

Commercial Banking(4)

     18.7       664     3.56     46     75       305  

Global Corporate Banking(4)

     5.2       53     1.01     138     11       73  

Corporate Centre

     8.3       134     1.62     134     64       180  
      190.7       3,424     1.80     42     423       1,439  

 

(1)  Loans and advances are classified as NPL in line with the definitions in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.

(2)  NPLs as a percentage of customer loans.

(3)  Total impairment loan loss allowances as a percentage of NPLs. Total loan loss allowances relate to early arrears and performing assets (i.e. the IBNO provision) as well as NPLs. So the ratio can be bigger than 100%.

(4)  Total lending to corporates is the total lending of Commercial Banking and Global Corporate Banking.

 

Non-performing loans and advances(1)(2)

 

An analysis of our NPLs is shown below.

 

     

     

     

     

  

  

             2015
£m
   2014 £m   2013 £m   2012 £m     2011 £m 

Loans and advances to customers of which:(2)

         198,634     190,651     187,048     194,733       206,311  

NPLs

            3,056     3,424     3,823     4,210       3,979  

Total impairment loan loss allowances

            1,157     1,439     1,555     1,803       1,563  
             %     %     %     %       %  

NPL ratio(3)

         1.54     1.80     2.04     2.16       1.93  

Coverage ratio(4)

            38     42     41     43       39  

(1)Loans and advances are classified as non-performingNPL in accordanceline with the definitions provided in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.
(2)Include social housing loans and finance leases, and exclude trading assets.
(3)NPLs as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.
(4)LoanImpairment loan loss allowances as a percentage of NPLs.

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

In 2015, the total NPL ratio continued to improve to 1.54% (2014: 1.80%), with all loan books performing well in a supportive economic environment.

In Retail Banking, the NPL ratio decreased to 1.44% (2014: 1.62%), as a result of lower mortgage non-performing loans and overall growth in retail assets. The residential mortgages NPL ratio decreased to 1.47% (2014: 1.64%), with impairment releases and the decrease in NPL and coverage ratios reflecting the continued good performance of the portfolio supported by low interest rates, rising house prices and the supportive economic environment. The banking and consumer credit NPL ratio decreased to 1.01% (2014: 1.35%) due to asset growth, mainly through the PSA cooperation.

The Commercial Banking NPL ratio decreased to 2.80% (2014: 3.56%), with credit quality remaining strong. We continue to adhere to our prudent lending criteria as we grow lending. The Global Corporate Banking NPL ratio decreased to 0.18% (2014: 1.01%), due to the exit of a single loan of £49m and asset growth. The Corporate Centre NPL ratio decreased to 1.18% (2014: 1.62%), due to further loan disposals.

The coverage ratio reduced slightly to 38% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 42%). This was mainly due to a release in mortgage provisions, as a result of the growth in house prices and the continued strong credit quality of the portfolio.

For further information and commentarymore on the credit performance of theour key portfolios by business segment, see the ‘Credit risk – Retail Banking’, ‘Credit risk – Commercial Banking’, ‘Credit risk – Global Corporate & Institutional Banking’, and ‘Credit risk – Corporate Centre’ sections.

Credit quality

Santander UK uses a single rating scale to provide a consistent approach for reporting default risk across all the credit risk portfolios. The scale is comprised of eight grades for non-defaulted exposures numbered from 9 (lowest risk) to 2 (highest risk). Each grade is defined by an upper and lower probability of default (‘PD’) value and is scaled so that the default risk increases by a factor of 10 for every 2 step reduction in the grade number. For example, risk grade 9 equates to an average PD of 0.01%, and risk grade 7 equates to an average PD of 0.1%. Defaulted exposures are assigned to grade 1 and a PD value of 100%. An approximation to the equivalent credit rating grade used by Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services (‘S&P’) is shown in the final column of the table.

 

Santander UK risk grade   PD range      
 Mid Lower Upper S&P
  % % % equivalent

 

9

 0.010   0.000   0.021  AAA to AA-

8

 0.032   0.021   0.066  A+ to A

7

 0.100   0.066   0.208  A- to BBB+

6

 0.316   0.208   0.658  BBB to BBB-

5

 1.000   0.658   2.081  BB+ to BB-

4

 3.162   2.081   6.581  B+ to B

3

 10.000   6.581   20.811  B- to CCC

2

 31.623   20.811   99.999  CC TO C

1 Default

 

 100.000   100.000   100.000  D

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

 

 

Annual Report 201453


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

The tables below set out the distribution across the credit rating master scale for those financial assets subject to credit risk. For further detail and commentary on the credit rating profiles of key portfolios, see the Retail Banking (i.e. residential mortgages), Commercial Banking, Corporate & Institutional Banking and Corporate Centre sections.

  Santander UK rating guide 
 9   8   7   6   5   4   
 
1 to
3
  
  
 Other(1)  Total  
 (AAA to (A+to A) (A- to (BBB to (BB+ to (B+ to B) (B-to D)     
 AA-)   BBB+) BBB-) BB-)         
  £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m 

 

31 December 2014

Cash and balances at central banks

 

 21,104                     1,458   22,562  

 

Trading assets:

– Loans and advances to banks

 97   1,187   4,579   34   30      9      5,936  

– Loans and advances to customers

 53   2,073   674   207               3,007  

– Debt securities

 

 2,287   3,988   1,147   559               7,981  

 

   Total Trading assets

 

 2,437   7,248   6,400   800   30      9      16,924  

 

Financial assets designated at fair value

– Loans and advances to banks

 376   765   909   140   7      62      2,259  

– Debt securities

 

 3   243   73   83      220         622  

 

   Total Financial assets designated at fair value

 

 379   1,008   982   223   7   220   62      2,881  

 

Available-for-sale debt securities

 

 8,919                        8,919  

 

Derivative financial instruments

 

 397   10,785   9,733   1,379   353   33   37   304   23,021  

 

Loans and advances to banks

 

 329   1,357   289   78   4            2,057  

 

Loans and advances to customers(2):

– Advances secured on residential property

 2,332   16,069   65,208   44,174   8,079   7,637   6,926   15   150,440  

– Corporate loans

 2,339   3,969   2,576   8,086   7,116   3,629   816   1,472   30,003  

– Finance leases

 2   13   206   483   707   696   391   141   2,639  

– Other secured advances

                      15   15  

– Other unsecured advances

 37   29   187   1,035   2,478   958   491   1,021   6,236  

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates & joint ventures

 

 723            66         8   797  

 

   Total Loans and advances to customers

 

 5,433   20,080   68,177   53,778   18,446   12,920   8,624   2,672   190,130  

 

Loans and receivables securities(2)

 

 26   7   38      5   10   32      118  
 

 

 

 

 

39,024

 

 

  

 

 40,485   85,619   56,258   18,845   13,183   8,764   4,434   266,612  

 

Loan loss allowance

 

                         (1,439)  

 

Total

 

                         265,173  

Of which:

 

                           

 

Neither past due nor impaired:

– Cash and balances at central banks

 21,104                     1,458   22,562  

– Trading assets

 2,437   7,248   6,400   800   30      9      16,924  

– Financial assets designated at fair value

 379   1,008   982   223   7   220   62      2,881  

– Available-for-sale debt securities

 8,919                        8,919  

– Derivative financial instruments

 397   10,785   9,733   1,379   353   33   37   304   23,021  

– Loans and advances to banks

 329   1,357   289   78   4            2,057  

– Loans and advances to customers

 5,429   20,076   68,173   53,714   18,291   12,656   3,513   2,536   184,388  

– Loans and receivables securities

 

 26   7   38      5   10   32      118  

 

Total neither past due nor impaired

 

 39,020   40,481   85,615   56,194   18,690   12,919   3,653   4,298   260,870  

 

Past due but not impaired

 

 2   2   2   15   42   33   3,785   28   3,909  

 

Impaired(3)

 

 2   2   2   49   113   231   1,326   108   1,833  
 

 

 

 

 

39,024

 

 

  

 

 40,485   85,619   56,258   18,845   13,183   8,764   4,434   266,612  

 

Loan loss allowance

 

                         (1,439)  

 

Total

 

                         265,173  

(1) Other items include cash in hand and smaller cases predominantly within the commercial mortgages portfolio which are subject to scorecards rather than rating models, and consumer finance.
(2) Loans and advances to customers and loans and receivables securities are presented gross of loan loss allowances, and include interest charged to the customer’s account and interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.
(3) Impaired loans consists of loans individually assessed for observed impairment loss allowances.

54

    Credit risk – Retail Banking

OverviewSantander UK plc

We offer a full range of retail products and services through our branches, the internet, digital devices and over the phone, as well as through intermediaries.

Credit risk management

In this section, we explain how we manage credit risk, including how we mitigate it.

Credit risk review

In this section, we analyse our credit risk exposures and how they are performing. We also focus on forbearance and higher risk loans. Our main portfolios are:

Residential mortgages– This is our largest portfolio. We lend to customers of good credit quality (also known as prime lending). Most of our mortgages are for owner-occupied homes. We also have some buy-to-let mortgages where we focus on non-professional landlords with small portfolios.

Vehicle consumer finance– This includes cars, vans, motorbikes and caravans – so long as they are privately bought.

Other unsecured lending– This includes overdrafts, personal loans, credit cards and business banking.

RETAIL BANKING – CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT

Our customers are mainly individuals and small businesses. We have a high volume of transactions, each of which is for a relatively small amount of money. In addition, many of our transactions and customers share similar credit characteristics, like their credit score or LTV. As a result, we manage our overall credit risk by looking at portfolios or groups of customers who share similar credit characteristics. Where we take this approach, we call them ‘standardised’ customers.

Exactly how we group customers into segments depends on the portfolio and the stage of the credit lifecycle. For example, we may segment customers at origination by their credit score. For accounts in arrears, we may segment them by how fast they improve or worsen. We regularly review each segment compared with our expectations for its performance, budget or limit.

Risk strategy and planning

For more on how we set our risk strategy and plans for Retail Banking, see the ‘Santander UK group-level – credit risk management’ section.

Assessment and origination

Managing credit risk begins with lending responsibly. That means only lending to customers who:

Can afford to pay us back, even if interest rates rise or their financial position worsens
Are committed to paying us back.

We do this mainly by looking at affordability and the customer’s credit profile:

Affordability

We strive to confirm that the customer will be able to make all the repayments on the loan over its full term. As part of this, we assess the risk that they will not pay us back. We do this by a series of initial affordability and credit risk assessments. If the loan is secured, we assess affordability by reviewing the customer’s income and spending, their other credit commitments, and what would happen if interest rates went up. As most unsecured products have fixed interest rates, affordability reviews for these products do not consider the impact of increases in interest rates.

We regularly review the way we calculate affordability, and refine it when we need to. This can be due to changes in regulations, the economy or our risk profile.

Credit profile

Welook at each customer’s credit profile and signs of how reliable they are at repaying credit. We use the data they gave us when they applied, and:
Credit policy: these are our rules and guidelines. We review them regularly to make sure our decisions are consistent and fair, and align to the risk profile we want. For secured lending, we look at the property and the LTV as well as the borrower
Credit scores: these are based on statistics about the factors that make people fail to pay off debt. We use these to build models of what is likely to happen in the future. These models give a credit score to the customer or the loan they want, to show how likely it is to be repaid. We regularly review these models
Credit reference agencies: data from credit reference agencies about how the borrower has handled credit in the past
Other Santander accounts: we look at how the customer is using their other accounts with us.

62  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk            
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

 

 

  Santander UK rating guide 
 9   8   7   6   5   4   
 
1 to
3
  
  
 Other(1)  Total  
 (AAA to (A+to A) (A- to (BBB to (BB+ to (B+ to B) (B- to D)     
 AA-)   BBB+) BBB-) BB-)         
  £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m 

 

31 December 2013

Cash and balances at central banks

 25,160                     1,214   26,374  

Trading assets:

– Loans and advances to banks

 2,490   3,952   2,771   96   17            9,326  

– Loans and advances to customers

 265   3,732   407                  4,404  

– Debt securities

 3,089   3,833   895   42               7,859  

    

                                            

 

Total Trading assets

 5,844   11,517   4,073   138   17            21,589  

    

                                            

 

Financial assets designated at fair value

– Loans and advances to banks

 499   1,000   667   12            41   2,219  

– Debt securities

 278   35   3         212         528  

    

                                            

 

Total Financial assets designated at fair value

 777   1,035   670   12      212      41   2,747  

    

                                            

 

Available-for-sale debt securities

 3,720   379   863               19   4,981  

    

                                            

 

Derivative financial instruments

 276   7,943   9,881   1,072   204   12   19   642   20,049  

    

                                            

 

Loans and advances to banks

 600   571   1,024   152               2,347  

    

                                            

 

Loans and advances to customers(2):

– Advances secured on residential property

 3,374   15,216   60,965   43,173   8,715   8,811   8,144   20   148,418  

– Corporate loans

 2,265   3,928   3,933   8,139   4,863   2,637   734   1,685   28,184  

– Finance leases

 2   13   416   760   730   818   378   41   3,158  

– Other secured advances

                           

– Other unsecured advances

    43   121   730   2,043   1,009   520   1,103   5,569  

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates & joint ventures

 648            153         12   813  

    

                                            

 

Total Loans and advances to customers

 6,289   19,200   65,435   52,802   16,504   13,275   9,776   2,861   186,142  

    

                                            

 

Loans and receivables securities(2)

 786   99   34   88   94            1,101  

    

                                            

 

 

 

43,452

 

  

 40,744   81,980   54,264   16,819   13,499   9,795   4,777   265,330  

    

                                            

 

Loan loss allowance

 (1,561)  

    

                                            

 

Total

 263,769  

    

                                            

Of which:

    

                                            

Neither past due nor impaired:

– Cash and balances at central banks

 25,160                     1,214   26,374  

– Trading assets

 5,844   11,517   4,073   138   17            21,589  

– Financial assets designated at fair value

 777   1,035   670   12      212      41   2,747  

– Available-for-sale debt securities

 3,720   379   863               19   4,981  

– Derivative financial instruments

 276   7,943   9,881   1,072   204   12   19   642   20,049  

– Loans and advances to banks

 600   571   1,024   152               2,347  

– Loans and advances to customers

 6,289   19,192   65,430   52,688   16,377   12,865   3,770   2,589   179,200  

– Loans and receivables securities

 776   84   34   88   94            1,076  

    

                                            

 

Total neither past due nor impaired

 43,442   40,721   81,975   54,150   16,692   13,089   3,789   4,505   258,363  

    

                                            

 

Past due but not impaired

    5   2   17   53   40   4,765   41   4,923  

    

                                            

 

Impaired(3)

 10   18   3   97   74   370   1,241   231   2,044  

    

                                            

 

 

 

43,452

 

  

 40,744   81,980   54,264   16,819   13,499   9,795   4,777   265,330  

    

                                            

 

Loan loss allowance

 (1,561

    

                                            

 

Total

 263,769  

    

                                            

(1) Other items include cash in hand and smaller cases predominantly within the commercial mortgages portfolio which are subject to scorecards rather than rating models, and consumer finance.
(2) Loans and advances to customers and loans and receivables securities are presented gross of loan loss allowances, and include interest charged to the customer’s account and interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.
(3) Impaired loans consists of loans individually assessed for observed impairment loss allowances.
How we make the decision

Many of our decisions are automated as our risk systems contain data about affordability and credit history. We tailor the process and emphasis on the factors above for individual products, based on their relevance. More complex transactions often need greater manual assessment. This means we have to rely more on our credit underwriters’ skill and experience in making the decision. This is particularly true for secured lending, where we might need to do more checks on the customer’s income, or get a property valuation from an approved surveyor, for example.

Credit risk mitigation

The types of credit risk mitigation, including collateral, across each of our portfolios is:

 

Annual Report 2014
55    PortfolioDescription
Residential mortgages

Collateral is in the form of a first legal charge over the property. Before we grant a mortgage, we get an approved surveyor to value the property. We have our own guidelines for valuations, which build on guidance from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). For re-mortgages and some loans where the LTV is 75% or less, we might use an automated valuation instead.

Unsecured lending

Most of our other portfolios are unsecured. This means there is no collateral or security tied to the loan that can be used to mitigate any potential loss if the customer does not pay us back.

Vehicle consumer finance

Collateral is in the form of legal ownership of the vehicle for most vehicle consumer finance loans, with the customer being the registered keeper. Only a very small proportion of the vehicle consumer finance business is underwritten as a personal loan. In these cases there is no collateral or security tied to the loan. We use a leading vehicle valuation company, to assess the LTV at the proposal stage.


Monitoring

Our risk assessment does not end once we have made the decision to lend. We monitor credit risk across the credit lifecycle, mostly using IT systems. There are three main parts:

Behaviour scoring: we use statistical models that help to predict whether the customer will have problems repaying, based on data about how they use their accounts. Our models also use data from credit reference agencies
Credit reference agencies: we often use data from agencies on how the borrower is handling credit from other lenders in our behaviour scoring models. We also buy services like proprietary scorecards or account alerts, which tell us as soon as the customer does something that concerns us (such as missing a payment to another bank)
Other Santander accounts: every month, we also look at how the customer is using their other accounts with us, so we can identify problems early.

The way we use this monitoring to manage risk varies by product. For revolving credit facilities like credit cards and overdrafts, it might lead us to raise or lower credit limits. Our monitoring can also mean we change our minds about whether a product is still right for a customer and influence whether we approve an application for re-financing. In these ways we can balance our customers’ needs and their ability to manage credit.

For secured lending, our monitoring also needs to take account of changes in property prices. We use an independent agency to estimate the property’s current value every three months. They use statistical models based on recent sales prices and valuations in that local area. A lack of data can mean our confidence in the model’s valuation drops below a certain minimum, and in that case we use the House Price Index (HPI) instead.

If we find evidence that a customer is in financial difficulties, we might also talk to them about arrears management or forbearance, which we explain in more detail below.

Arrears management

We have several strategies for managing arrears, and we start using them as soon as possible. This can be before the customer has defaulted, and often as early as the day after a missed payment. We try to understand the problems a customer is having, so we can offer them the right help to bring their account up to date as soon as possible.

The strategy we use depends on the risk and the customer’s circumstances. We provide a range of tools to assist customers in reaching an affordable and acceptable solution. That could mean visiting the customer, debt counselling, or paying off the debt using money from their other accounts with us (where we have the right to do so).

Forbearance

If a customer is having financial difficulty, we always try to come to an arrangement with them before they actually default. Their problems might be the result of something like losing their job, falling ill, a relationship breaking down, or the death of someone close to them.

Forbearance is mainly for mortgages and unsecured loans. We very rarely offer it for vehicle consumer finance.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Re-categorisationWe may offer the following types of loans and loan loss allowances

During 2014, loans and loan loss allowances were re-categorised to align definitions with industry practices and which also conform to changes in regulatory definitions. There was no change inforbearance. We only do this if our assessments indicate the total amount of impairment loss allowances, and did not reflect any change in credit quality ofcustomer can meet the assets. Impaired loans at 31 December 2013 in the previous table have been adjusted for comparability, resulting in a decrease of £1,809m, from £3,853m as previously published, to £2,044m. Details of the re-categorisation by portfolio are as follows:

Advances secured on residential property and other unsecured advances which are in arrears are regarded as impaired where they are three months or more past due i.e. when there is sufficient reliable evidence of a loss event. Such loans are classified as individually impaired and the associated loan loss allowances are presented as part of the observed provision. Previously, advances were also classified as individually impaired where they were in early arrears (i.e. more than one month but less than three months past due) with the associated loan loss allowances presented as part of the observed provision (collective). Impairment loss allowances on advances in early arrears are now presented as part of the IBNO provision.

Corporate loans and other secured advances in arrears are also regarded as impaired where they are three months or more past due, or if they are individually assessed sub-standard loans. Such loans are classified as individually impaired and are assessed as part of the observed provision. Previously, corporate loans and other secured advances which were exhibiting earlier signs of stress (i.e. included on the Watchlist or collectively assessed sub-standard loans) were also classified as individually impaired and the associated loan loss allowances presented as part of the observed provision (collective). Impairment loss allowances on advances in early arrears are now presented as part of the IBNO provision.

Higher risk loans

During 2014 we have elected to employ a more conservative definition of higher risk assets aligned to our master rating scale. Assets allocated to the 1-3 banding represent either defaulted balances or those at a higher risk of default (i.e. with a lower bound probability of default of 6.581%). The previously published ‘Higher risk’ loans of £1,112m at 31 December 2013 that were neither past due nor impaired included retail loans with a lower bound probability of default or expected loss of 12.5%. As a result the loans of £3,789m at 31 December 2013 that were neither past due nor impaired and included in the 1-3 banding in the table above were £2,677m higher.

Maturity analysis of loans and advances that are past due but not impaired

At 31 December 2014, loans and advances of £3,897m (2013: £4,923m) were past due but not impaired. Of these balances, £78m (2013: £104m) were due within one month, £1,206m (2013: £1,461m) were due after one month but within two months, £772m (2013: £1,010m) were due after two months but within three months, £1,019m (2013: £1,343m) were due after three months but within six months, and £822m (2013: £1,005m) were due after six months.

Non-performing loans and advances(1)(2)

An analysis of Santander UK’s NPLs is presented below.

  2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 
  £m £m £m £m £m 

Loans and advances to customers of which:(2)

 190,651   187,048   194,733   206,311   202,090  

Customers in arrears(3)

 2,930   3,455   4,149   3,913   3,648  

NPLs

 3,424   3,823   4,210   3,979   3,717  

    

                                   

Total impairment loan loss allowances

 1,439   1,555   1,803   1,563   1,655  

    

                                   
 %   %   %   %   %  

    

                                   

Arrears ratio(4)

 1.54   1.86   2.13   1.90   1.81  

NPLs ratio(5)

 1.80   2.04   2.16   1.93   1.84  

Coverage ratio(6)

 42   41   43   39   45  

    

                                   

(1) Loans and advances are classified as non-performing in accordance with the definitions provided in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.
(2) Loans and advances to customers include social housing loans and finance leases, and exclude trading assets.
(3) All balances are UK and continue accruing interest. For the data presented, the balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.
(4) Loans and advances to customers in arrears as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.
(5) NPLs as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.
(6) Impairment loan loss allowances as a percentage of NPLs.

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

During 2014, the NPL ratio improved to 1.80% (2013: 2.04%), with retail and corporate loans performing well in a benign credit environment. The reduction in the NPL ratio resulted largely from improvements in the economic environment and prolonged low interest rates. In Retail Banking, the better performance of the portfolio was supported by the benign economic environment for UK households, low interest rates, rising house prices and falling unemployment. In Commercial Banking, credit quality remained strong, again supported by the improving economic environment.

At 31 December 2014, loans and advances to customers in arrears and the arrears ratio decreased to £2,930m (2013: £3,455m) and 1.54% (2013: 1.86%), respectively, as a result of the improving economy and as Santander UK continued to execute the strategy of exiting problem exposures through sale of the debt or through the realisation of the collateral.

The coverage ratio remained broadly unchanged at 42% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 41%).

revised payments:

 

56
Santander UK plc    ActionDescription
Capitalisation

We offer two main types, which are often combined with term extensions and interest-only concessions:

–    If the customer cannot afford to increase their monthly payment enough to pay off their arrears in a reasonable time, but has been making their monthly payments (usually for at least six months), then we can add the arrears to the mortgage balance.

–    We can also add to the mortgage balance at the time of forbearance unpaid property charges which are due to a landlord and which we pay on behalf of the customer to avoid the lease being forfeited.

Term extension

We can extend the term of the loan, making each monthly payment smaller. At a minimum, we expect the customer to pay the interest in the short-term and have a realistic chance of repaying the full balance in the long-term. We may offer this option if the customer is up-to-date with their payments, but showing signs of financial difficulties. For mortgages, the customer must also meet our policies for maximum loan term and age when they finish repaying (usually no more than 75).

Interest-only

In the past, if it was not possible or affordable for a customer to have a term extension, we may have agreed to let them pay only the interest on the loan for a short time – usually less than a year. We only agreed to this where we believed their financial problems were temporary and they were likely to recover. Since March 2015 we no longer provide this option as a concession. Instead, interest-only has only been offered as a short-term standard collections arrangement. We now record any related shortfall in monthly payments as arrears and report them to the credit reference agencies. As a result, we no longer classify new interest-only arrangements agreed since March 2015 as forbearance. We continue to manage and report all interest-only arrangements offered before this date as forbearance.

Reduced payment arrangements

We can suspend overdraft fees and charges while the customer keeps to a plan to reduce their overdraft each month.

When we agree to any of these solutions with a customer, we report the account as forborne. We also review our loan loss allowances for them. Some of these accounts stay in our performing portfolio but we report them separately from other performing accounts as forborne. We classify a loan as forborne until it is fully repaid.

If an account is performing when we agree forbearance, we automatically classify it as forborne. We only classify it as NPL once it meets our standard criteria for NPL. If an account is in NPL when we agree forbearance, we keep it in the NPL category until the customer repays all the arrears, including those that existed before forbearance started.

We assess and review our loan loss allowances regularly and have them independently reviewed. We look at a number of factors, including the:

Cash flow available to service debt
Value of collateral (mostly mortgages). We use an agency to do this. They use models to estimate property values with data from recent property sales and valuations in that local area.

Other changes in contract terms

Apart from forbearance, we have sometimes changed the terms of a contract to improve our relationship with a customer. These customers showed no signs of financial difficulties, so we do not classify the contract changes as forbearance, and most of the loans were paid back without any problems.

We do not classify insolvency solutions for credit card customers as forbearance. This is because they are set by regulations and codes of practice, rather than as a result of our policy.

Debt recovery

When a customer cannot or will not keep to an agreement for paying off their arrears, we turn to the law and begin litigation and recovery. We only do this after we have made every reasonable effort to get the account back in order. To recover what we are owed, we may use a debt collection agency, sell the debt to another company, or take the customer to court.

For secured retail loans (mostly mortgages), we sometimes delay bringing in the lawyers or put legal action on hold. That can happen if the customer shows evidence that they will be able to pay off the mortgage or pay back the arrears, or if they are regularly making at least their normal monthly payment. We only repossess as a last resort.

We make sure our estimated losses from repossessed properties are realistic by getting two independent valuations on each property, as well as the estimated cost of selling it. These form the basis of our impairment loss allowance calculations.

Risk measurement and control

Retail Banking involves managing large numbers of accounts, so it produces a huge amount of data. This allows us to take a more analytical and data intense approach to measuring risk. This is reflected in the wide range of statistical models we use across the credit lifecycle. We use:

Risk strategy and planning: econometric models
Assessment and origination: application scorecards, and attrition, pricing, impairment and capital models
Monitoring: behavioural scorecards and profitability models
Arrears management: models to estimate the proportion of cases that will result in possession (known as roll rates)
Debt recovery: recovery models.

64  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk             
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

 

Concentrations of credit risk exposures

RETAIL BANKING – CREDIT RISK REVIEW

RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGES

We offer mortgages to people who want to buy a house, and offer additional borrowing (known as further advances) to existing mortgage customers. The management of risk concentration is a key part of risk management. Santander UK tracks the degree of concentration of its credit risk portfolios using various criteria, including geographical areas and countries, economic sectors, products and groups of customers. Although Santander UK’s operations are based mainlyproperty must be in the UK it has built up exposures to various entities around(except for a small amount of lending in the world and is therefore exposed to concentrationsIsle of risk related to geographical area. These are further analysed below:Man).

Geographical concentrationsLending

As part of its approach to credit risk management and risk appetite, Santander UK sets exposure limits to countries and certain geographical areas. These limits are set by Santander UK with reference toWe analyse mortgage movements in 2015 in the country limits set by Banco Santander, S.A. These are determined according to the classification of the country (whether it is a developed OECD country or not), the rating of the country, its gross domestic product and the type of business activities and products the Banco Santander group wishes to engage in within that country.

The tables below set out the distribution, by geographical area, of loans and advances to banks and customers.

  UK Peripheral Rest of Rest of US Rest of Total 
 eurozone(1)  eurozone   Europe   world  
  £m £m £m £m £m £m £m 

31 December 2014

Loans and advances to banks

 1,311   8   28   11   644   55   2,057  

Loans and advances to customers(2):

– Advances secured on residential property

 149,861                  149,861  

– Corporate loans

 28,034   144   167   497   30   573   29,445  

– Finance leases

 2,482               103   2,585  

– Other secured advances

                15   15  

– Other unsecured advances

 5,988                  5,988  

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures

 

 797                  797  

Loans and advances to customers

 

 

 

187,162

 

  

 

 144   167   497   30   691   188,691  
 188,473   152   195   508   674   746   190,748  

    

                                                 

31 December 2013

Loans and advances to banks

 1,528   68   62   222   415   52   2,347  

Loans and advances to customers(2):

– Advances secured on residential property

 147,825                  147,825  

– Corporate loans

 25,420   263   157   734   159   817   27,550  

– Finance leases

 3,106   4      4         3,114  

– Other secured advances

                     

– Other unsecured advances

 5,285                  5,285  

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures

 813                  813  

    

                                                 

Loans and advances to customers

 182,449   267   157   738   159   817   184,587  

    

                                                 
 183,977   335   219   960   574   869   186,934  

    

                                                 

table below. In this table:

(1) Peripheral eurozone comprises Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Italy, PortugalGross lending includes new business, further advances and Spain.any flexible mortgage drawdown against available limits
(2) LoansRedemptions and advancespaydowns refer to customers arecustomer payments, over-payments, clearing mortgage balances or re-financing away from us
The data does not include accrued interest and we have presented including loanit before deducting impairment loss allowances.

For additional geographical information and commentary, see ‘Country Risk Exposure.’

 

Annual Report 201457


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

Credit risk exposures by industry

As part of its approach to credit risk management and risk appetite, Santander UK sets exposure limits to certain key industry sectors. The tables below set out the distribution, by industry sector, of loans and advances to banks and customers.

  Social Banks SME Real Transport Residential Cards and Other Total 
 Housing     estate     personal     
             unsecured     
             lending     
  £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m 

31 December 2014

Loans and advances to banks

    2,057                     2,057  

    

                                                               

Loans and advances to customers(1):

– Advances secured on residential property

                150,440         150,440  

– Corporate loans

 5,857      13,544   2,800   375         7,427   30,003  

– Finance leases

             314         2,325   2,639  

– Other secured advances

                      15   15  

– Other unsecured advances

                   6,236      6,236  

– Securities acquired under resale agreement

                           

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates & joint ventures

                      797   797  

    

                                                               

Loans and advances to customers (gross)

 5,857      13,544   2,800   689   150,440   6,236   10,564   190,130  

    

                        

Less: impairment loss allowance

 (1,439

    

   

 

Loans and advances to customers, net of impairment loss allowance

  

 188,691  

    

                                                               
 190,748  

    

                                                               

31 December 2013

Loans and advances to banks

    2,347                     2,347  

    

                                                               

Loans and advances to customers(1):

– Advances secured on residential property

                148,418         148,418  

– Corporate loans

 5,748      12,776   3,363   635         5,662   28,184  

– Finance leases

             942         2,216   3,158  

– Other secured advances

                           

– Other unsecured advances

                   5,569      5,569  

– Securities acquired under resale agreement

                           

– Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates & joint ventures

                      813   813  

    

                                                               

Loans and advances to customers (gross)

 5,748      12,776   3,363   1,577   148,418   5,569   8,691   186,142  

    

                        

Less: impairment loss allowance

 (1,555

    

   

Loans and advances to customers, net of impairment loss allowance

  

 184,587  

    

                                                               
 186,934  
                                                                

(1) Loans and advances to customers are presented excluding loan loss allowances.

For additional industry information, see ‘Country Risk Exposure.’

Forbearance summary

The following table provides a summary of the population of loans and advances to customers which have been subject to forbearance programmes and are included in the previous tables. Discussion and analysis of forbearance activities for mortgages in Retail Banking and forbearance activities in Commercial Banking, Corporate & Institutional Banking, and Corporate Centre are set out in their respective sections.

  2014   2013 
 Forbearance         Forbearance                 Total          Forbearance         Forbearance                 Total 
 of NPL of non-NPL    of NPL of non-NPL   
  £m £m £m   £m £m £m 

Retail Banking:

– Mortgages

 723   3,144   3,867   691   3,396   4,087  

– Unsecured loans

 1   3   4   2   7   9  

– Credit cards

 27      27   33      33  

– Bank accounts

 1   12   13   2   15   17  

Commercial Banking

 58   739   797   182   728   910  

Corporate & Institutional Banking

 50      50   14      14  

Corporate Centre

 18   313   331   58   322   380  

    

                                               
 878 �� 4,211   5,089   982   4,468   5,450  

    

                                               

58Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

      £m

At 1 January 2015(1)

     150,057

New business

     25,228

Further advances/Flexi drawdowns

     1,255

Redemptions/paydowns

(23,721)

At 31 December 2015(1)

152,819  

 

(1)All mortgage balances are in the UK and continue accruing interest. Balances include interest we have charged to the customer’s account, but do not include interest they have accrued that we have not charged to their account yet.

CREDIT RISK – RETAIL BANKING

RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGES

Retail Banking grants mortgage loans for house purchases as well as granting further advances toIn 2015, there were also £18.0bn (2014: £14.4bn) of internal transfers where we kept existing mortgage customers. The propertycustomers with maturing products on which the mortgage is secured must always be located within the UK, with the exception of an immaterial amount of lending in the Isle of Man.

In the following chart, gross lending includes both new business and, shown separately, further advances and any flexible mortgage drawdown against available limits. The redemptions and paydowns refer to customer payments, over-payments, clearing mortgage balances or re-financing away from Santander UK. The data excludes accrued interest and is presented gross of impairment loss allowances.

LOGOmortgages.

 

An analysis of mortgage asset movements during 2014 is presented below:

 Mortgage provision models

 

Mortgages are our largest product, so we pay particular attention to how we calculate the provision we need for them. Our provision models are statistically-derived collective models, except for fraud and properties in possession, which we provide for individually. We have two main models – a credit model and a maturity risk model (for interest-only mortgages).

In 2015, we enhanced our credit model to:

–  Increase its granularity for mortgages with an LTV over 100%

–  Refine its treatment of poorly performing cases

–  Update the segmentation used to estimate loss propensities

–  Change the use of loss per case and loss factor to a loss ratio, which takes account of the exposure of each account. This estimates the percentage of balances that will be lost on possession using our observed loss experience.

As a result of our enhancements to our credit model, we reduced the number and scale of model overlays applied to our previous model. In view of the increase in house prices in 2015 and improvement in other economic drivers of impairment, we also reviewed our approach to continue to ensure the segments in the model

  

have similar credit characteristics.

 

£mThis ensured that our provisions remain allocated appropriately to different parts of the portfolio.

We also updated our maturity risk model to reflect long-run average house price trends. The model now recognises the possibility of loss for all estimated LTVs at maturity, not just those above 75% as in the past.

 

  We ran the new models in parallel in the second half of the year and compared the results with the provisions estimated from the prior models and our model overlays. This showed there was no significant change to our mortgage provision under the new models compared to the adjusted old models. The new models were subject to our model governance framework and approved by the Board Audit Committee in November 2015.

At 1 January 2014(1)

  148,079

New business

25,078

Further advances/Flexi drawdowns

1,182

Redemptions/paydowns

(24,282)

At 31 December 2014(1)

150,057

LOGO

(1) All mortgage balances are UK and continue accruing interest. The balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.

In addition, during 2014 there were internal transfers of £14.4bn (2013: £18.4bn) where we were successful in the targeted retention of mortgage customers.

 

 

Annual Report 201459


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Borrower and product profile

In the followingthese charts, the category ‘home movers’ includesinclude both existing customers moving house and taking out a new mortgage with us, and customers who moveswitch their mortgage to us at the pointwhen they move home. The category ‘re-mortgagers’ compriseshouse. ‘Re-mortgagers’ are external customers who are re-mortgaging to Santander UK only. Internalwith us. We have not included internal re-mortgages, further advances and any flexible mortgage drawdowns are not included in the new business figures below.

LOGO

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

During 2014, the proportion of new business arising from first-time buyers increased from 20% to 22% driven by the Help to Buy scheme, under which Santander UK lent £1.2bn in the year. The Help to Buy scheme supports borrowers who have smaller deposits by guaranteeing a proportion of their loan, enabling lenders taking part to offer home buyers higher LTV mortgages (from 80% to 95% LTV) without materially increasing the credit risk profile of the lending. Santander UK participates in Help to Buy from 90% to 95% LTV. Buy-to-let new business increased from 3% to 5%, in line with the strategy to expand this line of business in a controlled manner. There was a corresponding decrease in remortgager (from 28% to 25%) and Home mover (from 49% to 48%) new business percentages. There were smaller movements in the mix of buyer type in the stock figures, which were also influenced by redemptions and repayments. Overall, the mix was relatively stable, with only a slight decrease in the remortgagers.

Product and interest rate profile

  2014   2013 
                  £m                 %                   £m                      % 

Term product – Fixed rate

 69,329   46   56,672   39  

Term product – Tracker

 4,308   3   5,956   4  

Standard Variable Rate (‘SVR’)(1)

 43,072   29   51,490   35  

Base rate linked

 14,791   10   15,260   10  

Flexi(2)

 15,203   10   16,245   11  

Buy-to-let

 3,138   2   2,201   1  

Other

 

 

 

216

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

255

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

150,057

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

148,079

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

(1) Excludes Buy-to-let on SVR of £790m (2013: £841m) included in the Buy-to-let line.

(2) In addition, there were £6,177m (2013: £7,469m) of legacy Alliance & Leicester flexible loan products included in other categories as the product functionality is more limited than the current Santander UK Flexi loan product.

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

During 2014, the migration away from tracker mortgages to fixed rate products witnessed in 2013 continued, in line with the market. This reflected potential borrowers’ concerns over future interest rate movements, and the increased availability of competitively priced fixed rate products. This was also reflected in the proportion of existing customers paying the SVR decreasing by 6% to 29% in 2014 (2013: 35%).

figures.

 

60LOGOSantander UK plcLOGO

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

The mortgage borrower mix was broadly unchanged in 2015, with the majority of total stock home movers and remortgagers, at 45% and 33%, respectively, at 31 December 2015 (2014: 43% and 35%, respectively). First-time buyers represented 19% (2014: 20%) of total stock and 3% (2014: 2%) was buy-to-let. This was driven by an underlying stability in target market segments, product pricing and distribution strategy.

Buy-to-let new business increased from 5% to 9% at 31 December 2015, in line with our business objectives to support additional lending for this sector. We have a particular focus on non-professional landlords as this segment is more closely aligned with residential mortgages, and also accounts for the majority of the buy-to-let market. In 2015, we completed 12,700 buy-to-let mortgages at an average LTV of 70%.

Interest rate profile

The interest rate profile of our mortgage asset stock was:

      2015           2014 
      £m     %           £m     % 

Fixed rate

     82,570       54           70,720       47  

Variable rate

     34,402       23           35,476       24  

Standard Variable Rate (SVR)

     35,847       23            43,861       29  
              152,819                      100                    150,057                      100  

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

In 2015, the proportion of SVR loan balances and variable rate mortgages both decreased to 23% (2014: 29% and 24% respectively) and fixed rate mortgages increased to 54% (2014: 47%). This was driven by new business flows and consumer sentiment about expected future interest rate movements as well as the availability of competitively-priced fixed rate products.

66  Santander UK plc


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Conduct risk

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Geographical distribution

The new business data in the followingthese tables corresponds tois new business originated duringstarting in each of the reported years. For 2014, theyears we show. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (‘CML’)(CML) new business data in the table belowfor 2015 covers the nine months ended 30 September 2014, due2015 because that was the only data available for 2015 when we went to timing of data availability.print. The percentage shown ispercentages are calculated on a value weighted basis. During

UK region    2015        2014 
     Santander UK     CML (unaudited)       Santander UK     CML (unaudited) 
     Stock     New business     New business       Stock     New business     New business 
      %     %     %        %     %     % 

East Anglia

     3       3       4        3       3       3  

London

     23       28       21        22       26       22  

Midlands

     10       10       12        11       10       12  

North and North West

     10       8       10        11       8       10  

Northern Ireland

     3       1       1        3       1       1  

Scotland

     5       4       7        5       4       7  

South East excluding London

     30       32       27        29       32       29  

South West and Wales

     11       10       12        11       11       11  

Yorkshire and Humberside

     5       4       6         5       5       5  
      100       100       100         100       100       100  

2015 compared to 2014 Santander UK updated its geographical region definitions to align to revised CML definitions, providing a narrower definition of London and an equivalently wider definition(unaudited)

At 31 December 2015, the lending profile of the South East excluding London. The data presented for 2013 has been prepared onportfolio represented a consistent basis, to aid comparability.

UK Region2014   2013 
 Santander UK   CML (unaudited)   Santander UK   CML (unaudited)  
         Stock       New business       New business           Stock       New business   New business  
  % % %   % % % 

East Anglia

 3   3   3   3   3   3  

East Midlands

 5   5   6   5   5   6  

London

 22   26   22   22   26   22  

North

 3   2   3   3   3   3  

North West

 8   6   7   8   6   7  

Northern Ireland

 3   1   1   3   1   1  

Scotland

 5   4   7   5   4   7  

South East excluding London

 29   32   29   29   31   28  

South West

 8   9   8   8   9   9  

Wales

 3   2   3   3   2   3  

West Midlands

 6   5   6   6   5   6  

Yorkshire and Humberside

 

 

 

5

 

  

 

 

 

5

 

  

 

 

 

5

 

  

 

  

 

5

 

  

 

 

 

5

 

  

 

 

 

5

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

Geographically, whilst Santander UK has a diverse geographical footprint across the UK, our mortgage exposure continueswhile continuing to reflect a concentration around London and the South East.

Larger loans

The mortgage asset stock of larger loans was:

Stock    South East including London        UK 

Individual mortgage loan size

    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

        

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Less than £0.25m

     50,325       51,712        114,555       117,269  

£0.25m–£0.5m

     21,848       18,929        29,060       25,617  

£0.5m–£1m

     6,828       5,271        7,922       6,213  

£1m–£2m

     1,060       768        1,123       827  

> £2m

     155       124         159       131  

Average loan size for new business

The average loan size for new business in 2015 and 2014 was:

UK region

    

    

2015

£000

     

2014

£000

 

South East including London

     248       229  

Rest of the UK

     136       125  

UK as a whole

     186       169  

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

In 2015, the average loan size for new business increased in line with the overall rise in house prices, to £186,000 for the UK overall, £248,000 for the South East including London representing approximately halfand £136,000 for the valuerest of the total portfolio.UK. The concentration is a resultaverage loan-to-income multiple of both the natural effect of a greater housing density and higher than average house prices in this area, coupled with aour new business market share higher than the industry average as a whole.

During 2014, mortgage asset stock and new business geographic distribution remained broadly the same aslending in 2013. There2015 was a marginal increase in business written in the South East excluding London.

Exposures to larger loans

Exposures to larger loans across the UK increased in the year but remained at a low level with the total mortgage asset stock of larger mortgage loans at 31 December 2014 and 2013, as follows:

StockSouth East including London                                UK 
Individual mortgage loan size                             2014
£m
                              2013
£m
                                2014
£m
                              2013
£m
 

£0.5m–£1m

 5,281   3,837   6,226   4,683  

£1m–£2m

 769   459   828   510  

> £2m

 

 

 

125

 

  

 

 

 

62

 

  

 

  

 

131

 

  

 

 

 

66

 

  

 

 

Average loan size for new business

The average loan size for new business during the years ended 31 December 2014 and 2013 was as follows:

 

  

  

New business

UK Region

                         2014 £000                  2013 £000 

 

South East including London

 

       

 

 

 

 

229

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

205

 

 

  

 

 

Rest of the UK

 

       

 

 

 

 

125

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

118

 

 

  

 

 

UK as a whole

 

       

 

 

 

 

169

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

155

 

 

  

 

3.10 (2014: 3.11).

 

 

Annual Report 201461


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

Rating distribution(unaudited)

The following chart analyses the credit quality of the mortgage stock by Santander UK’s internal rating scale (see the ‘Credit quality’ section). The 2013 ratings shown below are based on a 2014 rating calibration and are therefore presented on a consistent basis with the 2014 ratings. Within this scale, the higher the rating, the better the quality of the loan.

 

LOGOLoan-to-value analysis

This table shows the LTV distribution for mortgage asset stock, NPL stock and new business. We have included fees added to the loan in the calculation. And if the product is on flexible terms, the calculation only includes the drawn loan amount, not undrawn limits.

LTV    2015        2014 
           of which:             of which: 
      

Stock

%

     

    NPL stock

%

     

New business

%

        

Stock

%

     

    NPL stock

%

     

New business

%

 

up to 50%

     40       33       16        36       25       17  

>50–75%

     42       36       41        44       36       43  

>75–80%

     6       6       16        6       7       14  

>80–85%

     4       5       11        5       6       9  

>85–90%

     3       4       12        3       6       12  

>90–95%

     2       3       4        2       4       5  

>95–100%

     1       3               1       4         

>100% i.e. negative equity

     2       10                3       12         
      100       100       100         100       100       100  

Collateral value of residential properties(1)(2)

     £152,432m       £2,190m       £25,228m         £149,561m       £2,342m       £25,078m  

    

                         
      %     %     %        %     %     % 

Simple average(3)LTV (indexed)

     45       50       65         47       55       65  

Value weighted average(4)LTV (indexed)

     41       44       60         43       50       60  

(1)Includes collateral against loans in negative equity of £2,285m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £3,073m).
(2)The collateral value we have shown is limited to the balance of each associated individual loan. It does not include the impact of overcollateralisation (where the collateral has a higher value than the loan balance).
(3)Unweighted average of LTV of all accounts.
(4)Total of all loan values divided by the total of all valuations.

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

In 2014, there2015, we maintained our prudent lending criteria, with an average LTV of 65% on new lending (2014: 65%). Our lending with an LTV of over 85% was a shift to better quality stock as the proportion16% of the portfolio with a rating of 7-9 increased to 55.6% (2013: 53.6%). This was as a result of comparatively better quality new business flow (2014: 17%).

At 31 December 2015, our stock LTV was broadly unchanged at 45% (2014: 47%). It continued to perform well, supported by house price increases and the improving economic conditionsenvironment which helped capital repayments by borrowers.

In September 2015, we withdrew from the UK Government’s Help to Buy scheme but we continue to offer mortgages with an LTV of over 90% under the same terms, due to the good performance of Help to Buy mortgages and reflecting the healthy market for customers with smaller deposits.

At 31 December 2015, the loans in 2014. The proportionnegative equity that were effectively uncollateralised (before taking account of the portfolio of lower quality, with a rating of 1-3, decreased slightlyloan loss allowances) reduced to 4.5% (2013: 5.4%)£387m (2014: £496m). See ‘Credit Performance’ for additional information on the proportion of assets in NPLs and arrears.

Maturity profile(unaudited)

The following charts set out mortgage loans and advances by contractual maturity period for new business (term at inception), and the residual maturity of stock (contractual term remaining). Customer behaviour shows that many loans are pre-paid prior to their legal (i.e. contractual) maturity, either through overpayments or redemptions.Credit performance

 

      2015
£m
     2014
£m
 

Mortgage loans and advances to customers(1)

     152,819       150,057  

Performing(2)(4)

     148,963       145,598  

Early arrears:(4)

     1,604       1,941  

– 31 to 60 days

     979       1,185  

– 61 to 90 days

     625       756  

NPLs:(3)(4)

     2,252       2,459  

– By arrears

     1,826       2,133  

– By bankruptcy

     34       44  

– By maturity default

     263       210  

– By forbearance

     83       72  

– By PIPs(3)

     46         

PIPs(3)not classified as NPL

            59  

LOGO

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

In 2014, there was a small migration in the residual maturity profile towards shorter terms. The stock maturity profiles shifted to lower remaining terms. For new business, the proportion with terms greater than 25 years increased marginally. This was consistent with an increase in the proportion of first time buyer business, which is generally written with comparatively longer terms.

(1)Include Social Housing loans and finance leases.
(2)Excludes mortgages where the customer did not pay for between 31 and 90 days, bankruptcy, maturity default and forbearance NPL. Includes £3,486m of mortgages (2014: £4,208m) where the customer did not pay for 30 days or less.
(3)Mortgages are classified as NPL in line with the definitions in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.
(4)All mortgages are in the UK and continue accruing interest. The balances include interest we have charged to the customer’s account, but don’t include any interest they have accrued but we have not charged to their account yet.

 

 

62Santander UK plc

68  Santander UK plc


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Loan-to-value analysis

The following table sets out the LTV distribution for mortgage asset stock, NPL stock and new business. The LTV calculation includes fees added to the loan and, where the product is on flexible terms, only includes the drawn loan amount, not undrawn limits.

LTV2014   2013 
 of which:   of which:  
  

 

                    Stock

%

  

  

 
 
        NPL stock
%
  
  
 
 
        New business
%
  
  
  

 

                Stock

%

  

  

 
 
        NPL stock
%
  
  
 
 
        New business
%
  
  

<=50%

 36   25   17   29   18   19  

>50–55%

 8   6   5   7   4   6  

>55–60%

 9   7   6   7   5   6  

>60–65%

 10   7   8   9   6   8  

>65–70%

 9   8   11   10   6   12  

>70–75%

 8   8   13   9   8   14  

>75–80%

 6   7   14   8   8   13  

>80–85%

 5   6   9   7   8   10  

>85–90%

 3   6   12   5   8   12  

>90–95%

 2   4   5   3   6     

>95–100%

 1   4      2   6     

> 100% i.e. negative equity

 3   12       4   17     
 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

100

 

 

  

 

 

Collateral value of residential properties(1)(2)

 

 

 

 

 

£149,561m

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

£2,342m

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

£25,078m

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

£147,241m

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

£2,678m

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

£17,234m

 

 

  

 

                    
 

 

 

 

 

%

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

%

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

%

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

%

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

%

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

%

 

 

  

 

 

Simple average(3)LTV (indexed)

 

 

 

 

 

47

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

55

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

65

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

51

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

61

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

62

 

 

  

 

 

Value weighted average(4)LTV (indexed)

 

 

 

 

 

43

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

50

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

60

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

47

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

57

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

58

 

 

  

 

(1) Includes collateral against loans in negative equity of £3,073m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £5,394m).

(2) The collateral value shown above is limited to the outstanding value of each associated individual loan and excludes the impact of over-collateralisation i.e. where the collateral held is of a higher value than the loan balance outstanding.

(3) Unweighted average of LTV of all accounts.

(4) Sum of all loan values divided by sum of all valuations.

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

During 2014, the LTV profile of new business marginally shifted towards higher LTVs primarily as a consequence of the positive market conditions and propositions such as the UK Government’s Help to Buy scheme. The Help to Buy scheme delivered the planned 5% new business and was a key factor in the increase of value weighted average LTV new business from 58% to 60%.

During 2014, the LTV profile of mortgage assets improved primarily as a result of house price increases. Average LTV improved to 43% (2013: 47%) although there were regional variations, as well as the effect of regular capital repayments. We are, however, conscious that these positive trends in house prices may not continue and have therefore excluded the effect of this 2014 increase in assessing the level of our provisions.

At 31 December 2014, of the loans in negative equity, the total which was effectively uncollateralised before taking account of any loan loss allowances was £496m (2013: £838m).

 

 

Annual Report 201463


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

Credit performance

                            
  

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

 

Mortgage loans and advances to customers

 150,057   148,079  

Performing(1)(3)

 145,598   142,806  

Early arrears:(3)

 1,941   2,394  

– 31 to 60 days

 1,185   1,424  

– 61 to 90 days

 

 

 

756

 

  

 

 

 

970

 

  

 

Non-performing loans:(2)(3)

 2,459   2,788  

– By Arrears

 2,133   2,558  

– By Bankruptcy

 44   55  

– By Maturity default

 210   146  

– By Forbearance

 

 

 

72

 

  

 

 

 

29

 

  

 

 

Properties In Possession (‘PIP’)

 

 

 

 

 

59

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

91

 

 

  

 

(1)Excludes loans where the counterparty failed to make a payment when contractually due for between 31 and 90 days, and excludes bankruptcy, maturity default and forbearance NPL. Includes £4,208m of mortgages (2013: £5,040m) where the counterparty failed to make a payment when contractually due for 30 days or less.
(2)Mortgage loans and advances are classified as non-performing in accordance with the definitions provided in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.
(3)All mortgage balances are UK and continue accruing interest. The balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.

Non-performing loans and advances(1)(2)

An analysis of mortgage NPLs is presented below.

 

                            
                 2014
£m
                  2013
£m
     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Mortgage loans and advances to customers of which:(2)(3)

 150,057   148,079       152,819       150,057  

Customers in arrears(3)

 1,941   2,394  

Mortgage NPLs

 2,459   2,788  

Early arrears

     1,604       1,941  

NPLs

     2,252       2,459  

Impairment loan loss allowances

 579   593       424       579  
          
 %   %      %     % 

Arrears ratio(4)

 1.29   1.62  

Early arrears ratio(4)

     1.05       1.29  

NPLs ratio(5)

 1.64   1.88       1.47       1.64  

Coverage ratio(6)

 24   21       19       24  

 

(1)Mortgage loans and advancesMortgages are classified as non-performingNPL in accordanceline with the definitions provided in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.
(2)Mortgage loans and advances to customers includeInclude Social Housing loans and finance leases.
(3)All mortgage balancesmortgages are in the UK and continue accruing interest. For the data presented, theThe balances include interest we have charged to the customer’s account, but excludedo not include any interest they have accrued but we have not yet charged to the account.their account yet.
(4)Mortgage loans and advances to customersMortgages in early arrears as a percentage of mortgage loans and advances to customers.mortgages.
(5)Mortgage NPLs as a percentage of mortgage loans and advances to customers.mortgages.
(6)Impairment loss allowances as a percentage of NPLs.

We analyse NPL movements in 2015 in the chart below. ‘Entries’ are loans which we have classified as NPL in the year and ‘Policy entries’ are due to definition changes. ‘PIP sales’ are loans that have been legally discharged when we have sold the property, and include any written-off portion. ‘Exits’ are loans that have been repaid (in full or in part) and loans that have returned to performing status. Forbearance activity does not change the NPL status.

 

 

LOGO

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

In 2015, mortgage NPLs decreased to £2,252m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £2,459m) and the NPL ratio decreased to 1.47% (2014: 1.64%), including Properties in Possession (PIPs). Exits exceeded entries by £176m due to improving delinquency trends, reflecting portfolio vintage composition and associated credit quality. Impairment releases, and the decreases in the NPL and coverage ratios, reflected the continued good performance of the portfolio supported by low interest rates, rising house prices and the supportive economic environment. Policy entries of £57m mainly reflected us including PIPs in NPLs. Prior years have not been restated.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Forbearance

Forbearance started in the year(1)(2)

The balances that entered forbearance in 2015 and 2014 were:

      2015        2014 
      £m     %        £m     % 

Capitalisation

     287       61        254       47  

Term extensions

     167       35        175       33  

Interest-only

     19       4         105       20  
      473       100         534       100  

(1)
64Santander UK plcWe have included mortgages in the year they were forborne.
(2)The figures reflect the forbearance activity in the year, regardless of whether there was any forbearance on the accounts before.

Forbearance total position

a) Performance when they entered forbearance

The balances at 31 December 2015 and 2014, analysed by their payment status when they entered forbearance and the forbearance we applied, were:

      Capitalisation
£m
     Term extension
£m
     Interest-only
£m
     Total
£m
 

2015(1)

                

Forbearance of NPL

     393       99       264       756  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

     1,297       735       880       2,912  
      1,690       834       1,144       3,668  

2014(1)

                

Forbearance of NPL

     331       95       297       723  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

     1,334       806       1,004       3,144  
      1,665       901       1,301       3,867  

(1)We base forbearance type on the first forbearance on the accounts. Tables only show accounts that were open at the year-end.

b) Performance at the year-end

The balances at 31 December 2015 and 2014 analysed by their payment status at the year-end and the forbearance we applied were:

      

Capitalisation

    

£m

     

Term extension

    

£m

     

Interest-only

    

£m

     

Total

    

£m

     Impairment
allowance
£m
 

2015(1)

                    

In arrears

     412       123       305       840       34  

Performing

     1,278       711       839       2,828       27  
      1,690       834       1,144       3,668       61  

Proportion of portfolio

     1.1%       0.5%       0.7%       2.4%         

2014(1)

                    

In arrears

     425       144       390       959       59  

Performing

     1,240       757       911       2,908       55  
      1,665       901       1,301       3,867       114  

Proportion of portfolio

     1.1%       0.6%       0.9%       2.6%         

(1)We base forbearance type on the first forbearance on the accounts. Tables only show accounts that were open at the year-end.

70  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk            

An analysis of the NPL movements during 2014 is presented below. ‘Entries’ represent loans which have become classified as NPLs during the year and ‘Policy entries’ are due to definition changes. ‘PIP exits’ represent loans that have moved from non-performing and into possession, including any written-off portion. ‘Exits’ represent loans that have been repaid (in full or in part) plus those returned to performing status. Forbearance activity does not result in a change in the NPL status.

LOGO

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

At 31 December 2014, the mortgage asset NPL stock decreased to £2,459m (2013: £2,788m), and the NPL ratio decreased to 1.64% (2013: 1.88%). This reflected the good credit quality of the portfolio, supported by the improving economic environment for UK households, with low interest rates, rising house prices and falling unemployment. We remain aware that these trends may not continue and we take account of this in setting our provisions.

There was an increase in mortgage NPLs on maturity defaults (i.e. interest-only mortgages that remain outstanding more than 90 days after contractual maturity), in line with our expectations. Policy entries of £25m in 2014 related to a change in policy for legacy portfolios to treat as NPL certain short-term (up to 6 months) term extensions if the customer does not redeem within 90 days of the original maturity date.

The improving economy also contributed to a reduction in the level of early arrears (31-90 days). The economic recovery remains at an early stage, and allowances have been made for losses which could stem from factors including regional variation in the risk profile, changes to regulation and contractual maturity defaults.

In 2014, interest income recognised on impaired loans amounted to £80m (2013: £88m, 2012: £90m).

Annual Report 2014    governance65Credit risk


Risk review

Credit risk

continuedMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

 

Forbearance

Forbearance commenced during the year(1)(2)

The balances that entered forbearance during the years ended 31 December 2014 and 2013 were:

     2014   2013 
     £m %     £m %   

 

Capitalisation

 254   47     130   31    

Term extensions

 175   33     168   39    

Interest-only

 105   20     128   30    

    

                         
 534   100     426   100    

    

                         

 

(1)  Mortgages are included within the year that they were forborne.

(2)  The figures by year reflect the amount of forbearance activity undertaken during the year irrespective of whether any forbearance activity has previously been undertaken on the forborne accounts.

 

Forbearance cumulative position

a) Payment status when entering forbearance

The forborne balances at 31 December 2014 and 2013 when they originally entered forbearance, analysed by type of forbearance applied, was:

 

     

     

  

  

  

     Capitalisation Term extension   Interest-only Total 
     £m £m   £m £m 

2014(1)

Forbearance of NPL

 331   95   297   723  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

 

    1,334   806    1,004   3,144  
 1,665   901   1,301   3,867  

    

                         

2013(1)

Forbearance of NPL

 290   77   324   691  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

 1,426   892   1,078   3,396  

    

                         
 1,716   969   1,402   4,087  

    

                         

 

(1)   Forbearance type categorisation is based on the first forbearance activity undertaken on the accounts. Tables contain only open accounts at the end of the year.

 

b) Payment status at the year-end

The forborne balances analysed by type of forbearance applied at 31 December 2014 and 2013 was:

 

  

  

  

  Capitalisation Term extension Interest-only   Total       Impairment 
          allowance 
  £m £m £m   £m £m 

2014(1)

In arrears

 425   144   390   959   59  

Performing(2)

 1,240   757   911   2,908(3)  55  

    

                         
 1,665   901   1,301   3,867   114  

    

                         

Proportion of portfolio

 1.1%   0.6%   0.9%   2.6%     

    

                         

2013(1)

In arrears

 499   181   495   1,175   68  

Performing(2)

 1,217   788   907   2,912(3)  62  

    

                         
 1,716   969   1,402   4,087   130  

    

                         

Proportion of portfolio

 1.2%   0.7%   0.9%   2.8%     

    

                         

(1)  Forbearance type categorisation is based on the first forbearance activity undertaken on the accounts. Tables contain only open accounts at the end of the year.
(2)  Where a loan has been classed as performing it will be continue to be classed as forborne for the duration of the life of the account.
(3)  This represents the carrying amount of financial assets that may otherwise be past due or impaired whose terms have been forborne.

 

 

66Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

The average monthly level of forbearance commencedstarted in 2014 increased primarily due2015 was lower than in 2014. We also changed our forbearance policy in March 2015, so we no longer offer interest-only concessions to customers in financial difficulties. Instead, we offer reduced repayment arrangements for a higher level of capitalisations. The level of capitalisations increased duetime. Their account stays on capital and interest terms and any shortfall in capital repayment is added to improvements in the efficiency of the capitalisation process, enabling decisions on capitalisation to be made more rapidly, but the levels of inflows were still significantly below that observed prior to 2013.arrears.

At 31 December 2014, the stock of mortgage accounts that had their term extended or converted to interest-only was relatively stable, amounting to 1.5% of all mortgage accounts by value (2013: 1.6%).

Levels of adherence to revised payment terms agreed under Santander UK’s forbearance arrangements improved during 2014 to approximately 78% by value (2013: 75%) and 79% by volume (2013: 77%) of the accounts in forbearance. The high percentage of these accounts performing supports Santander UK’s view that its forbearance arrangements provide an important tool to improve the prospects of recovery of amounts owed. In addition, it is likely that some of the accounts which were in early arrears at the time of the initial forbearance would have otherwise deteriorated into a non-performing state.

At 31 December 2014,2015, the proportion of accounts that had been in forbearance for more than six months that had made their last six months’ contractual payments increased slightly to 85% (2014: 83% (2013: 82%). Furthermore, the accountsAccounts in forbearance classified asthat were performing remained stable at just overdecreased to £2.8bn or 77% by value (2014: £2.9bn or 75% by value (2013: £2.9bn or 71% by value). The weighted average LTV of all accounts in forbearance was 35% (2014: 38% (2013: 42%) compared to the weighted average portfolio LTV of 41% (2014: 43% (2013: 47%). Those accounts that reach the end of the concessionary forbearance period continue to show a good propensity to return to full repayments in accordance with the original contractual terms after the period of financial difficulty has passed.

At 31 December 2014,2015, impairment loss allowances as a percentage of the balance of accounts for the overall mortgage portfolio waswere 0.28% (2014: 0.39% (2013: 0.40%). The equivalent ratio for performing accounts in forbearance which were performing was 0.95% (2014: 1.89% (2013: 2.13%), and for accounts in arrears in forbearance which were in arrears was 4.07% (2014: 6.15% (2013: 5.79%). The higher ratios for accounts in forbearance reflectedreflect the higher levels of impairment loss allowances held, as a result ofwe hold on these accounts. This reflects the higher risk characteristics inherent in such accounts.on them.

At 31 December 2014,2015, the carrying value of mortgage loansmortgages classified as multiple forbearance increased to £89m (2013: £67m) mainly due to increased capitalisation activities and on-going activities on interest-only accounts that have reached maturity with a balance still remaining.£98m (2014: £89m).

Other changes in contractualcontract terms

In addition, atAt 31 December 2014 £6.3bn (2013: £7.3bn)2015, there were £5.7bn (2014: £6.3bn) of loansother mortgages on the balance sheet that we had been modified since January 2008. TheWe agreed these modifications on these accounts are not considered to have been forbearance as the borrowers were not exhibiting signs of being in financial difficulty. These modifications were entered into in order to retainkeep a good relationship with the customer relationship.customer. The customers were not showing any signs of financial difficulty at the time, so we don’t classify these changes as forbearance.

We keep the performance and profile of the modified accounts is kept under review. At 31 December 2014:2015:

The average LTV was 39% (2014: 43% (2013: 49%) and 93% (2013:94% (2014: 93%) of accounts had paidmade their last six months’ contractual monthly payment during the previous six months.payments
The proportion of accounts threethat were 90 days or more monthly payments in arrears was 1.60% (2014: 1.61% (2013: 1.68%), which continued to be consistent with the rest of the portfolio..

 

 

Annual Report 201467


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

 

HIGHER RISK LOANS AND OTHER SEGMENTS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST

ThereWe are mainly a residential prime lender and we do not originate sub-prime or second charge mortgages. Despite that, some mortgage types of particular interest or which presentmortgages have higher risks than others.and others stand out for different reasons. These mortgages consist of:are:

– Interest-only loans;

– Flexible loans;

– Loans with LTV >100%; and

– Buy-to-let loans.
    ProductDescription
Interest-only loans and part interest-only, part repayment loans

With an interest-only mortgage, the customer pays the interest every month but does not repay the money borrowed (the principal) until the end of the mortgage. Some mortgages have a part that is interest-only, with the rest being a normal repayment mortgage. Customers with part interest-only, part repayment mortgages still have to pay back a lump sum at the end of their mortgage for the interest-only part.

Since 2009, we have reduced the risk from new interest-only mortgages by lowering the maximum LTV (it has been 50% since 2012). When a customer plans to repay their mortgage by selling the property, we now only allow that if they own more than a set proportion of the equity.

Customers with interest-only mortgages have to make arrangements to repay the principal at the end of the mortgage. We have a strategy to make sure that we tell these customers that they have to do this. We send them messages with their annual mortgage statements, and we run contact campaigns to encourage them to tell us how they plan to repay. We have done this for all customers whose mortgages mature before 2020, and plan to extend these campaigns to those with later maturities.

If customers know they will not be able to repay their mortgage in full when it ends, or if their mortgage has already passed the date when it should have ended, we talk to them. If we think it is in the customer’s interests (and they can afford it), we look at other ways of managing it. That can mean turning the mortgage into a standard repayment one, and extending it. Or, if the customer is waiting for their means of repaying it (an investment plan or bonds, for example) to mature, it can just mean extending it. We only turn to legal action as a last resort.

Flexible loans

Flexible mortgages allow customers to pay more or less than their usual amount each month, or even to take ‘payment holidays’ when they pay nothing at all. Customers do not have to take (or draw down) the whole loan all at once – so if they took out a mortgage big enough to allow them to build a home extension after three years, they do not have to start paying interest on that extra money until they are ready to spend it. There are conditions on when and how much customers can draw down:

–    There are often limits on how much can be drawn down in any month

–    The customer cannot be in payment arrears

–    The customer cannot have insolvency problems, such as a county court judgement, bankruptcy, an individual voluntary arrangement, an administration order or a debt relief order.

A customer can ask us to increase their credit limit (the total amount they are allowed to borrow on their mortgage), but that means we will go through our full standard credit approval process. We can also lower the customer’s credit limit at any time, so it never goes above 90% of the property’s current market value.

Flexible loan products are no longer offered for new mortgages.

Loans with an LTV

>100%

Where the mortgage balance is more than the house is now worth, we cannot recover the full value of the loan by repossessing and selling the house. This means there is a higher credit risk on these loans. In some cases, house prices have fallen, so mortgages we gave in the past with lower LTVs now have LTVs over 100%. Before 2009, we sometimes allowed customers to borrow more than the price of the house.

Buy-to-let loans

We have a relatively small share of the Buy-to-let market, but we believe we have an opportunity to grow our presence in a controlled manner. We focus on amateur landlords, as this segment is more closely aligned with residential mortgages and covers most of the Buy-to-let market. Our policy is that Buy-to-let mortgages should finance themselves, with the rent covering the mortgage payments and other costs. Even so, there is always the risk that income from the property may not cover the costs – if the landlord cannot find tenants for a while, for example.

In 2015, we refined our Buy-to-let proposition to appeal to a wider catchment, and we are improving our systems to cater for this segment. We continue to adhere to prudent lending criteria, and have specific policies for Buy-to-let. We will lend on up to five buy-to-let properties, to a maximum 75% LTV. The first applicant must earn a minimum basic income of at least £25,000 per year, and we require evidence of income in all cases.

We also use a Buy-to-let affordability rate as part of our assessment about whether or not to lend. This means that the rental income must be at least 125% of the monthly mortgage interest payments when calculated using a stressed interest rate.

The arrears performance of these mortgages has continued to be relatively stable with arrears and loss rates remaining low.

72  Santander UK plc


    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

BorrowerHigher risk loans – borrower profile(1)

 

   2014                  2013             
Stock New business  Stock New business     2015        2014 
£m £m   £m £m     

Stock

£m

     

New business

£m

       

Stock

£m

     New business
£m
 

Full interest-only loans

 45,952   3,197   49,318   2,151       44,050       4,178        45,952       3,197  

Part interest-only, part repayment loans(2)

 15,602   2,580   15,534   1,693       15,299       1,996        15,602       2,580  

Flexi loans

 15,203   756   16,245   1,172       13,951       508        15,203       756  

Other flexible loans(3)

 6,177      7,469          5,156               6,177         

Loans with current LTV > 100%

 3,569      6,202   1  

Loans with LTV >100%

     2,672               3,569         

Buy-to-let

 3,138   1,270   2,201   432       4,956       2,393        3,138       1,270  

Interest-only and >100% current LTV

 

 

2,592

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

4,336

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

Interest-only and LTV >100%

     1,980       1        2,592         

 

(1)Where a loan exhibitsfalls into more than one of the criteria,category, we have included it is included in all the applicable categories.categories that apply.
(2)Mortgage balance includes both the interest only elementinterest-only part of £10,915m (2013: £9,564m)£10,918m (2014: £10,915m) and the non-interest only elementnon-interest-only part of the loan.
(3)Legacy Alliance & Leicester flexible loan products withloans that work in a more limited functionalityway than theour current Santander UK flexiFlexi loan product.

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

TheIn 2015, the value and proportion of new business in 2014 that was pure interest-only marginally increased to 13% (2013: 12%). The proportion of lending in 2014 that wasloans together with part interest-only, part repayment was unchanged at 10%. The maximum allowable LTV forloans reduced, reflecting our strategy to manage down the interest-only element of the mortgage is 50%, and the maximum age permitted on a pure interest-only loan was capped at 65 years in July 2014.overall exposure to this lending profile.

The proportion of flexible loans new business in 2014 decreased to 3% (2013: 7%), whilst buy-to-letBuy-to-let lending in 20142015 increased to 9% (2014: 5% (2013: 2.5%) in line with the strategy to expand this line of business in a controlled manner.

The average earnings multiple of new business (at inception) increased slightly during 2014 to 3.11 (2013: 3.04)as described in line with the market.‘Borrower profile’ section.

From a mortgage asset stock perspective, loans with a current LTV greater than 100% in 20142015 decreased to 2% (2014: 3% (2013: 4%) driven by improvingrising house prices.

68Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

CreditHigher risk loans – credit performance

 

                                                                                                                                            
   Segment of particular interest(1)           Segment of particular interest(1)      
Total Interest- Part interest-only Flexible(2) LTV > 100% Buy-to-let Other    

 

 

Total

    

£m

  

  

  

   

 

 

Interest-only

    

£m

  

  

  

   
 
 
Part interest-only
part repayment
£m
  
  
  
   

 

 

Flexible(2)

    

£m

  

  

  

   

 

 

LTV > 100%

    

£m

  

  

  

   

 

 

Buy-to-let

    

£m

  

  

  

   
 

 

Other
portfolio

£m

  
(3)  

  

  only part repayment       portfolio(3) 
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m 

2014

2015

              

Mortgage portfolio

 150,057   45,952   15,602   21,380   3,569   3,138   78,582     152,819     44,050     15,299     19,107     2,672     4,956     84,786  

Performing

 145,598   43,908   14,931   20,966   3,135   3,105   77,152     148,963     42,280     14,742     18,711     2,358     4,929     83,537  

Early arrears

Early arrears:

              

– 31 to 60 days

 1,185   528   171   85   76   12   459     979     441     143     81     48     7     382  

– 61 to 90 days

 756   354   118   63   51   3   282     625     289     87     52     38     5     238  

NPLs

 2,459   1,134   372   262   285   18   675     2,252     1,040     327     263     228     15     629  

NPL ratio

 1.64%   2.47%   2.38%   1.23%   7.99%   0.57%   0.86%     1.47%     2.36%     2.14%     1.38%     8.53%     0.30%     0.74%  

Properties In possession

 59   27   11   4   22      14     46     23     9     6     22     1     9  

2013

2014

              

Mortgage portfolio

 148,079   49,318   15,534   23,714   6,202   2,201   71,554     150,057     45,952     15,602     21,380     3,569     3,138     78,582  

Performing

 142,806   46,762   14,882   23,260   5,442   2,161   69,872     145,598     43,909     14,930     20,966     3,135     3,105     77,152  

Early arrears

Early arrears:

              

– 31 to 60 days

 1,424   657   180   111   140   11   538     1,185     528     171     85     76     12     459  

– 61 to 90 days

 970   460   125   69   107   7   355     756     354     118     63     51     3     282  

NPLs

 2,788   1,388   335   269   471   21   773     2,459     1,134     372     262     285     18     675  

NPL ratio

 1.88%   2.81%   2.16%   1.13%   7.59%   0.95%   1.08%     1.64%     2.47%     2.38%     1.23%     7.99%     0.57%     0.86%  

Properties In possession

 91   51   12   5   42   1   16     59     27     11     4     22          14  

 

(1)Where a loan exhibits more than one segment of particular interest, we have included it is included in all applicable categories.the categories that apply. As a result, the sum of the mortgages in the segments of particular interest and the other portfolio will not agree to the total mortgage portfolio.
(2)Includes legacy Alliance & Leicester flexible loan products withloans that work in a more limited functionalityway than theour current Santander UK Flexi loan product.
(3)Includes other loans that are not in any segment of particular interest.

 

                                                                                                

Full interest-only maturity profile

 

                  
 Term Within 2 Between Between Greater than Total 
 expired years 2-5 years 5-15 years 15 years   
  £m £m £m £m £m £m 

 

2014

Full interest-only portfolio

 337   1,631   3,785   20,225   19,974   45,952  

of which value weighted average LTV (indexed) is greater than 75%

 

 

 46   170   570   3,871   5,689   10,346  

2013

Full interest-only portfolio

 242   1,352   3,994   20,037   23,693   49,318  

of which value weighted average LTV (indexed) is greater than 75%

 

 43   169   842   5,603   10,092   16,749  

Part interest-only, part repayment maturity profile

 

                  
 Term Within 2 Between Between Greater than Total 
 expired years 2-5 years 5-15 years 15 years   
  £m £m £m £m £m £m 

 

2014

Part interest-only, part repayment portfolio

 4   235   745   6,199   8,419   15,602  

of which value weighted average LTV (indexed) is greater than 75%

 

 1   6   36   758   1,914   2,715  

2013

Part interest-only, part repayment portfolio

 4   269   816   6,372   8,073   15,534  

of which value weighted average LTV (indexed) is greater than 75%

 

    6   47   1,057   3,173   4,283  

 

Annual Report 2015

Annual Report 201469


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Full interest-only maturity profile

    

Term

expired

£m

   

Within 2

years

£m

   

Between

2-5 years

£m

   

Between

5-15 years

£m

   

Greater than

15 years

£m

   

Total

    

£m

 

2015

            

Full interest-only portfolio

   429     1,840     3,464     20,601     17,716     44,050  

of which value weighted average LTV (indexed) is greater than 75%

   30     264     382     3,137     3,714     7,527  

2014

            

Full interest-only portfolio

   337     1,631     3,785     20,225     19,974     45,952  

of which value weighted average LTV (indexed) is greater than 75%

   46     170     570     3,871     5,689     10,346  

Part interest-only, part repayment maturity profile

 

            
    Term
expired
£m
   Within 2
years
£m
   Between
2-5 years
£m
   Between
5-15 years
£m
   

Greater than

15 years

£m

   

Total

    

£m

 

2015

            

Part interest-only, part repayment portfolio

   5     230     726     6,231     8,107     15,299  

of which value weighted average LTV (indexed) is greater than 75%

        9     30     642     1,301     1,982  

2014

            

Part interest-only, part repayment portfolio

   4     235     745     6,199     8,419     15,602  

of which value weighted average LTV (indexed) is greater than 75%

   1     6     36     758     1,914     2,715  

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

At 31 December 2014, the NPL ratio decreased from 1.88% to 1.64% primarily due to a reduction in NPL stock. Interest-only2015, interest-only loans, part interest-only, part repayment loans, and loans with a currentan LTV over 100% have>100% had a higher than average NPL ratio. The decrease inHowever, the NPL ratioratios for interest-only and part interest-only, part repayment loansthese portfolios improved in 2014 was broadly2015 in line with the overall reduction in NPL stock. The NPL ratio for loans with an LTV > 100% and flexible loans increased slightly in 2014 due to a reduction in stock in these segments; the decrease in loans with an LTV > 100% being driven by house price increases. The buy-to-letwider portfolio remained better than average quality, with the reduction in the NPL ratio in 2014 being driven by the controlled growth of the portfolio.trends.

Santander UK providesFor full interest-only mortgages, to customers whereby payments made by the customer comprise of only interest for the term of the mortgage, with the customer responsible for repaying the principal outstanding at the end of the loan term. Further details are described in ‘Credit risk management – Retail Banking’. Of the £604m balance£675m that matured in the year ended 31 December 2014, £330m was subsequently repaid, £1m was refinanced under normal credit terms, £51m was refinanced under forbearance arrangements and £222m remained unpaid and was classified as term expired at 31 December 2014. 2015:

£353m was subsequently repaid
none was refinanced under normal credit terms
£45m was refinanced under forbearance arrangements
£277m remained unpaid and was classified as term expired at 31 December 2015.

Of the balance of £337mtotal £429m that was term expired at 31 December 2014, 93%2015, 91% continued to pay the interest due under theirthe expired contractualcontract terms.

Santander UK also providesFor part interest-only, part repayment loans to customers whereby a componentmortgages, of the loan is repayable on a capital and interest basis through the term of the loan, with the remaining loan component requiring monthly interest payments only, with the principal of this loan component repayable only at maturity. Further details are described in ‘Credit risk management – Retail Banking’. Of the £55m balance that matured in the year ended 31 December 2014, £49m was subsequently repaid, £2m was refinanced under forbearance arrangements and £4m remained unpaid and was classified as term expired at 31 December 2014.2015:

£46m was subsequently repaid
£6m was refinanced under forbearance arrangements
£3m remained unpaid and was classified as term expired at 31 December 2015.

Flexible mortgages permitlet customers to draw down additionalextra funds at any time up to a predefined credit limit. By doing so,This means customers are able to varycan change their monthly payments, or take payment holidays. DrawdownsThese drawdowns are subject to the conditions as described in ‘Credit risk management – Retail Banking’. Customer limitsthat are actively managed where information collected suggestsoutlined above. We also analyse the predefined limit requires adjustment. The flexible loans portfolio is analysed to identify customers potentiallywho might be using these facilities to self-forbear (e.g. repeated(such as regularly drawing down small drawdowns), withamounts). If there is any evidence of increasedsign that the credit risk being appropriately reflectedhas significantly increased, we reflect this in our provision calculations where significant. calculations.

At 31 December 2014,2015, there were 122,354113,232 (2014: 122,354) flexible mortgage customers, with flexible mortgages (2013: 129,881), with undrawn facilities of £6,633m (2013: £6,539m)£6,608m (2014: £6,633m) and a utilisation rate of 68% (2014: 70% (2013: 71%). The portfolio’s value weighted LTV (indexed) of the portfolio was 32% (2014: 35% (2013: 39%).

During 2014, theIn 2015, good market conditions meant that our stock of properties in possession decreased due to favourable market conditions.PIPs decreased.

74  Santander UK plc


    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

ForbearanceHigher risk loans – forbearance(1)(2)(3)(4)

The incidence of the main types of higher risk loans forbearance arrangements which commenced during the years ended 31 Decemberstarted in 2015 and 2014 and 2013 was:were:

 

                                                                                
     Interest-only(4)    Flexible       LTV >100%       Buy-to-let  

2015

              

Total value

    £290m     £60m              £8m  

Proportion of portfolio(5)

     61%     13%              2%  
 Interest-only(4)  Flexible   LTV > 100%   Buy-to-let  

2014

              

Total value

 £298m   £59m      £3m      £298m     £59m              £3m  

Proportion of portfolio(5)

 56%   11%      1%       56%     11%              1%  

2013

Total value

 £242m   £61m      £3m  

Proportion of portfolio(5)

 57%   14%      1%  

 

(1)Mortgages are included within the year that they were forborne.
(2)The figures by year reflect the amount of forbearance activity undertaken during the year irrespective of whether any forbearance activity has previously been undertaken on the forborne accounts.
(3)Where a loan exhibits more than one of the higher risk criteria, it is included in all the applicable categories.
(4)Comprises full interest-only loans and part interest-only, part repayment loans.
(5)Portfolio of total forbearance arrangements which commenced during the year.

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

The valuesaverage monthly value of higher risk loans enteringstarting forbearance arrangements in 2014 increased in line with overall increases seen in flows into forbearance during the year.

2015 was broadly stable.

 

 

70Santander UK plc


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

 

 

BANKING

VEHICLE CONSUMER AND CONSUMER CREDITOTHER UNSECURED FINANCE

Santander UK also provides a range ofWe provide vehicle consumer and other unsecured lending facilities including bank account overdrafts, personal loans and credit cards tofinance for personal and business banking customers, together with a range of consumer finance products including finance leases.customers. This includes personal loans, credit cards, business banking and bank account overdrafts.

Lending

An analysis ofWe analyse movements in unsecured lending facilities is presented2015 and 2014 in the tables below.

 

                                                                                                                        
  Overdrafts Personal Credit Business Consumer Total 
   Loans Cards Banking Finance   
  £m £m £m £m £m £m 

 

2014

At 1 January

 543   2,016   1,679   151   3,145   7,534  

Net lending in the year

 

 1   192   568   4   158   923  

 

At 31 December

 

 544   2,208   2,247   155   3,303   8,457  

2013

At 1 January

 536   2,344   1,420   133   3,109   7,542  

Net lending in the year

 

 7   (328)   259   18   36   (8)  

 

At 31 December

 

 543   2,016   1,679   151   3,145   7,534  

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

Total net lending increased by £923m (12%) in 2014, principally due to a strong uptake of 1I2I3 World credit cards by customers with an existing Santander UK relationship. Growth in net personal loan lending was driven by rising customer demand broadly in line with that observed across the market following a number of years of contraction. Consumer Finance growth benefited from a continued increase in customer confidence.

Credit performance

                                                                                                                        
  Overdrafts Personal Credit Business Consumer Total 
   Loans Cards Banking Finance   
  £m £m £m £m £m £m 

 

2014

Loans and advances

 544   2,208   2,247   155   3,303   8,457  

Performing

 480   2,151   2,185   141   3,259   8,216  

In arrears

 34   34   25   5   29   127  

NPLs(1)(2)

 30   23   37   9   15   114  

Impairment loss allowance

 

 46   76   73   14   93   302  

NPL ratio(2)

 1.35%  

Coverage ratio(3)

 

                265%  

2013

Loans and advances

 543   2,016   1,679   151   3,145   7,534  

Performing

 471   1,936   1,609   131   3,097   7,244  

In arrears

 28   47   29   5   33   142  

NPLs(1)(2)

 44   33   41   15   15   148  

Impairment loss allowance

 

 51   90   86   16   85   328  

NPL ratio(2)

 1.96%  

Coverage ratio(3)

 

                222%  
             Other unsecured        
      

Vehicle

consumer

finance

£m

     

Personal

loans

    

£m

     

Credit

cards

    

£m

     

Business

banking

    

£m

     

Overdrafts

    

    

£m

     

Total

    

    

£m

 

2015

                        

At 1 January

     3,303       2,208       2,247       155       544       8,457  

Net lending in the year(1)

     526       (7)       587       (5)       (8)       1,093  

Acquisitions

     2,461                                   2,461  

At 31 December

     6,290       2,201       2,834       150       536       12,011  

2014

                        

At 1 January

     3,145       2,016       1,679       151       543       7,534  

Net lending in the year(1)

     158       192       568       4       1       923  

At 31 December

     3,303       2,208       2,247       155       544       8,457  

 

(1)Includes vehicle consumer finance gross lending of £2,958m in 2015 (2014: £1,609m).

Credit performance

             Other unsecured        
      

Vehicle

consumer

finance

£m

     

Personal

loans

    

£m

     

Credit

cards

    

£m

     

Business

banking

    

£m

     

Overdrafts

    

    

£m

     

Total

    

    

£m

 

2015

                        

Loans and advances

     6,290       2,201       2,834       150       536       12,011  

Performing

     6,217       2,157       2,771       138       483       11,766  

In early arrears

     45       27       23       4       25       124  

NPLs(1)(2)

     28       17       40       8       28       121  

Impairment loss allowance

     136       60       86       14       42       338  

NPL ratio(2)

                         1.01%  

Coverage ratio(3)

                                        279%  

2014

                        

Loans and advances

     3,303       2,208       2,247       155       544       8,457  

Performing

     3,259       2,151       2,185       141       480       8,216  

In early arrears

     29       34       25       5       34       127  

NPLs(1)(2)

     15       23       37       9       30       114  

Impairment loss allowance

     93       76       73       14       46       302  

NPL ratio(2)

                         1.35%  

Coverage ratio(3)

                                        265%  

(1)Banking and consumer credit lending is classified as non-performing in accordance with the definitions provided in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.
(2)NPLs as a % of total loans and advances.
(3)Total impairment loan loss allowances as a % of NPL stock. Total loan loss allowances relate to early arrears and performing assets (i.e. the IBNO provision) as well as accounts classified as NPL and hence the ratio exceeds 100%.

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

During 2014,Total lending increased by £3,554m or 42% in 2015, mainly driven by the start of the PSA cooperation in February 2015. Other unsecured lending balances, which include personal loans, credit cards, business banking and overdrafts, increased 11% in line with the 1I2I3 World loyalty strategy.

In 2015, NPLs decreasedincreased by 23%£7m or 6% to £114m (2013: £148m) and£121m (2014: £114m) but the NPL ratio decreased by 6134 basis points to 1.01% (2014: 1.35% (2013: 1.96%). ReductionsThe decrease in NPLs were achieved across all productsthe NPL ratio was due to asset growth, mainly through the PSA cooperation.

76  Santander UK plc


    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

  Credit risk – Commercial Banking

Overview

We offer loans, bank accounts, treasury services, invoice discounting, cash transmission, trade finance and asset finance.

Credit risk management

In this section, we explain how we manage credit risk, including how we mitigate it.

Credit risk review

In this section, we analyse our credit risk exposures and how they are performing. We also focus on forbearance and higher risk loans. Our main portfolios are:

Mid-Corporate and SME – banking, lending and treasury services principally to enterprises with an annual turnover up to £500m.

Commercial Real Estate – commercial mortgages and treasury services for retail, office, and industrial projects for all phases of development, from land acquisition through construction.

Social Housing – lending and treasury services for UK Housing Associations who own portfolios of residential real estate that is rented out.

COMMERCIAL BANKING – CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT

We classify most of our customers as non-standardised. Their transactions are for larger amounts of money, and have more diverse credit characteristics. We also have SME customers, a high volume portfolio with smaller individual exposures, that we mainly classify as standardised.

We described how we manage credit risk on standardised customers in the most significant being Overdraftsprevious section ‘Credit risk – Retail Banking’. We take the same approach to managing credit risk on standardised customers in Commercial Banking, except we do not use scorecards and Personal Loans, reflecting the higher credit quality of 1I2I3 Current Account customers, and unsecured personal loans that benefit from an improvement in new business credit quality.reference agencies.

In 2014, interest income recognisedthe rest of this section, we explain how we manage credit risk on impaired loans amountednon-standardised customers.

Risk strategy and planning

For details of how we set risk strategy and plans for Commercial Banking, see the ‘Santander UK group level – credit risk management’ section.

Assessment and origination

Managing credit risk begins with lending responsibly. That means only lending to £2m (2013: £2m, 2012: £7m)customers who:

Can afford to pay us back, even if things get tighter for them
Are committed to paying us back.

We do this mainly by assigning each customer a credit rating, using our internal rating scale (see ‘Credit quality’ in the ‘Santander UK group level – credit risk review’ section). To do this, we look at the customer’s financial history and broader trends in the economy – backed up by the expert judgement of a risk analyst. We review our internal ratings at least every year.

We also assess the underlying risk of the transaction, taking into account any mitigating factors (see the table below) – and how it fits with our risk policies, limits and Risk Appetite, as set by the Board. We consider transactions in line with credit limits approved by the relevant credit authority. Our Executive Risk Committee is responsible for setting those limits, as well as reviewing and approving the highest value transactions.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

 

Credit risk mitigation

The types of credit risk mitigation, including collateral, across each of our portfolios is:

 

Annual Report 2014
    PortfolioDescription
Mid-Corporate and SME

Includes both secured and unsecured lending. We can use covenants (financial or non-financial) to support a customer’s credit rating. For example, we can set limits on how much they can spend or borrow, or how they operate as a business. We take mortgage debentures as collateral. These are charges over a company’s assets. We also take guarantees, but we do not treat them as collateral, and we do not put a cash value on them unless they are secured against something tangible.

We base our lending decision on the customer’s trading cash flow. If they default, we generally do not take control of their assets except as a last resort. In this case, we might appoint an administrator.

We also lend against assets (like vehicles and equipment) and invoices for some of our customers. For assets, we value them before we lend. For invoices, we review the customer’s ledgers regularly and lend against debtors that meet agreed criteria. If the customer defaults, we repossess and sell their assets or call in their invoices.

Commercial Real Estate

We take a first legal charge on commercial property as collateral. The loan is subject to strict criteria, including the:

–    Condition, age and location of the property

–    Quality of the tenant

–    Terms and length of the lease

–    Experience and creditworthiness of the sponsors.

Before we agree the loan, we visit the property and get an independent professional valuation. This valuation assesses the property, the tenant and future demand (such as comparing the market rent to the current rent). Loan agreements typically allow us to get revaluations every 24 months after that, or more frequently if it is likely that the covenants may be breached. We also view the property each year.

Social Housing

We take a first legal charge on portfolios of residential real estate owned and let by UK Housing Associations as collateral. We re-value this every three to five years (in line with industry practice), using the standard methods for property used for social housing. The value would be considerably higher if we based it on normal residential use. The value of the collateral is in all cases in excess of the loan balance. On average, the loan balance is 25% to 50% of the implied market value, using our LGD methodology. We have not had a default, loss or repossession on Social Housing.

Older Social Housing loans that do not fit our current business strategy are managed and reported in Corporate Centre.

Monitoring

We regularly monitor and report our credit risk by portfolio, segment, industry, location and customer. We give our Executive Risk Committee a detailed analysis of our credit exposures and risk trends every month. We also report our larger exposures and risks to the Board Risk Committee every month.

Our Watchlist

For non-standardised customers, we also use a Watchlist to help us identify potential problem debt early. Just because a customer is on our Watchlist does not always mean they have defaulted. It just means that something has happened that may make them more likely to default in the future. There are several reasons we might put customers on this list. For example, if they suffer a downturn in trade, breach a covenant, lose a major contract, slip into early arrears, or their key management resign. Whatever the trigger, we review the case to assess the potential financial impact.

We classify Watchlist cases as:

Enhanced monitoring: for less urgent cases. If they are significant, we start to monitor them more often
Proactive management: for more urgent or serious cases. We may ask for more collateral, agree a lower credit limit, or seek repayment of the loan.

We assess cases on the Watchlist for impairment collectively, unless they are in the hands of our Restructuring & Recoveries team at which point we assess them individually. If a case becomes NPL, we take it off the Watchlist and assess it for impairment individually.

When a customer is put on the Watchlist, we usually revalue any collateral as part of working out what to do next. We also assess whether we need to set up an impairment loss allowance. This is based on the value of the collateral compared to the loan balance. We also take into account any forbearance we offer (which we describe later on). This includes whether any extra security or guarantees are available, the likelihood of more equity and the potential to enhance value through asset management. We rarely take control of the collateral, except as a last resort.

78  Santander UK plc


71
    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

Arrears management

We identify problem debt by close monitoring, supported by our Watchlist process. When there is a problem, our relationship managers are the first to act, supported by the relevant credit risk expert. If a case becomes more urgent or needs specialist attention, and if it becomes NPL, we transfer it to our Restructuring & Recoveries team.

We try to act before a customer actually defaults (to prevent it, if possible). The strategy we use depends on the type of customer, their circumstances and the level of risk. If all else fails or in extreme cases, we may decide to take legal action. We use rehabilitation tools to try to help our customers find their own way out of financial difficulty and agree on a plan that works for both of us. We do not want to lose good customers, and when we help them through difficult times they are more likely to stay with us when things improve.

We try to identify warning signs early by close monitoring of customers’ financial and trading data, checking to make sure they are not breaching any covenants, and by having regular dialogue with them. Once a month, we hold Watchlist meetings to agree a strategy for each portfolio. Our Restructuring & Recoveries team attend these meetings, and we may hand over cases to them that have become urgent or serious.

Forbearance

If a customer is having financial difficulty, we always try to come to an arrangement with them before they actually default. Their problems might be clear from the results of covenant testing, reviews of trading and other data they give us under the terms of their loan or as part of our ongoing conversations with them.

We may offer the following types of forbearance. We only do this if our assessments indicate the customer can meet the revised payments:

    ActionDescription
Term extension

We can extend the term of the loan, making each payment smaller. At a minimum, we expect the customer to be able to pay the interest in the short-term and have a realistic chance of repaying the full balance in the long-term.

We may offer this option if the customer is up-to-date with their payments, but showing signs of financial difficulties. We may also offer this option where the loan is about to mature and near-term refinancing is not possible on market terms.

Interest-only

We can agree to let a customer pay only the interest on the loan for a short time – usually less than a year. We only agree to this if we believe their financial problems are temporary and they are going to recover.

After the interest-only period, we expect the customer to go back to making full payments of interest and capital once they are in a stronger financial position. We regularly look at the customer’s financial situation to see when they can afford to do that.

Other payment rescheduling (including capitalisation)

If a customer is having cash flow issues, we may agree to lower or stop their payments until they have had time to recover. We may:

–    Reschedule payments to better match the customers’ cash flow – for example if the business is seasonal

–    Provide a temporary increase in facilities to cover peak demand ahead of the customer’s trading improving.

We might do this by adding their arrears to their loan balance (we call this arrears capitalisation) or drawing from an overdraft.

We may also offer other types of forbearance, including providing new facilities, interest rate concessions, seasonal profiling and interest roll-up.

In rare cases, we agree to forgive or reduce part of the debt. For larger companies this could include debt-for-equity swaps, where we agree to exchange some of the debt for equity in the borrower. We only do this when their balance sheet is materially over-leveraged but we think the business can be turned around. We only tend to do this if the borrower raises new cash equity, puts in place a turnaround plan, and we believe that management can deliver their strategy.

The book value of the converted debt is written off and, to begin with, the value of the equity is held at zero. We reassess it regularly in line with the borrower’s performance.


When we agree to any of these solutions with a customer, we report the account as forborne. We also review our loan loss allowances for them. Many of these accounts stay in our performing portfolio but we report them separately from other performing accounts as forborne. We classify a loan as forborne until it is fully repaid.

If an account is performing when we agree forbearance, we usually classify it as sub-standard. Once we see clear evidence that the customer is consistently meeting their new terms and the risk profile has improved, we may reclassify the loan as fully performing. If an account is in NPL when we agree forbearance, we keep it in the NPL category. Once we see that the customer is consistently meeting the new terms (usually for at least three months), we reclassify the loan as performing.

We assess our loan loss allowances regularly and have them independently reviewed. We look at a number of factors, including the:

Cash flow available to service debt
Value of collateral, based on third-party professional valuations.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

Other forms of debt management

We can also manage debt in other ways, depending on the facts of the specific case:

    ActionDescription
Waiving or changing covenants

If a borrower breaks a covenant, we can either waive it or change it, taking their latest and future financial position into account. We may also add a condition that they must use all their surplus cash (after operating costs) to pay down their debt to us.

Asking for more collateral or
guarantees

If a borrower has unencumbered assets, we may accept them as new or extra collateral in return for better terms. We may also take a guarantee from other companies in the same group and/or major shareholders. We only do this where we believe the guarantor will be able to meet their commitment.

Asking for more equity

Where a borrower can no longer pay the interest on their debt, we may accept fresh equity capital from new or existing investors to change the capital structure in return for better terms on the existing debt.

Debt recovery

Consensual arrangements

Where we cannot find a solution like any of the ones we describe above, we may look for an exit. We do this by agreeing with the borrower to sell some of their assets on a voluntary basis before they become insolvent. We may also agree to give them time to refinance their debt with another lender.

Enforcement and recovery

Where we cannot find a way forward or reach a consensual arrangement, we may try to recover what we are owed through:

The insolvency process
Selling off any collateral
Selling the debt on the secondary market.

If there is a shortfall, we raise a loan loss allowance and write it off once the sale has gone through.

 

80  Santander UK plc


    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

COMMERCIAL BANKING – CREDIT RISK – COMMERCIAL BANKINGREVIEW

In Commercial Banking, credit risk arises on asset balances and off-balance sheet transactions such as credit facilities or guarantees. Consequently,As a result, committed exposures are typically higher than asset balances.

Commercial Banking – committed exposures

Rating distribution

The rating distributionThese tables show theour credit risk exposure by Santander UK’saccording to our internal rating scale (see the ‘Credit quality’ section) for each portfolio. WithinOn this scale, the higher the rating, the better the quality of the counterparty.

During

      

Mid Corporate
and SME

£m

     Commercial
Real Estate
£m
     Social
Housing
£m
     

Total

    

£m

 

2015

                

9

     14              970       984  

8

     116       1       892       1,009  

7

     335       659       257       1,251  

6

     2,440       5,555       50       8,045  

5

     4,396       3,486              7,882  

4

     4,214       574              4,788  

1 to 3

     536       215              751  

Other(1)

     292       56              348  
      12,343       10,546       2,169       25,058  

2014

                

9

     109       1       378       488  

8

     402       288       611       1,301  

7

     489       579       234       1,302  

6

     1,883       4,670       60       6,613  

5

     3,653       3,695              7,348  

4

     3,735       517              4,252  

1 to 3

     571       222              793  

Other(1)

     353       86              439  
      11,195       10,058       1,283       22,536  

(1)Consists of smaller exposures mainly in the commercial mortgages portfolio. We use scorecards for them, instead of a rating model.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Geographical distribution

We classify geographical location according to country of risk – in other words, the country where each counterparty has its main business activity or assets. If our clients have operations in many countries, we use their country of incorporation.

      

Mid Corporate
and SME

£m

     Commercial
Real Estate
£m
     Social
Housing
£m
     

Total

    

£m

 

2015

                

UK

     12,269       10,546       2,169       24,984  

Peripheral eurozone

     25                     25  

Rest of Europe

     47                     47  

US

                            

Rest of world

     2                     2  
      12,343       10,546       2,169       25,058  

2014

                

UK

     11,110       10,058       1,283       22,451  

Peripheral eurozone

     17                     17  

Rest of Europe

     42                     42  

US

                            

Rest of world

     26                     26  
      11,195       10,058       1,283       22,536  

2015 compared to 2014 the internal model used for the credit rating(unaudited)

Our lending to customers has grown consistently since 2008, and we continue to operate within our prudent Risk Appetite. At 31 December 2015, 99% (2014: 99%) of our portfolio was with UK counterparties.

In 2015, our committed exposures increased by £2.5bn or 11% to £25.1bn. Our Mid Corporate and SME exposures grew by 10% to £12.3bn in 2015, maintaining a positive momentum despite an increasingly competitive market that was contracting for much of the year. Our Commercial Real Estate portfolio increased by 5% to £10.5bn with new business levels more than offsetting repayments.

Our Social Housing portfolio increased by 69% to £2.2bn, driven by refinancing of longer-dated loans previously managed in Corporate Centre onto shorter maturities and on current market terms.

Commercial Banking – credit risk mitigation

At 31 December 2015, the collateral we held against impaired loans was re-calibrated to better reflect internal data. As a consequence43% (2014: 50%) of this re-calibration, the principal movements were incarrying amount of the mid-range rating bands (4, 5 and 6), with a reduction of £2.2bn in grade 6. We consider this to be a more appropriate characterisation for an SME book of this nature, where customers typically rate in the mid-range bands. On a like-for-like basis (pre re-calibration) the rating distribution remained similar.

                                                                                
  Mid Corporate Commercial Social Total 
 and SME Real Estate Housing   
  £m £m £m £m 

 

2014 (post re-calibration)

9

 109   1   378   488  

8

 402   288   611   1,301  

7

 489   579   234   1,302  

6

 1,883   4,670   60   6,613  

5

 3,653   3,695      7,348  

4

 3,735   517      4,252  

1 to 3

 571   222      793  

Other(1)

 

 353   86      439  
 

 

 

 

 

11,195

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

10,058

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

1,283

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

22,536

 

 

  

 

 

2014 (pre re-calibration)

9

 109   1   378   488  

8

 402   288   611   1,301  

7

 998   579   234   1,811  

6

 4,050   4,670   60   8,780  

5

 2,000   3,695      5,695  

4

 2,938   517      3,455  

1 to 3

 345   222      567  

Other(1)

 353   86      439  
 

 

 

 

 

11,195

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

10,058

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

1,283

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

22,536

 

 

  

 

 

2013

9

 200   127   263   590  

8

 360   320   359   1,039  

7

 663   1,447   231   2,341  

6

 2,986   4,263   115   7,364  

5

 2,028   2,737      4,765  

4

 2,287   683      2,970  

1 to 3

 225   324      549  

Other(1)

 516   144      660  
 

 

 

 

 

9,265

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

10,045

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

968

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

20,278

 

 

  

 

(1)  Represents smaller exposures predominantly within the commercial mortgages portfolio which are subject to scorecards rather than a rating model.
impaired loan balances.

 

 

72Santander UK plc

82  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk            

Geographical distribution

The geographical location is classified by country of risk, being the country where each counterparty’s main business activity or assets are located. For clients whose operations are more geographically dispersed, the country of incorporation is applied.

                                                                                
  Mid Corporate Commercial Social Total 
 and SME Real Estate Housing   
  £m £m £m £m 

 

2014

UK

 11,110   10,058   1,283   22,451  

Peripheral eurozone

 17         17  

Rest of Europe

 42         42  

US

            

Rest of world

 26         26  
 

 

 

 

 

11,195

 

 

  

 

 10,058   1,283   22,536  

2013

UK

 9,154   10,045   968   20,167  

Peripheral eurozone

 18         18  

Rest of Europe

 54         54  

US

            

Rest of world

 39         39  
 

 

 

 

 

9,265

 

 

  

 

 10,045   968   20,278  

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

During 2014, total committed exposures increased by £2.3bn or 11% to £22.5bn principally due to the strong growth achieved in the Mid Corporate and SME portfolio. Our lending to Commercial Banking customers has grown consistently since 2008, and we continue to operate within our prudent risk appetite parameters. The Commercial Banking portfolio is 99% concentrated in UK-based counterparties.

Mid Corporate and SME exposures increased by 21% in 2014, reflecting the continued development of our franchise in the UK, not only in terms of broadening our distribution capabilities, but also in terms of the range of products and services available to UK companies. The Commercial Real Estate portfolio remained broadly stable with new business being offset by repayments of maturing loans which saw a greater proportion of higher-rated exposure repaid as investors sought to realise gains on higher-performing assets.

Social Housing exposures increased by 33% in 2014, through selective opportunities to write new business with highly-rated counterparties.

Commercial Banking – credit risk mitigation

At 31 December 2014, collateral held against impaired loans amounted to 31% (2013: 44%) of the carrying amount of impaired loan balances.

Annual Report 2014    governance73Credit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

Commercial Banking – credit performance

Exposures exhibitingWe monitor exposures that show potentially higher risk characteristics are subject to risk monitoring under theusing our Watchlist process (described in ‘Risk monitoring’ in the ‘Credit risk management’ section). The table below sets outshows the portfolio showing exposures subject to risk monitoring under the Watchlist processwe monitor, and those classifiedwe classify as non-performing by portfolio at 31 December 20142015 and 2013:2014:

 

                                                                                    
    

Mid Corporate
and SME

£m

     

Commercial

Real Estate

£m

     Social
Housing
£m
     

Total

    

£m

 

2015

                

Total Committed Exposure of which:(1)

     12,343       10,546       2,169       25,058  

– Performing (Non-Watchlist)

     10,617       10,083       2,162       22,862  

– Watchlist: Enhanced Monitoring

     969       150       7       1,126  

– Watchlist: Proactive Management

     341       123              464  

– Non-performing exposure(2)

     416       190              606  

Total impaired exposure of which:

     416       190              606  

– Performing

                            

– Non-performing(2)

     416       190              606  

Total Observed impairment loss allowances of which:

     162       56              218  

– Performing

                            

– Non-performing(2)

     162       56              218  

IBNO(3)

                 42  

Total impairment loss allowance

                    260  

Mid Corporate
and SME

£m

 

Commercial

Real Estate

£m

 

Social

Housing

£m

 

Total

 

£m

 

2014

                

Total Committed Exposure of which:(1)

 11,195   10,058   1,283   22,536       11,195       10,058       1,283       22,536  

– Performing (Non-Watchlist)

 9,683   9,229   1,253   20,165       9,683       9,229       1,253       20,165  

– Watchlist: Enhanced Monitoring

 741   483   30   1,254       741       483       30       1,254  

– Watchlist: Proactive Management

 371   63      434       371       63              434  

– Non-performing exposure(2)

 400   283      683       400       283              683  

Total impaired exposure of which:

 411   283      694       411       283              694  

– Performing

 11         11       11                     11  

– Non-performing(2)

 400   283      683       400       283              683  

Total Observed impairment loss allowances of which:

 158   99      257       158       99              257  

– Performing

 4         4       4                     4  

– Non-performing

 154   99      253  

– Non-performing(2)

     154       99              253  

IBNO(3)

 48                   48  

Total impairment loss allowance

    305                      305  

2013

Total Committed Exposure of which:(1)

 9,265   10,045   968   20,278  

– Performing (Non-Watchlist)

 8,071   9,074   933   18,078  

– Watchlist: Enhanced Monitoring

 587   295   35   917  

– Watchlist: Proactive Management

 266   357      623  

– Non-performing exposure(2)

 341   319      660  

Total impaired exposure of which:

 352   414      766  

– Performing

 11   95      106  

– Non-performing(2)

 341   319      660  

Total Observed impairment loss allowances of which:

 126   124      250  

– Performing

 3   15      18  

– Non-performing(3)

 123   109      232  

IBNO(3)

 29  

Total impairment loss allowance

    279  

(1)

(1)Includes committed facilities and derivatives. We define ‘Enhanced Monitoring’ and ‘Proactive Management’ in the ‘Risk monitoring‘ section.
(2)Non-performing exposure includes committed facilities and derivative exposures. So it can be bigger than the NPLs in the table on page 84 which only include drawn balances.
(3)Allowance for incurred but not observed (IBNO) losses as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Non-performing loans and derivatives. The terms ‘Enhanced Monitoring’ and ‘Proactive Management’advances(1)(2)

We analyse Commercial Banking NPLs below:

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Loans and advances to customers of which:(2)

     20,943       18,637  

NPLs(3)

     586       664  

Impairment loan loss allowances

     260       305  
      %       %  

NPL ratio(4)

     2.80       3.56  

Coverage ratio(5)

     44       46  

(1)We define NPLs in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.
(2)Include Social Housing loans and finance leases.
(3)All NPLs are in the UK and continue accruing interest. The balances include interest we have charged to the customer’s account. They do not include accrued interest we have not charged to the account yet.
(4)NPLs as a percentage of loans and advances.
(5)Impairment loan loss allowances as a percentage of NPLs.

We analyse NPL movements in 2015 below. ‘Entries’ are defined in the ‘Risk Monitoring‘ section of the Risk Review.

(2) Non-performing exposure in the table above include committed facilities and derivative exposures and therefore can be larger than theloans which we have classified as NPLs in the table below which only include drawn balances.

(3) Allowance for incurred inherent losses (i.e. incurred butyear. ‘Exits (including repayments)’ are the part of loans that has been repaid (in full or in part), plus loans that returned to performing status. ‘Write-offs’ are the unrecovered part of loans where we have exhausted recovery options, including realising any collateral. Forbearance does not observed (‘IBNO’)) as described in Note 1 tochange the Consolidated Financial Statements.

NPL status.

 

 

74Santander UK plc

LOGO

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

In our Mid Corporate and SME portfolio, exposures subject to enhanced monitoring increased by £228m. This increase was spread across a number of borrowers and sectors and was partially offset by a decrease of £30m in exposures subject to proactive management.

In our Commercial Real Estate portfolio, exposures subject to enhanced monitoring decreased by £333m, driven by successful refinancing and repayments. Exposures subject to proactive management increased by £60m, driven by a single legacy case against which we are adequately secured.

At 31 December 2015, only £7m (0.3%) of our Social Housing portfolio exposures were subject to enhanced monitoring (2014: £30m and 2.3%).

NPLs reduced slightly to £586m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £664m) with lower levels of new entries due to the improved trading performance of borrowers.

The NPL ratio decreased to 2.80% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 3.56%), with credit quality remaining strong. The improvement in the NPL ratio was driven by the NPL reductions above, and an overall increase in loans and advances to customers.

84  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk            

Non-performing loans and advances(1)(2)

An analysis of Commercial Banking NPLs is presented below.

  

2014

£m

 

            2013

£m

 

 

Loans and advances to customers of which:(2)

 18,637   16,933  

Customers in arrears

 664   663  

NPLs(3)

 664   649  

 

Impairment loan loss allowances

 

 305   279  
  %   %  

 

Arrears ratio(4)

 3.56   3.92  

NPLs ratio(5)

 3.56   3.83  

Coverage ratio(6)

 

 46   43  

(1) Loans and advances are classified as non-performing in accordance with the definitions provided in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.

(2) includes Social Housing and Finance leases.

(3) All NPL balances are UK based and continue accruing interest. For the data presented, the balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.

(4) Loans and advances to customers in arrears as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.

(5) NPLs as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.

(6) Impairment loan loss allowances as a percentage of NPLs.

An analysis of the NPL movements during 2014 is presented below. ‘Entries’ represent loans which have become classified as NPLs during the year. ‘Exits (including repayments)’ represent loans that have been repaid (in full or in part) plus those returned to performing status. ‘Write-offs’ represent the unrecovered element of a loan where recovery options, including realisation of any collateral, have been exhausted. Forbearance activity does not result in a change in the NPL status.

LOGO

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

Watchlist exposures subject to proactive management reduced to £434m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £623m). The reduction in the Commercial Real Estate portfolio more than offset the increase in the Mid Corporate and SME portfolio. In the Social Housing portfolio, there were no exposures subject to proactive management.

Watchlist exposures subject to enhanced monitoring increased in all portfolios except Social Housing. The increase in the Mid Corporate and SME portfolio was principally due to a tightening of the Care Homes policy whereby any customer with a Care Quality Commission flag (indicating operational deficiencies) is automatically added to the Watchlist. The increase in the Commercial Real Estate portfolio also reflected prudent policy requirements as transactions that have six months to maturity and no definitive exit or refinance plan in place, irrespective of their LTV ratio, are now automatically added to the Watchlist. At 31 December 2014 only 2.3% (2013: 3.6%) of portfolio exposures were subject to enhanced monitoring.

Loans and advances to customers in arrears remained stable at £664m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £663m), but given the high growth rates of this portfolio the arrears ratio decreased to 3.56% (2013: 3.92%). The NPL ratio decreased to 3.56% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 3.83%) for similar reasons.

In 2014, interest income recognised on impaired loans amounted to £17m (2013: £15m, 2012: £14m).

Annual Report 2014    governance75Credit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

Commercial Banking loans – forbearance

We only make forbearance arrangements for lending to customers. We have not needed to make any forbearance arrangements with our Social Housing counterparties.

Forbearance commenced duringstarted in the year(1)

No forbearance arrangements have been necessary with respect to Social Housing counterparties. The exposures that entered forbearance during the years endedin 2015 and 2014 were:

      2015        2014 
      

Mid Corporate

and SME

£m

     

Commercial

Real Estate

£m

     

        Total

    

£m

        

Mid Corporate

and SME

£m

     

Commercial

Real Estate

£m

     

        Total

    

£m

 

Term extension

     32       4       36        23       78       101  

Interest-only

     82       15       97        37       14       51  

Other payment rescheduling

     59       34       93         123       27       150  
      173       53       226         183       119       302  

(1)The figures reflect the forbearance activity in the year, regardless of whether there was any forbearance on the accounts before.

Forbearance total position

a) Performance when they entered forbearance

The exposures at 31 December 2015 and 2014, analysed by their payment status when they entered forbearance and 2013the forbearance we applied, were:

 

  2014   2013 
             Mid Corporate             Commercial                     Total              Mid Corporate             Commercial                     Total 
  

and SME

£m

 

        Real Estate

£m

 £m   

and SME

£m

 

        Real Estate

£m

 £m 

 

Payment rescheduling

 123   27   150   39   5   44  

Term extension

 23   78   101   15   121   136  

Interest-only

 

 37   14   51    36   12   48  
  

 

183

 

  

 

 

 

119

 

  

 

 

 

302

 

  

 

  

 

90

 

  

 

 

 

138

 

  

 

 

 

228

 

  

 

 

(1)  The figures by year reflect the amount of forbearance activity undertaken during the year irrespective of whether any forbearance activity has previously been undertaken on the forborne accounts.

 

Forbearance cumulative position

a) Performance status when entering forbearance

The forborne exposures at 31 December 2014 and 2013 when they originally entered forbearance, analysed by their payment status, were:

 

     

  

  

  

     Payment Term   Interest-only Total Impairment 
     rescheduling £m extension £m   £m £m allowance £m 

 

2014(1)

Forbearance of NPL

 8   37   13   58   16  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

 

    187   234    318   739   124  
     

 

195

 

  

 

 

 

271

 

  

 

  

 

331

 

  

 

 

 

797

 

  

 

 

 

140

 

  

 

2013(1)

Forbearance of NPL

 14   76   92   182   48  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

 

    143   287    298   728   81  
     

 

157

 

  

 

 

 

363

 

  

 

  

 

390

 

  

 

 

 

910

 

  

 

 

 

129

 

  

 

 

(1)  Forbearance type categorisation is based on the first forbearance activity undertaken on the accounts. Tables contain only open accounts at the end of the year.

 

b) Performance status at the year-end

The current status of forborne exposures analysed by their payment status, at 31 December 2014 and 2013 was:

 

     

  

  

     Payment Term   Interest-only Total Impairment 
     rescheduling £m extension £m   £m £m allowance £m 

 

2014(1)

Non-performing

 103   154   132   389   136  

Performing

 

    92   117    199   408(2)  4  
     

 

195

 

  

 

 

 

271

 

  

 

  

 

331

 

  

 

 

 

797

 

  

 

 

 

140

 

  

 

Proportion of portfolio

 

    

 

0.9%

 

  

 

 

 

1.2%

 

  

 

  

 

1.5%

 

  

 

 

 

3.5%

 

  

 

   

2013(1)

Non-performing

 96   123   119   338   113  

Performing

 

    61   240    271   572(2)  16  
     

 

157

 

  

 

 

 

363

 

  

 

  

 

390

 

  

 

 

 

910

 

  

 

 

 

129

 

  

 

Proportion of portfolio

 

    

 

0.8%

 

  

 

 

 

1.8%

 

  

 

  

 

1.9%

 

  

 

 

 

4.5%

 

  

 

   

 

(1)  Forbearance type categorisation is based on the first forbearance activity undertaken on the accounts. Tables contain only open accounts at the end of the year.

(2)  This represents the carrying amount of financial assets that may otherwise be past due or impaired whose terms have been forborne.

 

     

     

      Term
extension
£m
     Interest-only
£m
     Other payment
rescheduling
£m
     

Total

    

£m

     Impairment
allowance
£m
 

2015(1)

                    

Forbearance of NPL

     4       46       42       92       35  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

     163       261       189       613       111  
      167       307       231       705       146  

2014(1)

                    

Forbearance of NPL

     37       13       8       58       16  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

     234       318       187       739       124  
      271       331       195       797       140  

(1)We base forbearance type on the first forbearance we applied. Tables only show accounts that were open at the year-end.

b) Performance at the year-end

The exposures at 31 December 2015 and 2014 analysed by their payment status at the year-end and the forbearance we applied were:

      Term
extension
£m
     Interest-only
£m
     Other payment
rescheduling
£m
     

Total

    

£m

     Impairment
allowance
£m
 

2015(1)

                    

Non-performing

     95       169       141       405       144  

Performing

     72       138       90       300       2  
      167       307       231       705       146  

Proportion of portfolio

     0.7%       1.2%       0.9%       2.8%         

2014(1)

                    

Non-performing

     154       132       103       389       136  

Performing

     117       199       92       408       4  
      271       331       195       797       140  

Proportion of portfolio

     1.2%       1.5%       0.9%       3.5%         

(1)We base forbearance type on the first forbearance we applied. Tables only show accounts that were open at the year-end.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

 

 

This data may be analysed by portfolio, as follows:

Mid Corporate and SME

      Term
extension
£m
     Interest-only
£m
     Other payment
rescheduling
£m
     

Total

    

£m

     Impairment
allowance
£m
 

2015(1)

                    

Non-performing

     20       140       116       276       108  

Performing

     22       79       85       186       1  
      42       219       201       462       109  

Proportion of Mid Corporate and SME portfolio

     0.3%       1.8%       1.6%       3.7%         

2014(1)

                    

Non-performing

     26       92       97       215       84  

Performing

     28       79       85       192       4  
      54       171       182       407       88  

Proportion of Mid Corporate and SME portfolio

     0.5%       1.5%       1.6%       3.6%         

 

(1)  We base forbearance type on the first forbearance we applied. Tables only show accounts that were open at the year-end.

 

Commercial Real Estate

 

     

  

      Term
extension
£m
     Interest-only
£m
     Other payment
rescheduling
£m
     

Total

    

£m

     Impairment
allowance
£m
 

2015(1)

                    

Non-performing

     75       29       25       129       36  

Performing

     50       59       5       114       1  
      125       88       30       243       37  

Proportion of Commercial Real Estate portfolio

     1.2%       0.8%       0.3%       2.3%         

2014(1)

                    

Non-performing

     128       40       6       174       52  

Performing

     89       120       7       216         
      217       160       13       390       52  

Proportion of Commercial Real Estate portfolio

     2.2%       1.6%       0.1%       3.9%         

(1)
76Santander UK plcWe base forbearance type on the first forbearance we applied. Tables only show accounts that were open at the year-end.

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

The forbearance started in 2015 was lower than in 2014, with a significant reduction in our Commercial Real Estate portfolio as the credit quality continued to improve.

The cumulative forbearance stock decreased at 31 December 2015, as cases from older vintages in our Commercial Real Estate portfolio continue to work their way through the forbearance process (see the ‘Higher risk loans and other segments of particular interest’ section) and fewer cases entered forbearance. In our Mid Corporate and SME portfolio, the cases are newer and it will therefore take longer for them to exit. The accounts in forbearance as a percentage of the portfolio continued to decrease to 2.8% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 3.5%).

At 31 December 2015, 87% (2014: 93%) of total forborne exposure entered forbearance before default. At 31 December 2015, 43% (2014: 51%) of total forborne exposure was keeping to the forbearance terms showing that much of the action had been effective. The remaining cases moved to NPL despite the forbearance.

Debt-for-equity swaps

We also had £10m (2014: £10m) of equity securities that arose from debt-for-equity swaps at 31 December 2015.

86  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk            

This data may be further analysed by portfolio, as follows:

Mid Corporate and SME

  Payment Term     Interest-only                 Total     Impairment 
  

    rescheduling

£m

 

    extension

£m

 £m £m 

allowance

£m

 

 

2014(1)

Non-performing

 97   26   92   215   84  

Performing

 

 85   28   79   192(2)  4  
  

 

182

 

  

 

 

 

54

 

  

 

 

 

171

 

  

 

 

 

407

 

  

 

 

 

88

 

  

 

Proportion of Mid Corporate and SME portfolio

 

 

 

1.6%

 

  

 

 

 

0.5%

 

  

 

 

 

1.5%

 

  

 

 

 

3.6%

 

  

 

   

2013(1)

Non-performing

 42   27   74   143   55  

Performing

 46   36   99   181(2)  3  

    

                        

 

 

 

88

 

  

 63   173   324   58  
                         

 

Proportion of Mid Corporate and SME portfolio

 0.9%   0.7%   1.9%   3.5%  

    

                        

 

(1)  Forbearance type categorisation is based on the first forbearance activity undertaken on the accounts. Tables contain only open accounts at the end of the year.

 

     

Commercial Real Estate

 

  Payment Term Interest-only Total Impairment 
  rescheduling
£m
 extension
£m
 £m £m 

allowance

£m

 

 

2014(1)

Non-performing

 6   128   40   174   52  

Performing

 

 7   89   120   216(2)    
 13   217   160   390   52  

    

                        

Proportion of Commercial Real Estate portfolio

 0.1%   2.2%   1.6%   3.9%  

    

                        

2013(1)

Non-performing

 54   96   45   195   58  

Performing

 15   204   172   391(2)  13  
                         

 

 

 

69

 

  

 300   217   586   71  
                         

 

Proportion of Commercial Real Estate portfolio

 0.7%   3.0%   2.2%   5.8%  
                         

 

(1) Forbearance type categorisation is based on the first forbearance activity undertaken on the accounts. Tables contain only open accounts at the end of the year.

  

(2) This represents the carrying amount of financial assets that would otherwise be past due or impaired whose terms have been forborne.

  

2014 compared to 2013(unaudited)

The incidence of forbearance that commenced in the year increased compared to 2013. This was primarily in the Mid Corporate and SME portfolio partially offset by a reduction in Commercial Real Estate. However, the cumulative forbearance stock decreased, especially in the Commercial Real Estate portfolio where older vintages that subsequently suffered financial distress continue to work their way through the forbearance process (see ‘Higher risk loans and other segments of particular interest’ on page 79). The proportion of Mid Corporate and SME forbearance as a percentage of the portfolio remained stable at 3.6% (2013: 3.5%).

Accounts that are in forbearance continue to be closely monitored, to ensure that the forbearance arrangements are sustainable. Not all forbearance will prove effective, and in certain circumstances, market conditions may lead either to a case remaining in NPL even post-forbearance or to the need for a second forbearance action. At 31 December 2014, 51% (2013: 63%) of total forborne exposure was performing in accordance with the revised terms agreed under the forbearance arrangements.

The level of compliance with revised terms agreed under forbearance arrangements is influenced by market conditions. Those cases where forbearance occurs prior to default, which at 31 December 2014 represented 93% (2013: 80%) of exposure, are generally more effective.

Forborne exposures are assessed for observed impairment loss allowances. The greater probability of a loss when compared to the performing book is reflected in the calculation of impairment loss allowances. A customer’s ability to adhere to any revised terms agreed is an indicator of the sustainability of Santander UK’s forbearance arrangements, although the forbearance is unlikely to be successful in all cases.

Annual Report 201477


Risk review

Credit risk

continued

Debt-for-equity swaps(unaudited)

In addition to the forbearance activities shown above, Santander UK has on occasion entered into a small number of transactions where Santander UK agreed to exchange a proportion of the amount owed by the borrower for equity in that borrower. This arises in circumstances where a borrower’s balance sheet is materially over-leveraged but the underlying business is viewed as capable of being turned around. This will typically only be done alongside new cash equity being raised, the implementation of a detailed business plan to effect a turnaround in the prospects of the business, and satisfaction with management’s ability to deliver the strategy.

These debt-for-equity swaps amounted to £10m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £46m).

78Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    governance  Credit risk  Market risk  Liquidity risk  Capital risk  Pension risk  Operational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

 

HIGHER RISK LOANS AND OTHER SEGMENTS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST

Commercial Real Estate

The Commercial Real Estate market has experienced a particularly challenging environment over recentin the years following the financial crisis and has been prone toseen regular cyclical downturns as most recently demonstrated in 2008.downturns. In particular, Commercial Real Estate loans originated before 2009 are a segment of relatively higher risk.

CreditHigher risk loans – credit performance

We analyse Commercial Real Estate non-performing exposures and weighted average LTVs at 31 December 20142015 and 2013 may be further analysed2014 between loans originated pre-2009before 2009 and thereafter as follows:afterwards below:

 

2014   2013     2015        2014 
Original vintage    Original vintage       Original vintage           Original vintage       
             Pre-2009 2009
            onwards
 Total   Pre-2009 2009
onwards
 Total     

Pre-2009

    

     

2009

onwards

     

Total

    

       

Pre-2009

    

     

2009

onwards

     

Total

    

 

Total committed exposure

         £1,288m           £8,770m           £10,058m           £1,569m           £8,476m           £10,045m       £876m       £9,670m       £10,546m        £1,288m       £8,770m       £10,058m  

Non-performing exposure ratio

 18.3%   0.5%   2.7%   18.8%   0.3%   3.2%       16.6%       0.5%       1.8%        18.3%       0.5%       2.7%  

Weighted average LTV

 66%   52%   54%    74%   53%   56%       61%       51%       52%        66%       52%       54%  

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

At 31 December 2014,2015, 77% (2014: 85% (2013: 92%) of the non-performing exposures related to deals originated pre-2009.were pre-2009 loans. The pre-2009 vintage loans were written on market terms prevailing in the market at that time which, compared to more recent times, included higher original LTVs, lower interest coverage and exposure to development or letting risk. FollowingAfter the significant downturn in the Commercial Real Estate market in 2008 and 2009, some of these customers suffered financial stress resulting in their inabilitystress. This meant they were unable to meet the contractual payment terms, comply with covenants, or achieve refinancing/repayment at maturity. As a result, the pre-2009 sub-portfolio has experienced higher non-performing rates in recent years. At 31 December 2014, the non-performing exposure ratio of the pre-2009 sub-portfolio was 18.3% (2013: 18.8%).rates.

In light of the market deterioration, Santander UK’swe significantly tightened our lending criteria were significantly tightened from 2009 onwards,onwards. We reduced the maximum acceptable LTV and avoided loans with lower LTVs and the avoidance of transactionssignificant letting or development risks. At 31 December 2015, loans with material letting or development risks (at 31 December 2014, this element of the portfolio representedwere only 4% (2013:(2014: 4%) of the total Commercial Real Estate portfolio).portfolio. As a result, the sub-portfolio representingof loans originating from 2009 onwards continues to perform significantly better than the pre-2009 sub-portfolio. At 31 December 2014,2015, the pre-2009 sub-portfolio represented less thanwas 8% (2014: 13% (2013: 16%) of the total Commercial Real Estate portfolio.

SectorHigher risk loans – sector analysis

Sector

    2015
%
     2014
%
 

Office

     26       22  

Retail

     22       23  

Industrial

     16       16  

Residential

     12       13  

Mixed use

     13       12  

Student accommodation

     3       3  

Hotels and leisure

     5       6  

Other

     3       5  
      100       100  

The Commercial Real Estate portfolio remainedwas well diversified by sector at 31 December 20142015 and 2013, as set out below.

Sector2014 2013 
  % % 

 

Office

 22   26  

Retail

 23   23  

Industrial

 16   13  

Residential

 13   10  

Mixed use

 12   9  

Student accommodation

 3   6  

Hotels & Leisure

 6   6  

Other

 5   7  
               

 

 

 

100

 

  

 

 

 

100

 

  

               
2014.

 

 

Annual Report 201479


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Loan-to-valueHigher risk loans – LTV analysis

In Commercial Real Estate lending, the main form of credit mitigation is collateral. The table below analysesshows the LTV ratiosLTVs of loans within the Commercial Real Estate portfolio at 31 December 20142015 and 2013.2014. The LTV distribution is presentedLTVs are shown for the non-standardised portfolio (see the ‘Credit Risk Management’risk management’ section), which at £8.7bn represented 86%was 83% of the total Commercial Real Estate portfolio at 31 December 2014.2015 (2014: £8.7bn representing 86%). The residual elementrest of the portfolio consists of smaller value transactions, largely in the form ofmainly commercial mortgages. These loans have thereforenot been excluded from the analysisincluded below.

 

2014   2013 
                  Stock       New business                    Stock       New business 
% %   % %     2015        2014 
    

Stock

%

     

New business

%

       

Stock

%

     

New business

%

 

Up to 50%

 33   31   33   26       40       42        33       31  

50% to 60%

 39   49   36   47       40       42        39       49  

60% to 70%

 21   20   18   22       17       16        21       20  

70% to 80%

 4      6   5       2               4         

80% to 90%

 1      3          1               1         

90% to 100%

 1                               1         

> 100% i.e. negative equity

 1      4     

Total

 100   100   100   100  

>100% i.e. negative equity

                    1         
                    100       100        100       100  

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

At 31 December 2014,2015, the LTV profile of the portfolio remained conservative with 80% (2014: 72% (2013: 69%) of the portfolio at or below 60% LTV. This reflectedreflects the more recent vintage of the portfolio withas 92% (2014: 87% (2013: 84%) was originated in 2009 or subsequent years. The majority oflater. Most higher LTV deals representare older deals which remainstill in the portfolio.

NoIn 2015, no new business was written above 70% LTV, in 2014, with 80%and 84% was written at or below 60% LTV. The majority of the cases with negative equity form part of the forborne element of the portfolio and are managed by the Restructuring & Recoveries team.

At 31 December 20142015, the average LTV, weighted by exposure, was 52% (2014: 54% (2013: 56%). The weighted average LTV of new deals written in 20142015 was 52% (2013: 54%(2014: 52%).

RefinancingHigher risk loans – refinancing risk

As part of theour annual review process, for Commercial Real Estate loans that are approaching maturity, consideration is given towe look at the prospects of refinancing the loan at prevailingon current market terms and applicable credit policy. The review will consider this andWe also look at other aspects (e.g.(such as covenant compliance) which could result inmean we have to put the case being placed on the Watchlist. Additionally, whereIn addition, if we do not receive an acceptable refinancing proposal has not been received within six months prior to maturity,before the case will be placedloan matures, we put it on the Watchlist.

At 31 December 2014, there was £1,342m (2013: £852m) of2015, Commercial Real Estate loans of £1,471m (2014: £1,342m) were due to mature within 12 months. Of these, £144m, i.e. 10% (2014: £139m, i.e. 10% (2013: £320m i.e. 27%) havehad an LTV ratio above that which would be consideredhigher than is acceptable under our current credit policy, allpolicy. £139m of which (2013: £313m) hasthis (2014: £139m) had been placedput on the Watchlist or recorded as NPL and hashad an impairment loss allowance of £40m (2013: £62m) associated with it.

£20m (2014: £40m).

 

 

80Santander UK plc

88  Santander UK plc


Risk

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Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

  Credit risk – Global Corporate Banking

Overview

We are exposed to credit risk through lending and selling treasury products to large corporates, and through treasury markets activities.

Credit risk management

In this section, we explain how we manage credit risk, including how we mitigate it.

Credit risk review

In this section, we analyse our credit risk exposures and how they are performing. We also focus on forbearance. Our main portfolios are:

Sovereign and Supranational – securities issued by local and central governments, and government-guaranteed counterparties. We hold them for liquidity needs and short-term trading.

Large Corporate – loans and treasury products for large corporates to support their working capital and liquidity needs.

Financial Institutions – mainly derivatives, repurchase and reverse repurchase transactions (known as repos and reverse repos), and stock borrowing/lending.

GLOBAL CORPORATE BANKING – CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT

We classify our customers as non-standardised. Their transactions are for larger amounts of money, and have more diverse credit characteristics. We are exposed to credit risk through lending, selling treasury products, and treasury markets activities.

We set out how we manage credit risk on lending to non-standardised customers in the section ‘Credit risk – Commercial Banking’. We take the same approach in Global Corporate Banking.

In the rest of this section, we set out how we manage credit risk on treasury products and treasury markets activities where it differs from our approach for lending.

Risk strategy and planning

We take credit risk on treasury products up to limits for each client. We control, manage and report risks on a counterparty basis, regardless of which part of our business takes the risk – Global Corporate Banking or Corporate Centre.

Assessment and origination

A specialist analyst usually reviews a transaction at the start and over its life. They base their review on the financial strength of the client, its position in its industry, and its management strengths.

Monitoring

We monitor the credit quality of our portfolios of treasury products daily. We use both internal and third-party data to detect any potential credit deterioration.

Forbearance

We have not entered into forbearance on our treasury markets activities.

Risk measurement and control

We measure the credit risk on treasury products by adding their potential future exposure to market movements over their lives to their fair value. Then we add it to any other exposure and measure the total against our credit limits for each client.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk mitigation

The types of credit risk mitigation, including collateral, across each of our portfolios are:

    PortfolioDescription

Sovereign and Supranational

In line with market practice, there is no collateral against these assets.
Large Corporate

Most of these loans and products are unsecured, but we attach covenants to our credit agreements. We monitor whether borrowers keep in line with them so we detect any financial distress early. Includes a small structured finance portfolio, where we hold legal charges over the assets we finance.

Financial Institutions

We use standard legal agreements to reduce credit risk on derivatives, repos and reverse repos, and stock borrowing/lending. We also hold collateral and trade through central counterparties (CCPs) to reduce risk.

Netting – We use netting agreements where they have legal force – mainly in the UK, the rest of Europe and the US. These mean that if a counterparty defaults, we can legally offset what we owe them and what they owe us, and settle the net amount. However, netting agreements often do not mean we can offset assets and liabilities for accounting purposes, as transactions are usually settled on a gross basis.

In line with market practice, we use standard legal agreements:

–    Derivatives: ISDA Master Agreements

–    Repos and reverse repos: Global Master Repurchase Agreements

–    Stock borrowing/lending and other itemssecurities financing: Global Master Securities Lending Agreements.

Collateral– We use the Credit Support Annex with the ISDA Master Agreement. This gives us collateral for our net exposures. The collateral can be cash, securities or equities:

–    For stock borrowing/lending, and repos and reverse repos, it includes high-quality liquid debt securities and highly liquid equities listed on major developed markets

–    For derivatives, it is cash or high quality liquid debt securities.

We revalue our exposures and collateral every day and adjust the collateral to reflect any deficits or surpluses.

We have processes for controlling how we value and manage collateral. This includes documentation reviews and reporting. Collateral has to meet our ‘collateral parameters’ policy. This controls the quality and how much of any one kind of collateral we can hold. That gives us confidence we will be able to cash in the collateral when a client defaults. We have these controls for both equities and debt securities.

The collateral we hold for reverse repos (including securities financing) is worth at least 100% of our exposure.

CCPs – These are intermediaries between a buyer and a seller – generally a clearing house. We use CCPs as a way to reduce counterparty credit risk in derivatives.

90  Santander UK plc


    Risk            
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

 

GLOBAL CORPORATE BANKING – CREDIT RISK – CORPORATE & INSTITUTIONAL BANKINGREVIEW

In Global Corporate & Institutional Banking, credit risk arises on asset balances and off-balance sheet transactions such as credit facilities or guarantees. Consequently,That means committed exposures are typically higher than asset balances. However,But in the following committed exposures tables below, we show Sovereigns and Supranationals are presented net of short positions andpositions. They also include Sovereign and Supranational exposures established forthat form part of our liquidity management purposes,strategy, managed by Short Term Markets on behalf of Corporate Centre.

Large Corporate reverse repurchase agreement exposures are presentedshown net of repurchase agreement liabilities and include OTC derivatives. As a result, the committed exposures can be smaller than the asset balances recognised on the balance sheet. In addition, the

The derivative riskand other treasury product exposures in the tables below (which are classified as ‘Financial Institutions’) shown are also typically lower than the balance sheet positionasset balances. This is because thewe show our overall risk exposure is monitored and therefore consideration is taken of margin posted, CSAs in ISDA Master Agreements, and master netting agreements and other financial instruments which reduce the Santander UK group’s exposures. Derivativetakes into account our procedures to mitigate credit risk. The asset balances recognised on theour balance sheet only reflect only the more restrictive netting permitted by IAS 32.

Global Corporate & Institutional Banking – committed exposures

Rating distribution

The rating distributionThese tables show theour credit risk exposure by Santander UK’saccording to our internal rating scale (see the ‘Credit quality’ section) for each portfolio. WithinOn this scale, the higher the rating, the better the quality of the counterparty.

 

  Sovereign and Large Structured Financial Total 
 Supranational Corporate Finance Institutions   
  £m £m £m £m £m 

2014

9

 2,679   20      210   2,909  

8

 4,079   1,631      3,229   8,939  

7

 928   4,444      2,928   8,300  

6

    8,333   28   220   8,581  

5

    3,050   96   79   3,225  

4

    56         56  

1 to 3

    79   76   103   258  

Other

               

    

                                   

 

 

 

7,686

 

  

 17,613   200   6,769   32,268  

    

                                   

2013

9

 1,296   10      72   1,378  

8

 3,893   1,375      3,396   8,664  

7

 860   5,060   30   2,650   8,600  

6

    6,647   6   143   6,796  

5

    2,326   40   19   2,385  

4

    145   72      217  

1 to 3

    23   136   28   187  

Other

    2   24      26  

    

                                   

 

 

 

6,049

 

  

 15,588   308   6,308   28,253  

    

                                   

      

Sovereign and

Supranational

£m

     

Large

Corporate

£m

     

Financial

Institutions

£m

     

Total

    

£m

 

2015

                

9

     889       3       266       1,158  

8

     2,889       1,769       3,811       8,469  

7

     789       5,963       2,982       9,734  

6

            8,351       446       8,797  

5

            3,823       10       3,833  

4

            123              123  

1 to 3

            32              32  

Other

                            
      4,567       20,064       7,515       32,146  

2014

                

9

     2,679       20       210       2,909  

8

     4,079       1,631       3,229       8,939  

7

     928       4,444       2,928       8,300  

6

            8,361       220       8,581  

5

            3,146       79       3,225  

4

            56              56  

1 to 3

            155       103       258  

Other

                            
      7,686       17,813       6,769       32,268  

 

 

Annual Report 201481


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Geographical distribution

TheWe classify geographical location is classified byaccording to country of risk being– in other words, the country where each counterparty’scounterparty has its main business activity or assets are located, except whereunless there is a full risk transfer guarantee is in place, in which case we use the guarantor’s country of domicile of the guarantor is used. Forinstead. If our clients whosehave operations are more geographically dispersed, thein many countries, we use their country of incorporation is applied.incorporation.

 

Sovereign and Large Structured Financial Total     

Sovereign and

Supranational

£m

     

Large

Corporate

£m

     

Financial

Institutions

£m

     

Total

    

£m

 
Supranational Corporate Finance Institutions   

2015

                

UK

            16,858       3,647       20,505  

Peripheral eurozone

     789       762       775       2,326  

Rest of Europe

     872       1,926       1,170       3,968  

US

            171       1,277       1,448  

Rest of world

     2,906       347       646       3,899  
£m £m £m £m £m      4,567       20,064       7,515       32,146  

2014

                

UK

 850   14,952   102   3,197   19,101       850       15,054       3,197       19,101  

Peripheral eurozone

 928   608   41   967   2,544       928       649       967       2,544  

Rest of Europe

 1,716   1,684   57   916   4,373       1,716       1,741       916       4,373  

US

 2   30      1,331   1,363       2       30       1,331       1,363  

Rest of world

 4,190   339      358   4,887       4,190       339       358       4,887  

                    7,686       17,813       6,769       32,268  
 7,686   17,613   200   6,769   32,268  

               

2013

UK

    12,908   108   3,038   16,054  

Peripheral eurozone

 860   385   20   626   1,891  

Rest of Europe

 1,029   1,663   75   1,185   3,952  

US

    35   105   1,281   1,421  

Rest of world

 4,160   597      178   4,935  

               
 6,049   15,588   308   6,308   28,253  

               

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

During 2014, totalIn 2015, our committed exposures increaseddecreased by £4.0bn£0.1bn or 14%1% to £32.3bn principally within the£32.1bn mainly due to decreases in our Sovereign and Supranational andportfolio, partially offset by increases in our Large Corporate and Financial Institutions portfolios.

Sovereign and Supranational exposures increaseddecreased by 27%41% in 2014, reflecting the continued development of the business2015. This reflected reduced holdings in this area. The increased exposures were mainly in the rating 9 category, most of which were inJapanese, Swiss, Danish and UK Switzerland, Denmark and Germany Sovereigns, as part of normal liquid asset portfolio management. The portfolio profile remained primarily short-term (up to 1 year), reflecting the purpose of the holdingsGovernment securities as part of normal liquid asset portfolio management and short-term markets trading activity. The portfolio profile stayed mainly short-term (up to one year) reflecting the purpose of the holdings.

Large Corporate exposures increased by 13% in 2014, as a result of the2015 with continued development of the franchise focusedfocus on high-rated multinational companies. Growth was focused onmainly in the UK, with some diversification in other countries with counterparties with good credit quality. The portfolio profile remained primarilystayed mainly short to medium-term (up to 5five years), reflecting the type of finance we provided to support the working capital and liquidity needs of our clients.

No new positions were takenclients’ needs. The weighted average credit quality remained broadly consistent in the Structured Finance portfolioyear.

At 31 December 2015 our committed exposures in 2014. The reduction in exposure reflected the exit from transactions on maturity or through debt sales.respect of direct lending to oil and gas customers was £1.7bn (2014: £1.7bn) and to mining customers was £1.2bn (2014: £1.1bn).

Financial Institutions exposures increased by 7%11% in 2014,2015, mainly driven by Banco Santander group guaranteeshigher fair values of exposures cleared through CCPs. The increase in our Rest of Europe exposure was mainly in new securitisation swaps and insurance coverage to support the trade finance activitiesreceivable repurchase activity of our customers in other geographies. This was also reflected in the portfolio credit rating profile improvement in 2014, through theLarge Corporate clients. The increase in ratings within the 7our Rest of world exposure was mainly due to 9 categories.investment in highly-rated covered bonds.

Global Corporate & Institutional Banking – credit risk mitigation

Credit risk to counterparties on derivative products is mitigated through netting arrangements, collateralisation andAt 31 December 2015 the use of CCPs. For details of the approach to credit risk mitigation, see ‘Credit Risk Management – Corporate & Institutional Banking’. The top 20 biggest clients with derivative exposure made up 70% (2014: 76%) of our total derivative exposure, all of which Santander UK had the biggest derivative exposures wereare banks and CCPs. These top 20 clients’ derivative exposure accounted for 76% of the total derivative exposure in Corporate & Institutional Banking at 31 December 2014 (2013: 90%). The risk exposure weighted-average credit rating was 7.6 (2013:7.4 (2014: 7.6).

In addition, at 31 December 2014,2015, we held no collateral held against impaired loans withinin the Structured FinanceLarge Corporate portfolio amounted to 64% (2013: 58%)(2014: 8% of the carrying amount of the impaired loan balances.

balances).

 

 

82Santander UK plc

92  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

 

Global Corporate & Institutional Banking – credit performance

Exposures exhibitingWe monitor exposures that show potentially higher risk characteristics are subject to risk monitoring under theusing our Watchlist process (described in ‘Risk monitoring’ in the ‘Credit risk management’ section). The table below sets outshows the portfolio showing exposures subject to risk monitoring under the Watchlist processwe monitor, and those classifiedwe classify as non-performing by portfolio at 31 December 20142015 and 2013:2014:

 

Sovereign and Large Structured Financial Total   

Sovereign and

Supranational

£m

   

Large

Corporate

£m

   

Financial

Institutions

£m

   

Total

    

£m

 
Supranational Corporate Finance Institutions   
£m £m £m £m £m 

2015

        

Total Committed Exposure of which:(1)

   4,567     20,064     7,515     32,146  

– Performing – (Non-Watchlist)

   4,567     18,176     7,459     30,202  

– Watchlist: Enhanced Monitoring

        1,758     4     1,762  

– Watchlist: Proactive Management

        120     52     172  

– Non-performing exposure(2)

        10          10  

Total impaired exposure of which:

        10          10  

– Performing

                    

– Non-performing(2)

        10          10  

Total Observed impairment loss allowances of which:

        9          9  

– Performing

                    

– Non-performing

        9          9  

IBNO(3)

         24  

Total impairment loss allowance

            33  

2014

        

Total Committed Exposure of which:(1)

 7,686   17,613   200   6,769   32,268     7,686     17,813     6,769     32,268  

– Performing – (Non-Watchlist)

 7,686   16,452   47   6,703   30,888     7,686     16,499     6,703     30,888  

– Watchlist: Enhanced Monitoring

    1,095   77   5   1,177          1,172     5     1,177  

– Watchlist: Proactive Management

    66   23   61   150          89     61     150  

– Non-performing exposure(2)

       53      53          53          53  

               

Total impaired exposure of which:

       137      137  

– Performing

       84      84  

– Non-performing(2)

       53      53  

               

Total Observed impairment loss allowances of which:

       49      49  

– Performing

       21      21  

– Non-performing

       28      28  

               

IBNO(3)

 24  

Total impairment loss allowance

 73  

               

2013

Total Committed Exposure of which:(1)

 6,049   15,588   308   6,308   28,253  

– Performing – (Non-Watchlist)

 6,049   15,292   105   6,246   27,692  

– Watchlist: Enhanced Monitoring

    274   52   26   352  

– Watchlist: Proactive Management

    22   132   36   190  

– Non-performing exposure(2)

       19      19  

               

Total impaired exposure of which:

       203      203          137          137  

– Performing

       184      184          84          84  

– Non-performing

       19      19          53          53  

               

Total Observed impairment loss allowances of which:

       72      72          49          49  

– Performing

       64      64          21          21  

– Non-performing(2)

       8      8          28          28  

               

IBNO(3)

 5           24  

Total impairment loss allowance

 77              73  

               

(1)   Includes committed facilities and derivatives. The terms ‘Enhanced Monitoring’ and ‘Proactive Management’ are defined in the ‘Risk monitoring‘ section of the Risk review.

(2)   Non-performing exposure in the table above include committed facilities and derivative exposures and therefore can be larger than the NPLs in the table on page 84 which only include drawn balances.

(3)   Allowance for incurred inherent losses (i.e. incurred but not observed (‘IBNO’)) as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

(1)Includes committed facilities and derivatives. We define ‘Enhanced Monitoring’ and ‘Proactive Management’ in the ‘Risk monitoring‘ section.
(2)Non-performing exposure includes committed facilities and derivative exposures. So it can be bigger than the NPLs in the table on page 94 which only include drawn balances.
(3)Allowance for incurred but not observed (IBNO) losses as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

 

Annual Report 201483


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Non-performing loans and advances(1)(2)

An analysis ofWe analyse Global Corporate & Institutional Banking NPLs is presented below.

 

  2014  2013  
  £m  £m  

Loans and advances to customers of which:(2)

 5,224    5,142   

Customers in arrears

 53    17   

NPLs(3)

 53    17   

    

              

Impairment loan loss allowances

 73    77   

    

              
      

    

              

Arrears ratio(4)

 1.01    0.33   

NPLs ratio(5)

 1.01    0.33   

Coverage ratio(6)

 138    453   

    

              
      2015
£m
     2014
£m
 

Loans and advances to customers of which:(2)

     5,470       5,224  

NPLs(3)

     10       53  

Impairment loan loss allowances

     33       73  
      %     % 

NPL ratio(4)

     0.18       1.01  

Coverage ratio(5)

     330       138  

(1)   Loans and advances are classified as non-performing in accordance with the definitions provided in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.

(1)We define NPLs in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.
(2)Include finance leases.
(3)All NPLs are in the UK and continue accruing interest. The balances include interest we have charged to the customer’s account. They do not include accrued interest we have not charged to the account yet.
(4)NPLs as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.
(5)Total impairment loss allowances as a percentage of NPLs. Total loan loss allowances relate to early arrears and performing assets (i.e. the IBNO provision) as well as NPLs, so the ratio is more than 100%.

(2)   Include finance leases.

(3)   All NPL balances are UK based and continue accruing interest. For the data presented, the balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.

(4)   Loans and advances to customers in arrears as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.

(5)   NPLs as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.

(6)   impairment loan loss allowances as a % of NPLs. Total loan loss allowances relate to early arrears and performing assets (i.e. the IBNO provision) as well as accounts classified as NPL and hence the ratio exceeds 100%.

An analysis of theWe analyse NPL movements in 2014 is presented2015 below. ‘Entries’ representare loans which we have become classified as NPLs duringin the year. ‘Exits (including repayments)’ represent that elementare the part of loans to customers that havehas been repaid (in full or in part), plus thoseloans that returned to performing status. ‘Write-offs’ representare the unrecovered elementpart of a loanloans where we have exhausted recovery options, including realisation ofrealising any collateral, have been exhausted.collateral. Forbearance activity does not result in a change in the NPL status.

 

LOGO

LOGO

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

Watchlist exposures subject to proactive management decreasedincreased to £150m£172m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £190m)2015 (2014: £150m). The reduction in the Structured Finance portfolio more than offset increases in the Large Corporates and Financial Institutions portfolios. The reduction in Structured Finance was a consequence of the run-off strategy for this non-core legacy portfolio, through the exit from transactions on maturity or debt sales.

Watchlist exposures subject to enhanced monitoring increased in theour Large Corporate portfolio in 2015, mainly relating to holdings in the mining sector. This was due to increased monitoringfalls in the oilprices of metal and the UK supermarket sectors. There was a reduction in Financial Institutions.coal. In theour Sovereign and Supranational portfolio, there were no exposures were subject to proactive management or enhanced monitoring.

LoansNPLs decreased to £10m (2014: £53m) and advancesthe NPL ratio decreased to customers in arrears increased to £53m0.18% at 31 December 2014 (2013: £17m)2015 (2014: 1.01%). This was due to the exit of a single Structured Finance case, which also increasedloan of £49m and asset growth in the arrears ratio to 1.01% (2013: 0.33%). The NPL ratio also increased to 1.01% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 0.33%) for similar reasons.year.

In 2014, interest income recognised on impaired loans amounted to £nil (2013: £1m, 2012: £nil).

Global Corporate & Institutional Banking – forbearance

TheOur approach to forbearance in Global Corporate & Institutional Banking is the same as for Commercial Banking, although the volumes are significantly lower reflectingmuch lower. This reflects the credit quality of the majority of the portfolio. At 31 December 2014,2015, there was a single forborne case of £50m within the Structured Finance portfolio£10m (2014: £53m) which remainswas classified as NPL (2013: nil).

At 31 December 2014, there were no financial assets that may otherwise be past due or impaired whose terms have been forborne (2013: £13m).

NPL.

 

 

84Santander UK plc

94  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

    Risk

important risks

    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

  Credit risk – Corporate Centre

Overview

Exposures come from asset and other itemsliability management of our balance sheet and our non-core and Legacy Portfolios in run-off.

Credit risk management

In this section, we explain how we manage credit risk, including how we mitigate it.

Credit risk review

In this section, we analyse our credit risk exposures and how they are performing. We also focus on forbearance. Our main portfolios are:

Sovereign and Supranational – securities issued by local and central governments, and government-guaranteed counterparties, held for liquidity.

Structured products

There are two portfolios:

    ALCO portfolio: high quality assets, chosen for diversification and to meet our liquidity needs

    Legacy Treasury asset portfolio: mainly asset-backed securities.

Derivatives – older total return swaps we held for liquidity, that we are running down.

Legacy Portfolios in run-off– assets from acquisitions that do not fit with our strategy. These include certain commercial mortgages.

Social Housing – older Social Housing loans that do not fit with our strategy.

CORPORATE CENTRE – CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT

We classify our customers as non-standardised. Their transactions are typically higher in value, and have more diverse credit characteristics. We are exposed to credit risk through lending and derivative transactions.

We set out how we manage credit risk on lending to non-standardised customers in the section ‘Credit risk – Commercial Banking’. We also set out how we manage credit risk on derivatives in the section ‘Credit risk – Global Corporate Banking’. We take the same approaches in Corporate Centre.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk mitigation

The types of credit risk mitigation, including collateral, for each of our portfolios are:

 

    Portfolio

Description

Sovereign and

Supranational

In line with market practice, there is no collateral against these assets.

Structured products

These are our ALCO and legacy Treasury asset portfolios:

ALCO portfolio: High quality assets, chosen for diversification and to meet our liquidity needs

Legacy Treasury asset portfolio: Mainly asset-backed securities.

These assets are unsecured, but benefit from senior positions in the creditor hierarchy. Their credit rating reflects the

over-collateralisation in the structure, and the assets that underpin their cash flows and repayment schedules.

We use a detailed expected cash flow analysis to assess if there is any impairment. We take into account the structure and

assets backing each individual security. We set up a loan loss allowance if we know an issuer has financial difficulties or

they are not keeping to the terms of the contract.

Derivatives

We manage the risk on this portfolio in the same way as for the derivatives in Global Corporate Banking. For more on this, see the earlier section ‘Credit risk – Global Corporate Banking’.

Legacy Portfolios in

run-off

We often hold collateral through a first legal charge over the underlying asset or cash. With commercial mortgages, we do not have the right to a new professional valuation unless there is a default.

We get independent third party valuations on fixed charge security like aircraft or shipping assets in line with industry guidelines. We then decide if we need to set up an impairment loss allowance. To do that, we bear in mind:

– The borrower’s ability to generate cash flow

– The age of the assets

– Whether the loan is still performing satisfactorily

– Whether or not the reduction in value is likely to be temporary

– Whether there are other ways to solve the problem.

Where a borrower gets into difficulty we look to dispose of the collateral, either with agreement or through the insolvency process. We do this as early as possible, to minimise any loss. We rarely take ownership of collateral.

Social Housing

We manage the risk on this portfolio in the same way as for the Social Housing portfolio in Commercial Banking. For more on this, see the earlier section ‘Credit risk – Commercial Banking’.

96  Santander UK plc


    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

CORPORATE CENTRE – CREDIT RISK – CORPORATE CENTREREVIEW

Credit risk arises on assets in the balance sheet and in off-balance sheet transactions. Consequently,We show the committed exposure (whichin the tables below. This takes into account our procedures to mitigate credit mitigation procedures) is shown in the tables below.risk. It also excludes Sovereign exposures managed by Short Term Markets withinin Global Corporate & Institutional Banking.

Corporate Centre – committed exposures

Rating distribution

The rating distributionThese tables below show theour credit risk exposure by Santander UK’saccording to our internal rating scale (see the ‘Credit quality’ section) for each portfolio. WithinOn this scale, the higher the rating, the better the quality of the counterparty.

 

Sovereign and Structured Derivatives Legacy Portfolios Social Total     Sovereign and
Supranational
£m
     Structured
Products
£m
     

Derivatives

 

£m

 

Legacy Portfolios
in run-off(2)

£m

     Social
Housing
£m
     

Total

    

£m

 
Supranational Products   in run-off Housing   

2015

                     

9

     24,153       1,437                  3,423       29,013  

8

            1,394       484    1       2,940       4,819  

7

            761       268    6       1,072       2,107  

6

                   21    702       213       936  

5

                       164              164  

4

                       146              146  

1 to 3

                       84              84  

Other(1)

                       596              596  
£m £m £m £m £m £m      24,153       3,592       773    1,699       7,648       37,865  

2014

                     

9

 29,029   1,558         2,784   33,371       29,029       1,558                  2,784       33,371  

8

    1,013   741   3   4,215   5,972              1,013       741   3       4,215       5,972  

7

    753   561   615   1,485   3,414              753       561   615       1,485       3,414  

6

          385   223   608                        385       223       608  

5

    7      136      143              7          136              143  

4

          165      165                        165              165  

1 to 3

          89      89                        89              89  

Other(1)

          774      774                        774              774  

                    29,029       3,331       1,302   2,167       8,707       44,536  
 29,029   3,331   1,302   2,167   8,707   44,536  

               

2013

9

 29,688   694      2   2,654   33,038  

8

    707   1,061   2   4,382   6,152  

7

    1,091   453   790   1,713   4,047  

6

    54      464   238   756  

5

    90      170      260  

4

    72      291      363  

1 to 3

    131      137      268  

Other(1)

    27      1,007      1,034  

               
 29,688   2,866   1,514   2,863   8,987   45,918  

               

(1)   Represents smaller exposures predominantly within the commercial mortgage portfolio which are subject to scorecards rather than a rating model.

(1)Consists of smaller exposures mainly in the commercial mortgage portfolio. We use scorecards for them, instead of a rating model.
(2)Consists of commercial mortgages and residual structured and asset finance loans (shipping, aviation, and structured finance).

 

 

Annual Report 201485


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Geographical distribution

TheWe classify geographical location is classified byaccording to country of risk being– in other words, the country where each counterparty’scounterparty has its main business activity or assets are located. For clients whose operations are more geographically dispersed,unless there is a full risk transfer guarantee in place, in which case we use the guarantor’s country of incorporation is applied.domicile instead. If our clients have operations in many countries, we use their country of incorporation.

 

Sovereign and Structured Derivatives Legacy Portfolios Social Total     Sovereign and
Supranational
£m
     Structured
Products
£m
     

Derivatives

 

£m

     

Legacy Portfolios
in run-off

£m

     Social
Housing
£m
     

Total

    

£m

 
Supranational Products   in run-off Housing   

2015

                        

UK

     19,354       1,202       289       1,420       7,648       29,913  

Peripheral eurozone

            2              8              10  

Rest of Europe

     1,093       1,546       194       27              2,860  

US

     2,526       50       290       21              2,887  

Rest of world

     1,180       792              223              2,195  
£m £m £m £m £m £m      24,153       3,592       773       1,699       7,648       37,865  

2014

                        

UK

 22,621   966   285   1,706   8,707   34,285       22,621       966       285       1,706       8,707       34,285  

Peripheral eurozone

    73      20      93              73              20              93  

Rest of Europe

 553   1,544   581   36      2,714       553       1,544       581       36              2,714  

US

 4,823   85   436   25      5,369       4,823       85       436       25              5,369  

Rest of world

 1,032   663      380      2,075       1,032       663              380              2,075  

                    29,029       3,331       1,302       2,167       8,707       44,536  
 29,029   3,331   1,302   2,167   8,707   44,536  

               

2013

UK

 24,036   880   453   2,241   8,987   36,597  

Peripheral eurozone

    329      59      388  

Rest of Europe

 53   1,207   600   63      1,923  

US

 5,230   422   461   80      6,193  

Rest of world

 369   28      420      817  

               
 29,688   2,866   1,514   2,863   8,987   45,918  

               

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

During 2014, totalIn 2015, committed exposures decreased by £1.4bn£6.7bn or 3%15% to £44.5bn principally within the£37.9bn mainly in our Sovereign and Supranational portfolio and Legacy Portfolios in run-off, partially offset by an increase in Structured Products.

portfolio. Sovereign and Supranationals exposures principally reflectmostly are cash at central banks and holdings of highly-rated liquid assets as part of normal liquid asset portfolio management, and remained concentrated in the UK and US in 2014. Exposures to the UK and the US decreased as increased exposures to the Rest of Europe were taken in 2014, mainly related to bonds guaranteed by the German Government. The increase in exposures to the Rest of World reflected additional exposures to highly-rated Supranationals.

Structured Products exposures represent holdings of good credit quality rated covered bonds, floating rate notes and residential mortgage-backed securitieswe hold as part of normal liquid asset portfolio management. The increaseoverall decrease in exposures in 20142015 was driven by the reduction of UK Government securities and deposits in the US. The increase in Rest of Europe exposures was mainly issues guaranteed by the German and Austrian Governments.

The increase in Structured Products exposures in 2015 reflected the purchase of highly-ratedsecuritisations in the UK, and covered bonds,bond issuances mainly issued by Australian and Canadian banks primarilyand mostly with maturities of less than five years.

Derivative exposures decreased in the year due2015 as we continued to the continued managed reduction of thereduce this portfolio.

Legacy Portfolios in run-off decreased across all geographies andfurther in 2015 due to our ongoing exit strategy. A recalibration of the internal credit rating model for this portfolio during the year resulted in some movements, mainly between rating bands 6 and 7, but on a like-for-like basis there has been no reduction in 2014 as we continued to successfully implement our on-going exit strategy.the overall credit quality of the book.

Social Housing exposures reduced in 20142015 as a result of on-going refinancing ofwe continued to refinance longer-dated loans onto shorter maturities and(and on current market terms.terms) that are then managed in Commercial Banking.

Corporate Centre – credit risk mitigation

Most Structured Products are unsecured but benefit from senior positions in the creditor hierarchy. We reduce credit risk in derivatives with netting agreements, collateralisation and the use of CCPs. For details of our approach to credit risk mitigation, see the ‘Credit Risk Management – Global Corporate Banking’ section.

At 31 December 2015 we had cash collateral of £551m (2014: £670m) held against our Legacy Portfolios in run-off. The collateral we held against impaired loans was 100% (2014: 100%) of the impaired loan balances.

 

 

86Santander UK plc

98  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

Corporate Centre – credit risk mitigation

Structured Products are unsecured but benefit from senior positions in the creditor cascade. Credit risk in derivatives is mitigated by netting agreements, collateralisation and the use of CCPs. For details of the approach to credit risk mitigation, see ‘Credit Risk Management – Corporate & Institutional Banking’.

In the Legacy Portfolios in run-off, at 31 December 2014, collateral held against impaired loans amounted to 51% (2013: 62%) of the carrying amount of impaired loan balances, of which cash collateral of £670m (2013: £752m) was held. At 31 December 2014, of the aviation portfolio of £225m (2013: £406m), £194m (2013: £335m) was asset-backed and £31m (2013: £71m) was receivables-backed. Of the asset-backed loans, 96% (2013: 92%) had a collateral value in excess of the loan value.

At 31 December 2014, of the shipping portfolio of £289m (2013: £417m), £196m (2013: £324m) was asset-backed and £93m (2013: £93m) was backed by cash or bank guaranteed. Of the asset-backed loans, 47% (2013: 55%) had a collateral value in excess of the loan value. Collateral is rarely taken into possession, (2014: £nil, 2013: £23m) and Santander UK seeks to ensure the disposal of any collateral, either consensually or via an insolvency process, as early as practical in order to minimise its loss.

Corporate Centre – credit performance

Exposures exhibitingWe monitor exposures that show potentially higher risk characteristics are subject to risk monitoring under theusing our Watchlist process (described in ‘Risk monitoring’ in the ‘Credit risk management’ section). The table below sets outshows the portfolio showing exposures subject to risk monitoring under the Watchlist processwe monitor, and those classifiedwe classify as non-performing by portfolio at 31 December 20142015 and 2013:2014:

 

Sovereign and Structured Derivatives Legacy Portfolios Social Total     Sovereign and
Supranational
£m
     Structured
Products
£m
     

Derivatives

 

£m

   

Legacy Portfolios
in run-off

£m

     Social
Housing
£m
     

Total

    

£m

 
Supranational Products   in run-off Housing   
£m £m £m £m £m £m 

2015

                      

Total Committed Exposure of which:(1)

     24,153       3,592       773     1,699       7,648       37,865  

– Performing (Non-Watchlist)

     24,153       3,592       773     1,493       7,574       37,585  

– Watchlist: Enhanced Monitoring

                        102       74       176  

– Watchlist: Proactive Management

                        10              10  

– Non-performing exposure(2)

                        94              94  

Total impaired exposure of which:

                        94              94  

– Performing

                                        

– Non-performing(2)

                        94              94  

Total Observed impairment loss allowances of which:

                        55              55  

– Performing

                                        

– Non-performing(2)

                        55              55  

IBNO(3)

                       47  

Total impairment loss allowance

                            102  

2014

                      

Total Committed Exposure of which:(1)

 29,029   3,331   1,302   2,167   8,707   44,536       29,029       3,331       1,302     2,167       8,707       44,536  

– Performing (Non-Watchlist)

 29,029   3,331   1,302   1,917   8,707   44,286       29,029       3,331       1,302     1,917       8,707       44,286  

– Watchlist: Enhanced Monitoring

          94      94                          94              94  

– Watchlist: Proactive Management

          14      14                          14              14  

– Non-performing exposure(2)

          142      142                          142              142  

               

Total impaired exposure of which:

          238      238                          238              238  

– Performing

          96      96                          96              96  

– Non-performing(2)

          142      142                          142              142  

               

Total Observed impairment loss allowances of which:

          109      109                          109              109  

– Performing

          31      31                          31              31  

– Non-performing(2)

          78      78                          78              78  

               

IBNO(3)

 71                         71  

Total impairment loss allowance

 180                              180  

               

2013

Total Committed Exposure of which:(1)

 29,688   2,866   1,514   2,863   8,987   45,918  

– Performing (Non-Watchlist)

 29,688   2,829   1,514   2,389   8,869   45,289  

– Watchlist: Enhanced Monitoring

    37      173   118   328  

– Watchlist: Proactive Management

          72      72  

– Non-performing exposure(2)

          229      229  

               

Total impaired exposure of which:

          434      434  

– Performing

          205      205  

– Non-performing(2)

          229      229  

               

Total Observed impairment loss allowances of which:

          161      161  

– Performing

          54      54  

– Non-performing(2)

          107      107  

               

IBNO(3)

 116  

Total impairment loss allowance

 278  

               

(1)   Includes committed facilities and derivatives. The terms ‘Enhanced Monitoring’ and ‘Proactive Management’ are defined in the ‘Risk Monitoring ‘section of the Risk Review.

(2)   Non-performing exposure in the table above include committed facilities and derivative exposures and therefore can be larger than the NPLs in the table on page 88 which only include drawn balances.

(3)   Allowance for incurred inherent losses (i.e. incurred but not observed (‘IBNO’)) as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Non-core customer assets inconsistent with Santander UK’s business strategy at 31 December 2014 comprised Social Housing of £6.7bn (2013: £7.1bn), and Legacy Portfolios in run-off consisting of Commercial Mortgages of £0.9bn (2013: £1.2bn), Aviation of £0.2bn (2013: £0.4bn), Shipping of £0.2bn (2013: £0.4bn), and Others of £0.2bn (2013: £0.3bn).

(1)Includes committed facilities and derivatives. We define ‘Enhanced Monitoring’ and ‘Proactive Management’ in the ‘Risk Monitoring‘ section.
(2)Non-performing exposure includes committed facilities and derivative exposures. So it can be bigger than the NPLs in the table on page 100 which only include drawn balances.
(3)Allowance for incurred but not observed (IBNO) losses as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

 

Annual Report 201487


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Credit risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Non-performing loans and advances(1)(2)

An analysis ofWe analyse Corporate Centre NPLs is presented below.

 

  2014 2013 
  £m £m 

Loans and advances to customers of which:(2)

 8,276   9,360  

Customers in arrears

 145   239  

NPLs(3)

 134   221  

    

              

Impairment loan loss allowances

 180   278  

    

              
 %   %  

    

              

Arrears ratio(4)

 1.75   2.55  

NPLs ratio(5)

 1.62   2.36  

Coverage ratio(6)

 134   125  

    

              
      2015
£m
                 2014
£m
 

Loans and advances to customers of which:(2)

     7,391       8,276  

NPLs(3)

     87       134  

Impairment loan loss allowances

     102       180  
      %     % 

NPLs ratio(4)

     1.18       1.62  

Coverage ratio(5)

     117       134  

(1)   Loans and advances are classified as non-performing in accordance with the definitions provided in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.

(1)We define NPLs in the ‘Credit risk management’ section.
(2)Include Social Housing loans and finance leases.
(3)All NPLs are in the UK and continue accruing interest. The balances include interest we’ve charged to the customer’s account. They don’t include accrued interest we haven’t charged to the account yet.
(4)NPLs as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.
(5)Total impairment loan loss allowances, as a percentage of NPLs. Total loan loss allowances relate to early arrears and performing assets (i.e. the IBNO provision) as well as NPLs, so the ratio is more than 100%.

(2)   Include Social Housing loans and finance leases.

(3)   All NPL balances are UK based and continue accruing interest. For the data presented, the balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.

(4)   Loans and advances to customers in arrears as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.

(5)   NPLs as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.

(6)   Total impairment loan loss allowances, as a % of NPL stock. Total loan loss allowances relate to early arrears and performing assets (i.e. the IBNO provision) as well as accounts classified as NPL and hence the ratio exceeds 100%.

An analysis of theWe analyse NPL movements during 2014 is presentedin 2015 below. ‘Entries’ representare loans which we have become classified as NPLs duringin the year. ‘Exits (including repayments)’ represent that elementare the part of loans that havehas been repaid (in full or in part) plus thoseloans that returned to performing status. ‘Write-offs’ representare the unrecovered elementpart of a loanloans where we have exhausted recovery options, including realisation ofrealising any collateral, have been exhausted.collateral. Forbearance activity does not result in a change in the NPL status.

 

LOGO

LOGO

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

Watchlist exposures subject to proactive management reduced to £14mwere stable at £10m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £72m)2015 (2014: £14m). Watchlist exposures subject to enhancingenhanced monitoring also reducedincreased to £94m (2013: £328m). The only Watchlist exposures arose in£176m (2014: £94m) due to the Legacy Portfolios in run-off and, in 2013 in Social Housing.

Legacy Portfolios in run-off exposures subject to Watchlist decreased as a consequenceaddition of the strategy to exit these exposures. Similarly, the level of provision decreased during the year reflecting disposal of assets.two Social Housing exposures subject to enhanced monitoring decreased following the resolution of governance issues as anticipated.cases.

Loans and advances to customers in arrearsNPLs decreased to £145m£87m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £239m)2015 (2014: £134m) as we continued to execute the strategy of exiting problemexit from exposures through sale of the debt or through the realisation of the collateral. The arrears ratio decreased to 1.75% (2013: 2.55%) as a result of the decrease in arrears described above which was achieved at a slightly faster rate than theline with our run-off of the loans and advances.strategy. The NPL ratio decreased to 1.18% (2014: 1.62% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 2.36%) for the same reason. In 2015, the coverage ratio decreased to 117% (2014: 134%), reflecting the continuing strategy to exitexits from exposures where possible. In 2014, coverage increased to 134% (2013: 125%) reflecting the successful disposal programme without incurring significant further losses.

In 2014, interest income recognised on impaired loans amounted to £4m (2013: £9m, 2012: £13m).

with high provision levels.

 

 

88Santander UK plc

100  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

 

Corporate Centre – forbearance

Forbearance commenced during the year(1)

Forbearance arrangementsWe have only been entered into with respect tomade forbearance arrangements for the Legacy Portfolios in run-off.

Forbearance started in the year(1)

The exposures that entered forbearance during the years endedin 2015 and 2014 were:

      2015             2014 
      £m     £m 

Term extension

            41  

Interest-only

     7       13  

Other payment rescheduling

     6       22  
      13       76  

(1)The figures by year reflect the forbearance undertaken in the year irrespective of whether there was any previous forbearance on the accounts.

a) Performance status when entering forbearance

The forborne exposures at 31 December 2015 and 2014 and 2013 were:when they originally entered forbearance, analysed by their payment status, was:

 

         2014 2013     Term extensions     Interest-only   Other payment
rescheduling
     Total     Impairment  
allowance  
         £m £m     £m     £m   £m     £m     £m  

Payment rescheduling

 22   11  

Term extensions

 41   2  

Interest-only

 13   36  

            
 76   49  

            

(1) The figures by year reflect the amount of forbearance activity undertaken during the year irrespective of whether any forbearance activity has previously been undertaken on the forborne accounts.

a) Performance status when entering forbearance

The forborne exposures at 31 December 2014 and 2013 when they originally entered forbearance, analysed by their payment status, was:

  

  

  

Payment Term extensions Interest-only Total Impairment 
rescheduling       allowance 

2015(1)

                  

Forbearance of NPL

            5     4       9      2  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

     36       46     29       111      26  
£m £m £m £m £m      36       51     33       120      28  
                  

2014(1)

                  

Forbearance of NPL

 8      10   18   8              10     8       18      8  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

 188   61   64   313   42       61       64     188       313      42  

                 61       74     196       331    �� 50  

(1) We categorise forbearance types based on the first forbearance on the accounts. Tables only show accounts open at the end of the year.

b) Performance status at the year-end

The current status of forborne exposures analysed by their payment status, at 31 December 2015 and 2014 was:

(1) We categorise forbearance types based on the first forbearance on the accounts. Tables only show accounts open at the end of the year.

b) Performance status at the year-end

The current status of forborne exposures analysed by their payment status, at 31 December 2015 and 2014 was:

    Term extensions     Interest-only   Other payment
rescheduling
     Total     Impairment  
allowance  
 196   61   74   331   50      £m     £m   £m     £m     £m  

2015(1)

                  

Non-performing

     21       8     7       36      26  

Performing

     15       43     26       84      2  

                 36       51     33       120      28  

2013(1)

Forbearance of NPL

 6   16   36   58   18  

Forbearance of Non-NPL

 188   32   102   322   32  

            
 194   48   138   380   50  

            

(1) Forbearance type categorisation is based on the first forbearance activity undertaken on the accounts. Tables contain only open accounts at the end of the year.

b) Performance status at the year-end

The current status of forborne exposures analysed by their payment status, at 31 December 2014 and 2013 was:

  

  

  

Payment   Term extensions     Interest-only                 Total       Impairment 
rescheduling       allowance 
£m £m £m £m £m 

Proportion of Legacy Portfolios in run-off

     2.1%       3.0%     1.9%       7.0%       

2014(1)

                  

Non-performing

 8   49   29   86   47       49       29     8       86      47  

Performing

 188   12   45   245(2)  3       12       45     188       245      3  

                 61       74     196       331      50  
 196   61   74   331   50  

            

Proportion of Legacy Portfolios in run-off

 9.0%   2.8%   3.4%   15.3%       2.8%       3.4%     9.0%       15.3%       

            

2013(1)

Non-performing

 7   15   52   74   37  

Performing

 187   33   86   306(2)  13  
            
 194   48   138   380   50  

            

Proportion of Legacy Portfolios in run-off

 6.8%   1.7%   4.8%   13.3%  

            

(1)   Forbearance type categorisation is based on the first forbearance activity undertaken on the accounts. Tables contain only open accounts at the end of the year.

(2)   This represents the carrying amount of financial assets that may otherwise be past due or impaired whose terms have been forborne.

(1)We categorise forbearance types based on the first forbearance on the accounts. Tables only show accounts open at the end of the year.

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

In 2014, the level of new2015, we carried out less forbearance undertaken during the year increased in theour Legacy Portfolios in run-off. Howeverrun-off due to the reducing portfolio and lower incidence of financial difficulty. The cumulative stock of forborne exposure reduced duringsignificantly in the year as the strategywe continued to exit these exposures continued to be executed where we saw the opportunity arose. An element of the residual forborne exposure is expected to take longer to exit given their profile and the more limited market appetite for the purchase or refinancing of certain assets.

opportunity.

 

 

Annual Report 201489


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Market risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Market risk

Market risk comprises trading market risk and banking market risk. Trading market risk is the risk of losses in balance sheet and off-balance sheet positions arising from movements in market prices. Banking market risk includes exposures arising as a result of the structure of portfolios of assets and liabilities. Banking market risk is classified as a balance sheet management risk and is discussed in the balance sheet management risk section. Santander UK’s exposure to market risk arises in the following business segments:

 

 

Market risk comprises trading market risk and banking market risk.

Trading market risk

Exposures arise is the risk of losses in Corporate & Institutional on- and off-balance sheet trading positions, due to movements in market prices or other external factors.

Banking market risk is the risk of loss of income or economic value due to changes to interest rates in the short-term markets businessbanking book or to changes in exchange rates, where such changes would affect our net worth through an adjustment to revenues, assets, liabilities and from trading activity andoff-balance sheet exposures in the creation and risk management of structured productsbanking book.

The current low rate environment remains a key concern for the personal financial services market. The principal exposures are interest rate, equity, property, credit (spread), and foreign exchange risks. There are no exposuresindustry as a whole. If rates were not to increase, Santander UK would lose opportunities to increase margins in Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, or Corporate Centre.the future.

 

Banking

In this section, we set out which of our assets and liabilities are exposed to trading and banking market risk

Exposures arise in Retail Bankingrisk. Then we explain how we manage these risks and Commercial Banking as a by-product of providing banking products and services to personal, business, corporate and commercial customers. The principal exposures are interest rate (yield and basis), inflation and spread risks. Bankingdiscuss our key market risks arising from Retail Banking and Commercial Banking are substantially transferred to, and managed by, Corporate Centre. In addition, structural exposures arising in the balance sheet are managed by Corporate Centre (e.g. foreign exchange and income statement volatility risks). There are no exposures in Corporate & Institutional Banking.risk metrics.

 

Balance sheet allocation by market risk classification

Santander UK’s assets and liabilities subject to market risk may be analysed between trading and banking market risk classification as follows:

  2014   2013     
 Market risk classification   Market risk classification    
 Trading Banking Total  Trading Banking Total   
 risk risk balance  risk risk balance   
     sheet      sheet   
  £m £m £m   £m £m £m   Key risk factors

Assets subject to market risk

Cash and balances at central banks

    21,104   21,104      25,160   25,160  Interest rate, foreign exchange

Trading assets

 21,700      21,700   22,294      22,294  Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate

Derivative financial instruments

 18,760   4,261   23,021   15,733   4,316   20,049  Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate

Financial assets designated at fair value

 433   2,448   2,881   372   2,375   2,747  Interest rate, credit spread

Loans and advances to banks

    2,057   2,057      2,347   2,347  Foreign exchange, interest rate

Loans and advances to customers

    188,691   188,691      184,587   184,587  Interest rate

Available-for-sale securities

    8,944   8,944      5,005   5,005  Foreign exchange, interest rate, inflation,
credit spread

Loans and receivables securities

    118   118      1,101   1,101  Foreign exchange, interest rate

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

    963   963      769   769  Interest rate

Retirement benefit assets

    315   315      118   118  Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate,
inflation, credit spread

    

                    
 40,893   228,901   269,794   38,399   225,778   264,177  

    

                    

Liabilities subject to market risk

Deposits by banks

    8,214   8,214      8,696   8,696  Foreign exchange, interest rate

Deposits by customers

    153,606   153,606      147,167   147,167  Interest rate

Derivative financial instruments

 19,241   3,491   22,732   16,294   2,569   18,863  Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate

Trading liabilities

 15,333      15,333   21,278      21,278  Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

    2,848   2,848      3,407   3,407  Interest rate, credit spread

Debt securities in issue

    51,790   51,790      50,870   50,870  Foreign exchange, interest rate

Subordinated liabilities

    4,002   4,002      4,306   4,306  Foreign exchange, interest rate

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

    139   139           

Retirement benefit obligations

    199   199      672   672  Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate,
inflation, credit spread

    

                    
 34,574   224,289   258,863   37,572   217,687   255,259  

    

                    

Key metrics

 

 

NIM sensitivity to +50bps increased to £131m and to -50bps increased to £39m

The movement in NIM sensitivities in 2015 was largely due to changes in the underlying models used for risk measurement purposes. The assumptions used in these have been updated to better reflect the current low rate environment.

Economic Value of Equity (EVE) sensitivity to +50bps reduced to £86m and to -50bps reduced to £(54)m

The decreases in 2015 largely reflected the increased volume of fixed rate assets left unhedged as well as the changes in the underlying models used for risk measurement purposes mentioned above.

Available-for-sale securities three month stressed loss increased to £259m

The increase in 2015 was largely due to more severe stresses to the underlying market risk factors to reflect a more prudent methodology, and changes in the composition of our bond portfolio as part of normal liquidity management activities.

90Santander UK plc

102  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

For

BALANCE SHEET ALLOCATION BY MARKET RISK CLASSIFICATION

We analyse our assets and liabilities classified, either whollyexposed to market risk between trading and banking market risk as follows:

         2015                 2014         
   Market risk classification       Market risk classification       
          Trading
£m
   Banking
£m
   

Total

£m

       Trading
£m
   Banking
£m
   

Total    

£m    

  Key risk factors

Assets subject to market risk

               

Cash and balances at central banks

        16,842     16,842            21,104     21,104       Interest rate, foreign exchange

Trading assets

   23,961          23,961       21,700          21,700       Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate

Derivative financial instruments

   17,698     3,213     20,911       18,760     4,261     23,021       Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate

Financial assets designated at fair value

   438     1,960     2,398       433     2,448     2,881       Interest rate, credit spread

Loans and advances to banks

        3,548     3,548            2,057     2,057       Foreign exchange, interest rate

Loans and advances to customers

        198,045     198,045            188,691     188,691       Interest rate

Loans and receivables securities

        52     52            118     118       Foreign exchange, interest rate

Available-for-sale securities

        9,012     9,012            8,944     8,944       Foreign exchange, interest rate, inflation, credit spread

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

        781     781            963     963       Interest rate

Retirement benefit assets

        556     556             315     315       Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate, inflation, credit spread
    42,097     234,009     276,106        40,893     228,901     269,794       

Liabilities subject to market risk

               

Deposits by banks

        8,278     8,278            8,214     8,214       Foreign exchange, interest rate

Deposits by customers

        164,074     164,074            153,606     153,606       Interest rate

Trading liabilities

   12,722          12,722       15,333          15,333       Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate

Derivative financial instruments

   17,950     3,558     21,508       19,241     3,491     22,732       Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

        2,016     2,016            2,848     2,848       Interest rate, credit spread

Debt securities in issue

        49,615     49,615            51,790     51,790       Foreign exchange, interest rate

Subordinated liabilities

        3,885     3,885            4,002     4,002       Foreign exchange, interest rate

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

        110     110            139     139       Interest rate

Retirement benefit obligations

        110     110             199     199       Equity, foreign exchange, interest rate, inflation, credit spread
    30,672     231,646     262,318        34,574     224,289     258,863       

We classify assets or partially,liabilities as trading market risk (in total or just in the previous table, the basis for that risk classification ispart) as follows:

Trading assets and liabilities

Assets and liabilities are classified as held for trading if they have been acquired or incurred principally for the purpose of selling or repurchasing in the near term, or form part of a portfolio of identified financial instruments that are managed together and for which there is evidence of a recent pattern of short-term profit-taking. These assets and liabilities are treated as trading risk.

Financial assets designated at fair value

Financial assets designated at fair value representing a portfolio of roll-up mortgages, as described in Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, are treated as trading risk; the remainder are treated as banking risk.

Derivative financial instruments

Derivatives are held for trading or for risk management purposes. Derivatives are classified as held for trading unless they are designated as being in a hedging relationship. Most derivative exposures arise from sales and trading activities and are treated as trading risk. Derivatives not risk managed on a trading intent basis are treated as banking risk. They include non-qualifying hedging derivatives and derivatives qualifying for fair value and cash flow hedge accounting. Details of derivatives in fair value and cash flow hedge accounting relationships, and the use of non-qualifying hedges are given in Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

Approach to market risk

    Balance sheet classification

Market risk operates withinclassification

Trading assets and liabilities

We classify all our trading portfolios as trading market risk. This is because we are planning to sell or repurchase them in the Santander UKnear future or they belong to a group of financial instruments we usually hold for the short term. For more on this, see Notes 12 and 28 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Financial assets designated at fair value

We classify a portfolio of roll-up mortgages (loans which are repaid with interest once the borrower vacates the property) as trading market risk. This is because they are managed on a fair value basis in line with a documented strategy, and data on them is provided on that basis to management. For more, see Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. We classify all our other financial assets designated at fair value as banking market risk.

Derivative financial instruments

For accounting purposes, we classify derivatives as held for trading unless they are designated as being in a hedging relationship. Most of our derivative exposures arise from sales and trading activities and are treated as trading market risk. We treat derivatives not risk managed on a trading intent basis as banking market risk. They include non-qualifying hedging derivatives and derivatives qualifying for fair value and cash flow hedge accounting. For more on derivatives in hedge accounting relationships, and our use of non-qualifying hedges, see Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

    Managing and controlling market risk

    —

We include market risk in our Risk Appetite Framework. SpecificThere are specific Risk Appetite limits, controls and management are in placeprocesses for trading market risk and banking market risk.

 

    —

  

  Santander UK actively manages

We manage and controlscontrol market risk within clearly defined parameters by limitingclear parameters. We measure and monitor our risk exposures against these limits. There are specific levels that trigger relevant teams to take action or alert people in other functions. This means we can limit the impact of adverseany negative market movements, whilst seeking to enhancewhile also improving our earnings. The organisational structure ensures a segregation of responsibilities betweenWe keep the business units that originate market risk separate from the functions responsible for market risk origination, risk managementmanaging, controlling and control, and risk oversight.overseeing risk.

 

    —  

  A comprehensiveWe document and maintain a complete set of Santander UK-widewritten policies, procedures and processes has been developed and implemented to help identify, assess, manage and report market risk.

 

  Market risk limits are approved under Board-delegated authority, and within the market risk appetite. Risk exposures are measured and monitored against limits and triggers for action and/or escalation.

 

 

Annual Report 201491


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Market risk

continued

 

 

    

 

TradingTRADING MARKET RISK

Our main exposure to trading market risk is in the Global Corporate Bank and is an inherent part of providing financial services for our customers. It comes from the provision of derivative products and services to corporate and business customers. It also comes from our short-term market activities and hedging of structured products designed for onward sale to retail and wholesale investors. The exposures are mainly affected by market movements in interest rates, equities, property, credit spreads, and foreign exchange. We have no exposures in Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, or Corporate Centre.

Trading market risk arisescan reduce our net income. Its effect can be seen in connection withour Consolidated Income Statement, where it appears in the provision of financial services for customers‘Net trading and the buying, selling and positioning mainly in fixed income, equities, foreign exchange and property markets. This trading activity may lead to a potential decline in net income due to variations in market factors including interest rates, inflation rates, equity indices, exchange rates, credit spreads, bond prices and property indices. Trading market risk is principally linked to potential variability in theother income’ line, under ‘Net trading and funding of other items by the trading book’ element of the ‘Net trading and other income’ line in the Consolidated Income Statement.

Risk management and control

  The Santander UK Market Risk Framework cascades down from the Santander UK Risk Framework and defines the high level arrangements and minimum standards for the management, control and oversight specific to trading market risk.

  The Santander UK Risk Appetite is cascaded down and embedded into the controls, risk limits and key risk metrics of the trading Market Risk Division.

  Key metrics, which include the utilisation of a stress economic loss limit and risk factor stress scenarios, are reported to the Board on a monthly basis. Key risk metrics are also regularly reported to the Executive Risk Committee.

Risk measures

Santander UK uses a comprehensive and complementary set of methodologies and techniques to measure trading market risk. One of the primary tools to measure and control market risk is a statistical risk measure, value at risk (‘VaR’).

 

 

VaR    Managing and controlling trading market risk

 

    —

Our framework for dealing with market risk is part of our overall Risk Framework. The Market Risk Framework sets out our high-level arrangements and minimum standards for managing, controlling and overseeing trading market risk.

    —

Our Risk Appetite sets the controls, risk limits and key risk metrics for trading market risk. The key risk metrics include a stress economic loss limit and risk-factor stress scenarios. We report these key metrics to the Board Risk Committee and the Executive Risk Committee each month.

Risk measures

We have a range of ways of measuring trading market risk, but one of the most important is a statistical measure based on a historical simulation of events called ‘Value at Risk’ (VaR).

VaR

    VaR

 

    —

VaR estimates the maximum losses that we might suffer because of unfavourable changes in the markets.

To calculate VaR iswe run a statistical estimate of the potential losses that would be recognised in the income statement arising from unfavourable market moves. VaR is measuredhistorical simulation, at a given confidence level, over a specified time horizon and is calculated using a historical simulation method withperiod.

    —

We use one or two years of daily price history, equally weighted. VaR incorporates the majority of material market risk factors and provides a framework for assessing the risk using a consistent approach across these risk factors and portfolios.with each day given equal weighting.

 

 
    

This means we include most market risk factors that could make a difference, and it gives us a consistent way of assessing risk for all these factors in all our portfolios.

  Santander UK uses the historical simulation approach in its

We work with three main types of VaR, models, which all use the same corporate calculation models. The main types of VaRThey are Internal VaR, Regulatory VaR (‘RVaR’) and Stressed VaR.

    Internal VaR (‘SVaR’), which are described in more detail below.

 

 
    

  The Internal VaR approach above is usedWe use this to calculate the total VaR in our trading book VaR.book. It covers all trading bookthe risk classes –classes: interest rate, equity, property, credit (spread), and foreign exchange. In accordance withWe use two years of data for this simulation.

    —

Like the standard used throughoutrest of the Banco Santander group, the Internal VaR useswe use a time horizon of one day time horizon and a 99% confidence level. This means that conditional on today’slevel of 99%. For any given day’s trading position, Santander UKwe would expect to incursuffer losses exceedinggreater than the predicted VaR estimate one in1% of the time – once every 100 trading days, or about two to three times a year.

    —

We measure Internal VaR is measured and monitored against Board-approvedevery day, comparing it with limits daily, and aggregated at different levels, includingapproved by the Executive Risk Committee. We do this for each business, asset class and individual desk levels, for reporting purposes. Limit breaches are reporteddesk. Whenever we find a limit has been exceeded, we report it, following the Market Risk Framework.

    Regulatory VaR and escalated in accordance with the Risk Framework.Stressed VaR

 

 
    

  RVaR and SVaR are theWe use these VaR models used for the calculation of theto calculate how much capital requirementwe need to hold for trading market risk. Only riskFor these calculations, we only look at the factors withfor which we hold approval from the PRA. For credit, foreign exchange and property – factors which are not approved by the PRA approval are included in these calculations. For those risk factors that are out of scope,for our VaR capital models – we use the standardised approach for calculating theto calculate how much capital requirement is used. Seeto hold. For more on this, see the ‘Capital requirement measures’ section for further details on trading book capital requirement. Out of scope VaR risk factors are credit, foreign exchange and property.section.

 

 
    

  RVaR usesFor Regulatory VaR, we use a ten day time horizon of ten days and a 99% confidence level. It useslevel of 99%. To calculate the ten-day time horizon, we use the one-day VaR multiplied by the square root of ten. This is the industry standard approach to scaling known as the square root of time approach. We use the same two years of daily price history equally weighted, as with Internal VaR. To calculateStressed VaR is the ten daysame, except that we use only one year of history, from a time horizon, a ‘square root of time’ approach is used.when markets were stressed.

 

 
    

  SVaRWe have governance and controls for all forms of VaR, and we regularly review and assess them. The PRA also uses a ten day time horizon, 99% confidence levelassesses Regulatory and square root of time approach. However, only one year of daily price history, equally weighted, is required and it must be from a period of stressed market conditions.Stressed VaR.

 

  Internal VaR, RVaR and SVaR are subject to governance, controls, regular reviews and internal assessments. RVaR and SVaR are also subject to assessments by the PRA.

 

 

92Santander UK plc

104  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

The limitations of VaR

The main limitation of VaR is that it assumes what happened in the past is a reliable way to predict what will happen in the future. If something that affected the markets over the past two years is no longer relevant, then the actual value at risk could be much more or less than the VaR predicts.

Sometimes it is obvious that the past data will not predict the future: there is unlikely to be enough data on the history of the market if a product is brand new, for example. In that case, we use proxy data – calculations of what might have happened if the product had existed. That helps make VaR data more complete, but it makes it less accurate. We control and keep a record of how we use proxy data.

Another limitation is that VaR is based on positions at the end of the business day. So the actual value at risk at 1pm could be higher than that at the end of the day. And, when we are calculating a ten-day time horizon using the square root of time approach, it means we do not capture the actual ten-day price movements. This can lead to under or over estimating the ten-day result. But we analyse this every quarter and the analysis is also sent to the PRA.

There is also the fact that VaR gives no guide to how big the loss could be on the 1% of trading days that it is greater than the VaR. To make up for that (and for other reasons), we use stress testing and expected shortfall, which we explain later in this section.

Using a time horizon of one day means VaR does not tell us everything about exposures that we cannot liquidate or hedge within a day, or products with infrequent pricing or whose structures are more complex. We monitor those exposures using illiquid risk metrics (explained in ‘Other ways of measuring risk’) and stress testing. In addition to the illiquid risk metric, to ensure such exposures are adequately included in our capital requirements the Risks Not in VaR (RNIV) framework has been developed.

In general, VaR takes account of the main ways risk factors affect each other, and the way most market movements affect valuations. But the more complex the products, and the larger the markets’ current movements, the less well the model is likely to fare.

Back-testing – comparing VaR estimates with reality

Every day, we back-test the one day 99% Internal and Regulatory VaR. That means looking at the VaR estimates for the last 250 days and seeing how they compare to the actual profits and losses. Or, to be more precise, how they compare to the market risk-related revenue, as the CRR and PRA define it. It is not normally possible to back-test the Stressed VaR model, because it is not intended to tell us anything about our performance in normal conditions.

To back-test VaR, we use a one-day time horizon. Our back-testing looks at two different types of profit and loss metrics:

Actual Cleaned: trading profit and loss, less fees, commissions, brokerage, reserves that are not related to market risk, and day-one profits and losses
Hypothetical Cleaned: like the ‘Actual Cleaned’ type but also excluding intra-day figures and the effects of the passage of time. It is, in effect, just leaving the pure market risk driven effects on the profit and loss.

Exceptions

Back-testing allows us to identify exceptions – times when the predictions were out of line with what happened. We can then look for trends in these exceptions, which can help us decide whether to change our VaR model.

The CRR sets out criteria for how many exceptions are acceptable. The PRA’s Supervisory Statements clarify them further. If there are five or more exceptions in 250 days, then points are added to our capital requirement multiplier. In 2015, as in 2014, no points were added to our multiplier, and we did not find any trends in the exceptions we experienced.

Other ways of measuring risk

 

 

Limitations of VaR    Method

 

Description

 
Profit and loss

  General limitationsThe value of VaR ariseour tradeable instruments, like shares and bonds, changes constantly. We report our profits and losses from the use of historical changes and the assumption that these historical changes are an indicator of the future market moves. In addition, VaR does not capture intra-day risk taking as it is based on positions as at close of business.them every day.

 

 
Non-statistical measures

  TheWe also have ways of measuring risk that do not depend on statistics. That includes looking at how sensitive we are to the variables we use of a 99% confidence level does not captureto value our market risk positions. We record all our market risk exposures, set limits to the potential loss beyond that level. This risk is addressed by stress testingsensitivities for each, and the expected shortfall metric (see ‘Additional risk measures’ below).then check every day whether we are staying within those limits.

 

 
Illiquid risks

The use offinancial instruments that we cannot sell or hedge in a day are classified as ‘illiquid risks’. We measure and monitor those differently depending on how long they would take to sell or hedge. There are three categories: less than a month, one to six months, or more than six months. We check each category every day time horizon does not fully capture the income statement implications of exposures that cannot be liquidated or hedged in one day. These exposures are monitored using illiquid risk metrics (see ‘Additional risk measures’ below) and stress testing.against our limits.

 

 
Expected shortfall analysis

  AlthoughWe also use a measurement called expected shortfall (ES) analysis that future Basel Committee on Banking Supervision requires. It goes some way to mitigate the limitations of the VaR models aimmodel. ES allows us to capturebetter measure how big the main relationships between risk factors andloss could be on the valuation impact across a wide range1% of market movements, some potential inaccuracy can arise particularly for complex products and from large market movements.the trading days that it is greater than VaR.

 

 

  The Santander UKTime-weighted VaR model has the following limitations:

–  Santander UK uses the previous two years data, which can lead to inflated VaR levels driven by historical events that are no longer representative of current market conditions. This can mask actual levels of short-term risk;

–  Proxy data is used for new products where there is insufficient market data history. Proxies allow new risk factors to be incorporated into VaR measures for completeness, but can reduce accuracy. The usage and impact of proxy data is monitored and controlled;

–  VaR uses close of business positions. Intra-day trading and intra-day price changes are not captured by the model; and

–  The use of a square root of time approach to create RVaR and SVaR means actual ten day price movements are not captured in the calculation. However, Santander UK performs monthly analysis on this particular methodology which is reviewed by the PRA quarterly.

Back-testing

 

  Daily back-testing of InternalWe calculate a time-weighted VaR and RVaR is performed against market risk-related revenue (as defined by the PRA). Back-testing compares the daily VaR estimates of the last 250 days to the actual profit and loss of the following day. The inclusion of intra-day profit and loss within the back-testing goes some way towards mitigating the absence of intra-day trading limits and non-capture within VaR. A one day time horizon variant of RVaR is used for back-testing purposes. It is not possible to meaningfully back-test the SVaR model as it is not sensitive to current market conditions and requiresusing Banco Santander’s group-wide method. This gives more proxy data than the RVaR and Internal VaR models.

  Backtesting is performed against both ‘clean’ profit and loss (trading profit and loss less fees, commissions, brokerage, reserves not related to market risk, and day one profits/losses) and also ‘hypothetical’ profit and loss (which is the clean profit and loss excluding intra-day and the effects of time decay).

  The Capital Requirements Regulation (‘CRR’) sets out the criteria for acceptable levels of back-testing exceptions, which is further clarified by the PRA rules. If there are five or more back-testing exceptions in a 250 day continuous period, points will be added to the capital requirement multiplier. A model with fewer than five will not have any added points. No points have been added to Santander UK’s capital multiplier.

  There was no trend evident in the back-testing model exceptions identified in 2014. Any exception that occurred was isolated.

Stress testing

  Stress testing is a fundamental risk requirement under the Basel Capital Accords and is a major component of risk management in Santander UK to increase transparency, and measure and control risk of losses in stressed markets.

  Stress scenarios are used in the Trading Market Risk Appetite setting process and monthly analysis for Risk Appetite reporting. These stress scenarios are also embedded within the core risk management limits setting and monitoring daily processes.

  Bespoke scenarios are considered in order to replicate past events but also to create plausible abnormal market conditions from changes in financial prices including interest rates, equity, exchange rates and credit spreads. Various degrees of severity are considered which, together with VaR, make it possible to obtain a more complete spectrum of the risk profile. Scenario shocks assuming different holding periods are used to illustrate stress exposures to various degrees of market liquidity.

  Limits are used to manage Santander UK’s exposure to stress events and restrict the impact of stressed market conditions. Stress testing is employed in cross-business risk management at desk level. The results of stress calculations, trends and explanations based on current market risk positions are regularly reported to senior management including the Executive Risk Committee and Board Risk Committee.

Annual Report 201493


Risk review

Market risk

continued

Additional risk measures

  The value of instruments held for trading purposes can change daily and the resulting profits and losses are reported and monitored daily.

  Non-statistical risk measures include sensitivities to variables that are used to value Santander UK’s market risk positions. As part of a comprehensive framework, Santander UK captures all market risk exposures, assigns limits to the associated sensitivities, and monitors adherence to these limits on a daily basis.

  All new or amended derivatives pricing models are validated and approved in accordance with formalised standards. All models are subject to annual review.

  Illiquid risks arise from exposures that cannot be liquidated or hedged within one day. These risks are measured and monitored based on the estimated time horizon it would take to hedge or exit the exposure. There are three time horizon categories: <1 month, 1 to 6 months, and >6 months. Each category is monitored daily against limits.

  Expected Shortfall (‘ES’) analysis is an additional metric introduced in 2013 for analysis purposes, ahead of the Basel Committee’s Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (‘FRTB’) requirements. ES is calculated using VaR vectors and measures the size of the tail risk above a 97.5% confidence level.

  A time weighted VaR is calculated using the Banco Santander group methodology. This applies a greater weightingweight to the most recent days withinin the last two year historical series and so theyears, which means VaR level respondschanges more quickly toin line with current market volatility and providesvolatility. That gives us a greaterbetter indication of changes in market behaviour.how the market’s behaviour is changing, mitigating some limitations of VaR.

 

 

  For RVaR and SVaR, risk factors that are not fully captured for capital assessment purposes are assessed under the Risks Not in VaR (‘RNIV’) Framework.(RNIV)

For Regulatory and Stressed VaR, we use the RNIV framework to assess the risk factors that we do not cover fully in VaR-based capital assessment. These risk factors can arise ifare often when there is a lack of historicalnot enough (or no) market data from the past, or when the quality of the data quality is deemed insufficient andnot good enough. They tend to be for products with very infrequent pricingthat are not priced regularly, or where thewhose risk structure is more complex. TheseWhen we are monitoring and reporting them, we usually include these risk factors are generally included under thein our illiquid risk metrics for risk reporting and monitoring purposes as described above.metrics. The RNIV Frameworkframework is part of the approved internalour model for trading market risk capital requirements. See ‘Capital requirement measures’ below for additional information on RNIV.needs.

 

 

Capital requirement measures(unaudited)

  Trading market risk uses RVaR, SVaR and RNIV (the Internal Models Approach as per the CRR) for the calculation of capital requirements for those risk factors and businesses with PRA permission. For risk factors and businesses outside the internal models permission scope, the standardised approach (as prescribed by the CRR and the PRA rules) is used. As part of the approval for using the IM approach, Santander UK is subject to a quarterly

Annual Report 2015

Risk review by the PRA.

  The standardised approach calculation equated to 16% of the total trading market risk capital requirement at 31 December 2014.

  Santander UK’s stress period is reviewed regularly to ensure the most penal period of stress since 2007 relevant to Santander UK’s portfolio is used.

  SVaR is the largest component of trading market risk capital requirements and for 2014 was, on average, five times larger than the RVaR component. The largest drivers of SVaR in 2014 were interest rate delta, interest rate basis and equity volatility risks (see the table below for more explanation of individual risk factors). This was in line with the historical market moves seen during the SVaR dataset period compared with the lower level of volatility seen in more recent historical series data.

  RNIV risk factors comprise less than 4% on average of the trading market risk IM capital requirements. The largest driver in the RNIV capital requirement calculation is dividend risk exposure. Dividend risk arises from a change in future dividend expectations. This risk is not captured well under a VaR model approach due to the structure of the underlying market data.

  New RNIVs are identified through analysis of profit and loss, new products, and are included in the capital requirement calculation, regardless of materiality.

  Two approaches are used to calculate RNIV capital levels, depending on market data availability and characteristics: A VaR type approach (which requires an RVaR and SVaR type calculation) and a stress based approach. The VaR approach is also subject to a multiplication factor (as prescribed by the CRR and the PRA rules). Stress-based RNIVs use sensitivities and plausible stressed market moves. Santander UK currently only has stress-based RNIVs.

  Each individual RNIV value is standalone and does not benefit from diversification in the capital requirements calculation.

  Any changes to the models are assessed for their capital requirement impact. The outcome will indicate whether pre-notification and approval by the PRA will be required before the change can be implemented.

 

 

94Santander UK plc

Stress testing

The Basel Capital Accord underlined that stress testing is an essential part of risk management. It helps us to measure and control the risk of losses in difficult, volatile or unusual markets, and makes us more transparent as the scenarios are easy to understand in headline terms.

Stress testing scenarios

The scenarios we use for stress testing are part of our process for setting our trading market risk appetite, and they are central to the monthly Board Risk Appetite reporting. These scenarios are also part of the daily processes for setting and monitoring risk management limits.

The scenarios we create are partly inspired by past events, like the global financial crisis. But they also include plausible ways that unusual market conditions could come about in future. This includes changes in things like interest rates, equity prices, exchange rates and credit spreads.

Some scenarios are more severe than others. We consider them all, along with VaR, so that we have a more complete and accurate idea of our overall risk profile. When we set the sizes of the ‘shocks’ (sudden market changes) in each scenario, we look at how long each different type of risk would last. This is because we can sell some assets more easily than others. If it would take a long time to sell a particular asset in the stressed circumstances, we need to apply a correspondingly large shock to that asset (as prices will move further over a longer time period).

That helps us to see how different amounts of liquidity in the markets would affect us if a ‘stress event’, such as an equity crash, happened. It is important to make sure that the stress result we report is as realistic as possible.

How we use stress testing

We use limits to manage how much risk we take. They are expressed as how much we could lose in a stress event. We need to make sure the effects of potential poor market conditions do not exceed the Risk Appetite set by the Board.

Each of our desks uses stress testing as part of their daily risk management metrics. We regularly inform senior managers – including the Executive and Board Risk Committees – about the results of our stress calculations, based on our current positions.

Capital requirement measures(unaudited)

Whenever we make changes to our models, we assess their effect on capital requirements. Sometimes that means we need to tell the PRA and get their approval before we can make the change.

The Internal Models Approach (IMA)

The PRA has given us permission to use the IMA, described in the CRR, and every three months the PRA reviews what we are doing. The IMA means we can use Regulatory and Stressed VaR and RNIV to calculate the capital requirement for the risk factors and businesses we have got PRA approval for.

The standardised approach

For risk factors and businesses not included in the IMA, we use the standardised approach set out by the CRR and PRA’s Supervisory Statements. At 31 December 2015, this amounted to 17% of our total market risk capital requirement.

Stressed versus Regulatory VaR

Stressed VaR is the biggest part of our trading market risk capital requirements. In 2015, it was an average of five times bigger than the Regulatory VaR part; in 2014 it was also five times bigger. The factors that had the biggest effect on Stressed VaR in 2015 were interest rate delta and interest rate basis, and in 2014 were interest rate delta, interest rate basis and equity volatility. (There is more explanation of each of those factors in the footnotes to the table below.)

The difference is caused by the way the market was behaving during the time the Stressed VaR data covers. We regularly check the stress period we use, to make sure we are using the worst period of stress since 2007 that is relevant to our portfolio.

Risks Not in VaR (RNIV) risk capital

In 2015, RNIV risk factors made up, on average, less than 5% (2014: 4%) of our IMA capital requirements for trading market risk. The biggest of these factors is dividend risk, caused by changes in market expectations about dividends. The VaR approach does not capture this risk very well because of the illiquid nature of the risk factor.

We normally find new RNIVs by analysing profit and loss, and new products. Then we include them in our calculation of our capital requirement, whether or not they are material at the time.

We can use two approaches to calculate how much RNIV capital we should hold, depending on what kind of market data is available. The first approach means doing a calculation like those for Regulatory and Stressed VaR. For this approach we also use a multiplication factor, following the CRR and PRA rules. The second approach is stress-based, using sensitivities and plausible stressed market moves.

At the moment, we only have stress-based RNIVs. And each individual RNIV value is independent, so it does not benefit from diversification in the capital requirements calculation.

106  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

The following

Risk review

This table shows our Internal VaR for 2013, 2014 and 2015. There are figures for exposure to each of the Internal VaR-based consolidated exposuresmain classes of risk. And for the major risk classes at 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012, together witheach year, we show the highest figures, the lowest, the average, and average exposures for each year. Exposures within each risk class reflect a range of exposures associated with movements in that financial market. those at the year end.

The VaR amounts representfigures show how much the potential change in fair values of trading instruments.all our tradeable instruments (like shares or bonds) could have changed. Since trading instruments are recorded at fair value, these are also the amounts also represent the potential effect onby which they could have increased or reduced our income.

 

 
TradingYear-end exposure   Average exposure   Highest exposure   Lowest exposure   Year-end exposure Average exposure Highest exposure   Lowest exposure 
instruments2014 2013 2012  2014 2013 2012  2014 2013 2012  2014 2013 2012           2015
£m
     2014
£m
     2013
£m
         2015
£m
     2014
£m
     2013
£m
         2015
£m
       2014
£m
       2013
£m
           2015
£m
       2014
£m
       2013
£m
 
£m £m £m   £m £m £m   £m £m £m   £m £m £m 

 

Interest rate risks(1)

 2.2   3.0   3.8   3.6   4.7   4.1   5.6   7.6   7.5   1.9   2.9   2.7     2.0   2.2   3.0    2.8   3.6   4.7    4.6     5.6     7.6     1.7     1.9     2.9  

Equity risks(2)

 0.6   1.4   1.8   1.0   1.9   2.2   1.9   4.6   5.0   0.5   0.7   1.4     0.8   0.6   1.4    0.7   1.0   1.9    1.1     1.9     4.6     0.5     0.5     0.7  

Property risks(3)

 0.1   0.1   0.1   0.1   0.1   0.1   0.1   0.2   0.2   0.1      0.1        0.1   0.1       0.1   0.1         0.1     0.2          0.1       

Credit (spread) risks(4)

    0.3   0.2   0.2   0.4   0.2   0.6   1.0   0.8      0.2     

Credit (spread)

          0.3       0.2   0.4    0.2     0.6     1.0               0.2  

risks(4)

                  

Other risks(5)

 0.1      0.5      0.1   0.8   0.1   0.5   2.3         0.4     0.1   0.1        0.1       0.1    0.1     0.1     0.5                 

                                                            

 

Correlation

   (0.9 (0.6 (1.5  (0.9 (1.1 (2.2                             

offsets(6)

                  

 

Correlation offsets(6)

 (0.6 (1.5 (2.1 (1.1 (2.2 (2.7                  

Total correlated

   2.0   2.4   3.3    2.7   3.8   5.0    4.7     6.3     8.0     1.6     1.9     3.0  

one-day VaR

                  

                                                            

 

Total correlated one-day VaR

 2.4   3.3   4.3   3.8   5.0   4.7   6.3   8.0   8.3   1.9   3.0   2.7  

                                                            

 

(1)Interest rate riskThis measures the impacteffect of changes in interest raterates and volatility changeshow volatile they are. The effects are on cash instruments, securities and derivatives. This includes swap spread risk (the difference between swap rates and the government bond rates), basis risk (changes in interest rate tenor basis) and inflation risk (changes in inflation rates).
(2)Equity riskThis measures the impact on equity stocks and derivatives from changes ineffect of equity prices, volatilitiesvolatility and dividends.dividends on stock and derivatives.
(3)Property risk measures the impacteffect of changes in the property indices.indices and is mainly captured by the illiquid risk framework. The property interest rate VaR is included under interest rate risk.
(4)Spread riskThis measures the impacteffect of changes in the credit spread of corporate bonds or credit derivatives.
(5)OtherThe other risks here include foreign exchange risk. Foreign exchange risk, which measures the impacteffect of changes in foreign exchange rates and volatilities.how volatile they are.
(6)The highest and lowest exposure figures reportedexposures for each risk type did not necessarily occurhappen on the same day as the highest and lowest total correlated one-day VaR. AIt is impossible to calculate a corresponding correlation offset effect, cannot be calculated and is therefore omitted fromso we have not included it in the above table.

 

LOGO

LOGO

 

 

Annual Report 201495


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Balance sheet management risk

Balance sheet management risk arises as a result of the structure of portfolios of assets and liabilities, or where the liquidity of the market is such that the exposure could not be closed out over a short-time horizon. The risk exposure is generated by features inherent in either a product or portfolio and normally presented over the life of the product or portfolio. Such exposures are a result of the decision to undertake specific business activities, can take a number of different forms, and are generally managed over a longer-time horizon. Balance sheet management risks are transferred from the originating business to FMIR in Corporate Centre where they are monitored, controlled and managed in conjunction with exposures arising from the funding and liquidity management activities of FMIR.

The key areas of balance sheet management risk, which are discussed in the sections that follow, are:

Banking market risk;
Pension risk;
Liquidity risk; and
Capital risk.

Banking market riskBANKING MARKET RISK

Banking market risk mainly arises through the provision ofcomes from providing banking products and services to personal and corporate customers as well as structural exposures arising in Santander UK’sour balance sheet. Banking market riskIt arises in Retail Banking, Commercial Banking and Corporate Centre.

Banking market risks are originatedcome about in Retail Banking and Commercial Banking only as a by-product of writing customer businessbusiness. Our main exposures are interest rates (yield and are typically transferred from the originating business to Corporate Centre. Funds received with respect to deposits taken are lent onbasis), inflation and credit spreads. We transfer banking market risks in Retail Banking and Commercial Banking to Corporate Centre on matching termswho manage them. Corporate Centre also manages structural exposures arising in our balance sheet, such as regards interest rate re-pricingforeign exchange and maturity. In a similar manner, loans are funded through matching borrowings. Market risks arising from structured products, including exposure to changesincome statement volatility. We have no exposures in the levelsGlobal Corporate Banking.

The only kinds of equity markets, are hedged with Corporate & Institutional Banking. Materialmaterial banking market risk exposureswe keep in Retail Banking and Commercial Banking are transferred to and reside in Corporate Centre. Only short-term mismatches due to forecasting variances in prepayment and launch risk (i.e.– that is, where customers pre-pay loans before their contractual maturity or maydo not take the expected volume of new products) are retained in Retail Banking and Commercial Banking. In addition,products. Corporate Centre also manages structural exposures arising in theour balance sheet, are managed by Corporate Centre (e.g.such as foreign exchange and income statement volatility risk).

risk.

We have always treated Banking market risk as a significant risk. Due to global and domestic uncertainty following the financial crisis, we considered banking market risk to be an emerging and future risk. In recent years, the Base Rate has been held at historically low levels, and has been considered unlikely to rise. However, in 2015, the economic outlook for the UK and the expectation of interest rate rises increased. If the Base Rate does not rise as expected and continues to stay at current low levels, our net interest margins could be negatively impacted. In this context, we now consider Banking market risk to be a top risk. We continue to monitor events and forecasted rates closely while taking an enterprise wide approach to mitigate risks.

Our main exposures to banking market risks come from:

 

96Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

 

    Key risks

 

 

The principal exposures to banking market risks arise from:

Key risksDescription

 

Description
  

Interest rate risk

 

The most significant interest rate factorsmain parts are:

 

Yield curve risk– arises: comes from the timing mismatchmismatches in the re-pricing of fixed and variable rate assets, liabilities and off-balanceoff- balance sheet instruments, as well as the investment ofinstruments. It also comes from investing non-interest-bearing liabilities in interest-bearing assets. Yield

We mainly measure yield curve risk is predominantly measured with both Net Interest Margin (‘NIM’)(NIM) and Economic Value of Equity (‘EVE’)(EVE) sensitivity analysis supplemented by theanalysis. We supplement this with other risk measures, such aslike stress testing, and VaR. The NIM and EVE sensitivities cover all material yield curve risk in the banking book balance sheet.

 

Basis riskrisk:– arises whencomes from pricing assets are priced using a different rate index thanto the liabilities funding them. In particular, a potential exposureWe’re exposed to basis risk arises fromrisks associated with Base Rate, reserve rate linked assets we deposit with central banks, the divergenceSterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA) rate, and LIBOR rates of different terms.

We are particularly exposed to the difference between base rateBase Rate linked rates earned on customer assets, and wholesale (LIBOR-linked) rates paid on liabilities funding those assets.

 

  

Inflation and

spread risks

These arise whereThis is when the value of or(or income from,from) our assets or liabilities can change due tois affected by changes in the market levels of inflation and credit spreads. Santander UK holdsWe hold portfolios of securities for liquidity and investment purposes whichthat are exposed to these risks. AssetsWe account for our assets in these portfolios are accounted for as available-for-sale securities, andsecurities. We recognise the volatility in their fair value is recognised in Other Comprehensive Income, until the asset isthey are sold or unless it reflects an impairment in the asset’s fair value, atin which pointcase it is recognised in the Income Statement. The

We monitor the market risks of these portfolios are monitored throughusing sensitivities, VaR and stress tests which are reported dailytests. We report them against limits and triggers to senior management daily and monthly to ALCO and Risk Management Committee.Committee monthly. The VaR measures reported capturewe report captures all key sources of volatility including(including interest rate risk as well asand inflation and spread risks,risks) to fully reflect the potential available-for-sale volatility.

 

  

Foreign exchange

risk

 

Santander UK’sOur non-trading businesses operate mainly in sterling markets, and therefore, with the exception of funding raised in foreign currencies (see the ‘Wholesale Funding’ section),so we do not originatecreate significant foreign exchange exposures. ForeignThe only exception is money we raise in foreign currencies, which is covered in the ‘Wholesale funding’ section.

We hedge our foreign currency funding positions are hedged back to sterling. Anysterling, so our foreign exchange positions (eithertend to be residual exposures that remain after hedging. These positions could be, for instanceexample, to ‘spot’ foreign exchange rates or to cross currency basis) are typically residual exposures remaining after hedging. Foreignbasis. We monitor foreign exchange risk is monitored against absolute net exposures and VaR-based limits and triggers. See

For more, see ‘Redenomination risk’ in the ‘Country risk exposure’ section and ‘Term Issuance’ in the ‘Wholesale Funding’funding’ section.

 

  

Income statement

volatility risk

The majorityMost of our assets and liabilities in theour banking book balance sheet are accrual accounted. TheWe sometimes manage the risk profile from these assets and liabilities is in some cases managed with the use ofby using derivatives. As all derivatives are accounted for at fair value, this difference in accounting treatment can lead to reported volatility in the income statement,statement. This happens even where the derivative is an economic hedge of the asset or liability. This

We mitigate this volatility is largely mitigatedmainly through hedge accounting. AnyWe monitor any hedge accounting ineffectiveness which maythat might lead to income statement volatility, is monitored usingwith a VaR measure and trigger, reported monthly. The

For our accounting policies for derivatives and hedge accounting, are set out insee Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

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    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

 

 

Risk management    Managing and controlcontrolling banking market risk

 

 
    

  BankingWe control banking market risk is controlled in line withbased on the Balance Sheet Management Risk Framework.

    —

We articulate Risk Appetite is articulated by both the income and value sensitivity limits we set in accordance with the Santander UKbased on:

– Our Risk Appetite and by the

– The limits for NIM and EVE sensitivities set by the Banco Santander group.

 

 
    

ALCO is responsible for managing theour risk exposure, of Santander UK within limits. In addition, a series of lower level risk limits andWe also use triggers are used to highlightflag when our exposures are nearing limits and to controlour limits. This also controls other material risk types, such as basis risk.

To manage interest rate risk, in the banking book balance sheet, a combination ofwe use derivatives (typically interest rate swaps) and natural offsets between asset and liability positions. We report positions are used. Positions are reported monthly to ALCO and the Board Risk Committee.Committee monthly.

 

Annual Report 201497


Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

Risk measures

For banking market risk, Santander UK predominantly measures itswe mainly measure our market risk exposures with both NIM and EVE sensitivity analysis supplemented– supported by the risk measures describedwe explained in the Trading market risk section.

NIM and EVE sensitivities

NIM and EVE sensitivity measures are commonly used throughoutin the financial services industry. The calculations for NIM and EVE sensitivities involve many assumptions, including expected customer behaviour (e.g.(such as early repayment of loans) and how interest rates may evolve. move.

These assumptions formare a key part of the overall control framework, so we update and are updated and reviewed on an on-going basis. Thereview them regularly. Our NIM and EVE sensitivities include the interest rate risk from all material Santander UKour banking book positions. TheOur banking book positions generate almost all theour reported net interest income in Santander UK.income.

 

 

NIM sensitivity

 

 
    

NIM sensitivity is an income-based measure and is usedwe use to forecast the changes to interest income and interest expense in different scenarios to providescenarios. It gives us a combined impact on net interest income over a given period usually 12 months.

 

 
    

We calculate NIM sensitivity is calculated by simulating the net interest margin using current yield curve and net interest margin following a change intwo yield curves. The difference between the two net interest margin totals is the NIM sensitivity.

 

 

    —

  TheOur main model assumptions are that thethat:

–  The balance sheet is dynamic (it– meaning it includes the run-off of current assets and liabilities as well as retained and new business) andbusiness

–  We use a behavioural balance sheet rather than contractual balance sheet is used (balances are adjustedone. This means we adjust balances for behavioural or assumed profile forprofile. We do this with most retail products where thewhose behavioural maturity of products is less than the contractual maturity due tomaturity. This is usually because customers are exercising the option for early withdrawal or prepayment, or where there is no contractual maturity).maturity.

 

 

EVE sensitivity

 

 
    

We calculate EVE is calculated as the change in the net present value of all the interest rate sensitive items in the banking book balance sheet for a defined set of instantaneous parallel shifts in the yield curve. A

    —

We use a static balance sheet is used, i.e. all balance sheet items run-off according to their contractual, behavioural or assumed run-off behaviour as appropriate,(whichever is appropriate), and there is no retained or new business.

 

The limitations of sensitivities

Limitations of sensitivities

  Sensitivities measure the impact of standard instantaneous parallel shifts in relevant yield curves (subject to a 0% interest rate floor where applicable). The advantage of using standard parallel shifts is that generally they provide a constant measure of the size of market risk exposure, with a simple and consistent stress. This compares to specific scenarios such as ‘flat rates’, the magnitude of which will depend on the shape of the current curve and hence shift required to reach the flat rate scenario. An exception to the relative simplicity of parallel shifts can arise when the yield curve is ‘floored’ at 0%, which can result in non-parallel down shifts.

  The use of material parallel shocks may not be perceived as realistic, or necessarily test the scenarios that have the most impact on Santander UK. As a result, non-parallel stress tests are also run to calculate the impact of a range of plausible non-parallel scenarios, and over a range of time periods for income stresses (typically either

We use sensitivities to measure the impact of standard, instantaneous, parallel shifts in relevant yield curves (using a 0% interest rate floor where needed). The advantage of using standard parallel shifts is they generally give us a constant measure of the size of our market risk exposure, with a simple and consistent stress. This compares to specific scenarios like ‘flat rates’. The magnitude of flat rates depends on the shape of the current curve and the shift required to reach the flat rate scenario.

There is one exception to the relative simplicity of parallel shifts. In order to prevent negative interest rates, the yield curve may be ‘floored’ at 0%.

Using material parallel shocks does not always seem realistic, or it might not necessarily test the scenarios that have the most impact on us. So we run non-parallel stress tests too – to calculate the impact of some plausible non-parallel scenarios, and over various time periods for income stresses (usually one or three years).

 

 

98Santander UK plc


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

 

 

Stress testing

We use stress testing of market risk factors to complement the risk measurement we get from standard sensitivities. Simple stress tests (like parallel shifts in relevant curves), give us clear measures of risk control and a consistent starting point for setting limits. More complex, multi-factor and multi-time period stress tests can:

Stress testing

  Stress testing of market risk factors is used to complement the risk measurement provided by standard sensitivities. Simple stress tests, such as parallel shifts in relevant curves, provide transparent measures of risk control and provide a consistent starting point for limit setting. More complex, multi-factor and multi-time period stress tests can provideGive us information about specific potential events and test a range of

Test various outcomes that maywe might not be capturedcapture through parallel stresses or VaR-type measures due tobecause of data or model limitations. Stress tests can also be used to estimate losses in extreme market events beyond the confidence level used in VaR models.

We can also use stress tests to estimate losses in extreme market events beyond the confidence level used in VaR models.

We discuss stress testing results at senior level management committees. They affect Corporate Centre’s decisions by highlighting possible risks in the banking book and the effectiveness of remedial actions we could take. We compare stress test results with stress limits and triggers set by our internal committees, or against metrics set by the PRA. If the results are over our limits or triggers, we take remedial actions and follow an escalation process.

We can adapt stress tests to reflect current concerns or market conditions quicker than we can with other risk measures, like VaR. We can include both individual business area stresses and Santander UK-wide scenarios.

Our stress tests fall into one of these categories:

  Stress testing results are discussed at senior level management committees. They influence decision making by Corporate Centre by highlighting potential risks in the banking book and the impact of remedial actions that could be taken to mitigate risks. The stress test results are contrasted against stress limits and triggers set by Santander UK internal committees, or against metrics set by the PRA. If results are to be found in excess of the limits or triggers, remedial actions and an escalation process are followed. Stress tests can be adapted to reflect current concerns or market conditions more rapidly than other risk measures such as VaR. Stress testing can include both individual business area stresses and Santander UK-wide scenarios.

  Within Santander UK, stress tests are either:

a) specific,Specific, deterministic stress tests that are not referenced to market history or expectations (e.g. parallel(parallel stresses of a given size),

b) historicsize, for example)

Historic deterministic stress tests with changes in market risk factors based either based on specific past events in the past (e.g.(like the situation in the fourth quarter of 2008) or based on aour statistical analysis of changes in the past or

c) hypothetical

Hypothetical, deterministic stress tests, with the change in market risk factors based on aour judgement of potentialpossible future rates in a given scenario.

  Stress tests can be produced using either income or value measures. They may cover one or more categories of exposures accounted for on an accruals basis or at fair value. Expert judgement is used both in defining appropriate hypothetical stress tests and any adjusting assumptions regarding the balance sheet, management actions and customer behaviour.

Additional risk measures

  In addition to sensitivities and stress tests, banking market risk can be measured using net notional positions. This can provide a simple expression of exposure, although it typically needs to be combined with other risk measures to reflect all aspects of a risk profile such as projected changes over time.

  The main remaining metric to quantify market risk is VaR. Whilst VaR measures can be a useful risk metric as they capture changes in economic values, VaR won’t reflect the actual impact on the income statement of the majority of the assets and liabilities on the banking book balance sheet as they are accounted for at amortised cost rather than fair value.

We can produce stress tests using either income or value measures. They cover one or more categories of exposures accounted for on an accruals basis or at fair value. We use expert judgement both in defining appropriate hypothetical stress tests and any adjusting assumptions based on the balance sheet, management actions and customer behaviour.

Other ways of measuring risk

As well as using sensitivities and stress tests, we can measure banking market risk using net notional positions. This can give us a simple expression of our exposure, although it generally needs to be combined with other risk measures to cover all aspects of a risk profile (like projected changes over time).

Annual Report 201499


The final metric we can use is VaR. VaR can be useful because it captures changes in economic values. However, VaR will not reflect the actual impact of most of our banking book assets and liabilities on our income statement. This is because they are accounted for at amortised cost rather than fair value.

Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

Interest rate risk

Yield curve risk

The table below reflectsshows how our base case income and valuation across Santander UK would be affected by a 50 basis point parallel shift (both upwards and downwards) applied instantaneously to the yield curve at 31 December 20142015 and 2013.2014. Sensitivity to parallel shifts represents the quantumamount of risk in a mannerway that we think is considered to be both simple and scaleable.scalable. 50 basis points is the stress which is nowwe typically focussedfocus on for banking market risk controls, across Santander UK, although we also monitor sensitivities to other parallel shifts are also regularly monitored. This is a change from 2013 when sensitivities to a 100 basis point shift were shown, as the changing market conditions and the lower yield curve mean sensitivity to a 50 basis point shift is now considered a more appropriate risk measure.shifts.

 

31 December 2014   31 December 2013 
                +50bps                 -50bps                  +50bps                 -50bps     2015        2014 
£m £m   £m £m     +50bps
£m
     -50bps
£m
       +50bps
£m
     -50bps
£m
 

NIM sensitivity

 15   5   90   85       131       39        15       5  

EVE sensitivity

 103   (195 26   65       86       (54      103       (195

            

The changemovement in sensitivities in 20142015 was largely attributabledue to a change in balance sheet product mix, and a changechanges in the modelling ofunderlying models used for risk measurement purposes. The assumptions used in these have been updated to better reflect the underlying pricing assumptions for administeredcurrent low rate products during the year to reflect current market conditions. This was partially offset by a rise in theenvironment. The increased volume of fixed rate assets left un-hedged.unhedged over the year also contributed to the increases. These increases were partially offset by growth in bank account liability volumes.

Basis risk

Santander UK is exposed toWe measure basis risks associated with Bank of Englandrisk using various risk measures, including VaR. The VaR measure uses the same VaR methodology as our trading book. The Basis Risk VaR at 31 December 2015 was £1m (2014: £3m). It reflects our basis risk exposure between the Base Rate, reserve rate linked assets deposited with central banks, the Sterling Overnight Index Average (‘SONIA’)(SONIA) rate and between LIBOR rates of different terms. Basis risk is measured using a variety of risk measures, including VaR. The VaR measure uses the same VaR methodology as that for the trading book. The Basis Risk VaR at 31 December 2014 was £3m (2013: £8m). It reflects the basis risk exposure between Bank of England Base Rate and LIBOR. The decrease in Basis VaR during 2014reduction was largely due to growth in bank account liability volumes and a continued reduction in SVR mortgages. This was partially offset by including ten years of market data in the natural evolutionVaR model, instead of the balance sheet leading to a reduced underlying net basis position.only two years, which resulted in more severe stresses being applied.

Inflation and spread risks

The VaR of the portfolios of securities we held for liquidity and investment purposes at 31 December 20142015 was £5m (2013:£3m (2014: £5m). The main risk factors areremain the inflation and spread risk exposures of these positions. These portfolios areThe reduction in VaR in 2015 was mainly due to a decrease in inflation risk driven by the ageing of the index-linked gilt portfolio.

We regularly stress testedtest these portfolios against a variety of historical and hypothetical scenarios. There are limits established againstUsing the potentialpossible losses estimated bywe estimate from the stress tests, we establish limits that complement theour VaR-based limits discussed above.limits. At 31 December 2014,2015, using historic deterministic stress tests, we estimated the worst three month stressed loss for these portfolios was estimated to be £218m (2013: £139m) using historic deterministic stress tests.£259m (2014: £218m). The increase in stressed loss in 20142015 was due to more severe stresses being applied to the underlying market risk factors to reflect increased macro-economic uncertainties as well asa more prudent methodology, and changes in the composition of theour bond portfolio as part of normal liquidity management activities.

 

 

100Santander UK plc

110  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

and other itemsConduct risk

Other key risks

Liquidity risk

        

Liquidity risk is the risk that, while still being solvent, we do not have sufficient liquid financial resources available to meet our obligations as they fall due, or we can only secure such resources at excessive cost.

It is split into three parts:

    Funding or structural liquidity risk: the risk that we may not have sufficient liquid assets to meet the payments required at a given time due to maturity transformation.

    Contingent liquidity risk: the risk that future events may require a larger than expected amount of liquidity i.e. the risk of not having sufficient liquid assets to meet sudden and unexpected short-term obligations.

    Market liquidity risk:the risk that assets we hold to mitigate the risk of failing to meet our obligations as they fall due, which are normally liquid, become illiquid when they are needed.

In this section, we describe our sources and uses of liquidity and how we manage liquidity risk. We also analyse our key liquidity metrics, including our Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) and our eligible liquidity pool.

We then explain our funding strategy and structure and we also analyse our loan to deposit ratio (LDR) and our wholesale funding. Finally, we analyse how we have encumbered some of our assets to support our funding activities.

Key metrics

LCR increased to 120%

Our LCR eligible liquidity pool decreased by £0.8bn to £38.7bn, reflecting lower liquidity funding requirements, largely due to short and medium-term funding maturities.

Wholesale funding with maturity of <1yr down to £21.1bn

Wholesale funding with a residual maturity of less than one year decreased by £2.0bn to £21.1bn in 2015, reflecting changes in the maturity profile of our medium-term funding.

LCR eligible liquidity pool coverage of wholesale funding of <1yr increased to 183%

Our LCR eligible liquidity pool significantly exceeded wholesale funding with a residual maturity of less than one year, with a 183% coverage ratio, up from 171% in 2014.

Loan-to-deposit ratio reduced to 121%

The LDR reduced to 121% in 2015 from 124% in 2014, mainly driven by the continued strong growth in retail current accounts and deposits in Commercial Banking and Global Corporate Banking.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

SOURCES AND USES OF LIQUIDITY

Our main sources of liquidity

Most of our customer lending is financed by customer deposits. Although these funds are mostly callable, they give us a stable and predictable core of funding. This is due to the nature of retail accounts and the breadth of our retail customer relationships.

We also have a strong wholesale funding base which is diversified across locations and product types. We have active relationships with many counterparties across various sectors. These include banks, other financial institutions, corporates and investment funds. Our main sources of wholesale funding are:

Secured and unsecured money-market funding (includes unsecured cash, repurchase agreements, certificates of deposit and commercial paper issuance)
Senior debt issuance (includes public and private bond issuances)
Asset-backed funding (includes securitisation and covered bond issuance)
Subordinated debt and capital issuance (although the main purpose is not funding).

Our main programmes for issuing debt are managed by (and in the name of) Abbey National Treasury Services plc on its own behalf. Our US commercial paper programme is managed by (and in the name of) Abbey National Treasury Services plc, US branch. However, some issuances still remain in the name of Abbey National North America LLC – a guaranteed subsidiary of Santander UK plc. For more on our programmes, see Note 30 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

We generate funding on the strength of our balance sheet, our profitability and our own network of investors. We do not rely on guarantees from Banco Santander SA or any other member of the Banco Santander group. We do not raise funds to finance other members of the Banco Santander group or guarantee their debts (other than some of our own subsidiaries). As a PRA-regulated group, Santander UK plc has to meet our PRA liquidity needs on a stand-alone basis.

While we manage our funding and liquidity on a stand-alone basis, we do coordinate our issuance plans with the rest of the Banco Santander group where appropriate. And while we manage, consolidate and monitor liquidity risk centrally, we also monitor, measure and control it in the business area it comes from.

Our main uses of liquidity

Our main uses of liquidity are:

Funding our lending in Retail Banking and Commercial Banking
Paying interest expenses
Paying dividends to shareholders
Repaying debt
Consideration for business combinations.

Our ability to pay dividends depends on various factors. These include our regulatory capital needs, distributable reserves and financial performance.

112  Santander UK plc


Liquidity risk

Liquidity risk is the risk that, although solvent, Santander UK either does not have sufficient liquid financial resources available to meet its obligations as they fall due, or can only secure such resources at excessive cost. The Santander UK Risk Framework splits this into three elements. Firstly, funding or structural liquidity risk, relating to the capacity to raise sufficient liquid resources to meet payments required due to the maturity transformation required to lend long-term, but to fund predominantly through short-term liabilities (such as customer deposits). The second, market liquidity risk, is the risk that assets, held to mitigate the risk of failing to meet obligations as they fall due, which are normally liquid, become illiquid when they are needed. Finally, contingent liquidity risk is the risk that abnormal future events may require a larger than expected amount of liquidity than originally projected.

Primary sources and uses of liquidity

Santander UK is primarily funded by retail deposits. This, together with corporate deposits, forms its commercial bank franchise, which attracts deposits through a variety of entities. More than three quarters of Santander UK’s customer lending is financed by customer deposits, primarily originating from the retail business. Although largely callable, these funds provide a stable and predictable core of funding due to the nature of the retail accounts and the breadth of personal customer relationships. Additionally, Santander UK has a strong wholesale funding base, which is diversified across product types and geography.

Through the wholesale markets, Santander UK has active relationships with many counterparties across a range of sectors, including banks, other financial institutions, corporates and investment funds. Other sources of funding include collateralised borrowings, mortgage securitisations and long-term debt issuance. Short-term funding is accessed through money market instruments, including time deposits, certificates of deposit and commercial paper. Medium to long-term funding is accessed primarily through asset securitisation and covered bond arrangements and Santander UK’s euro and US dollar medium-term note programmes. The major debt issuance programmes are managed by, and in the name of, Abbey National Treasury Services plc on its own behalf (except for the US commercial paper programme, which is managed by, and in the name of, Abbey National North America LLC, a guaranteed subsidiary of Santander UK plc) and are set out in Note 32 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The principal uses of liquidity for Santander UK are the funding of the lending of Retail Banking and Commercial Banking, payment of interest expenses, dividends paid to shareholders, the repayment of debt and consideration for business combinations. Santander UK’s ability to pay dividends depends on a number of factors, including Santander UK’s regulatory capital requirements, distributable reserves and financial performance.

Santander UK generates funding on the strength of its balance sheet, its profitability and its own network of investors. It does not rely on a guarantee from Banco Santander, S.A. or any other member of the Banco Santander group. Santander UK does not raise funds to finance other members of the Banco Santander group or guarantee the debts of other members of the Banco Santander group (other than certain of Santander UK plc’s own subsidiaries). As a PRA regulated group, Santander UK is expected to satisfy the PRA liquidity requirements on a standalone basis.

Whilst Santander UK manages its funding and maintains adequate liquidity on a stand-alone basis, Santander UK coordinates issuance plans with the Banco Santander group where appropriate. In addition to Santander UK’s liquidity risk being consolidated and centrally controlled, liquidity risk is also measured, monitored and controlled within the specific business area or the subsidiary where it arises.

Annual Report 2014    Risk101
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks


Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

 

KeyOur key liquidity risks

Santander UK’s key ongoingThrough our liquidity risk appetite framework, we manage our funding, or structural, market and contingent risks are:wherever they arise. This can be in any of the following areas:

 

 

Key liquidity riskrisks

 

DefinitionDescription

 

Retail and Corporate deposit

outflows

 

  Risk of retail deposit outflows as Santander UK isif we are seen as more of a greater credit risk than competitors.our peers.
 

Corporate deposit

Wholesale secured and unsecured liquidity outflows

  Risk of corporate deposit outflows as Santander UK is seen as a greater credit risk than competitors.

  

Wholesale secured

and unsecured

liquidity outflows

Risk of wholesale unsecured deposits failing to roll over at maturity date.

 

Risk of wholesale secured funding with less liquid collateral failing to roll over at maturity date, or the roll over of funding requiring additionalinto a form that requires more highly liquid collateral.

 

 

Off balanceOff-balance sheet

activities

  

Risk of collateral outflows due tothat could happen if our credit rating downgrade of Santander UK.was downgraded. Credit rating downgrades could also result in increasedlead to higher costs or reducedless capacity to raise funding.

 

Risk of outflows of collateral owed to counterpartieswe owe but that have not yet been called.

 

Risk of outflows of collateral due to market movements.

 

Risk of drawdowns on committed facilities based on facility type, and counterparty type and creditworthiness.

 

 

Other risks

  

Funding concentrations – the risk of outflows recognised against concentration of providersconcentrations of wholesale secured financing.financing providers.

Intra-day cash flows – risk of shortfall ofon the liquidity requiredwe need to support intra-day requirements.needs.

Intra-group commitments and support – the risk of cash in our subsidiaries of Santander UK becoming unavailable to the wider Santander UK group and contingent calls for funding from subsidiaries and affiliates.

Non-contractual outflows – the risk of liquidity outflows required to meet outflows that are non-contractual in naturenot contractual but necessary in orderare needed to support Santander UK’s ongoingour future business and reputation.

 

 

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT

We manage liquidity risk on a consolidated basis. We created our governance, oversight and control frameworks, and our liquidity risk appetite, on the same basis.

Under this model (and the PRA’s regulatory liquidity rules) Santander UK plc and its subsidiaries Abbey National Treasury Services plc and Cater Allen Limited form the Domestic Liquidity Sub-group (DoLSub). Each member of the DoLSub is required to support the others by transferring surplus liquidity in times of stress. We manage liquidity flows between the DoLSub and other areas of our business efficiently. The same arrangement existed before October 2015 under the Defined Liquidity Group rules of the PRA in place until that date.

 

102

    Our approach to liquidity risk

    —

We identify, assess, manage and report liquidity risk in line with our liquidity risk framework.

    —

We aim to comply with our liquidity risk appetite and requirements of our regulators. We do this by holding prudent levels of highly liquid assets. We also manage possible cash outflows and make sure we have access to funds from a wide range of sources.

    —

Our Board delegates responsibility for liquidity risk to the CEO. In turn, he delegates the:

–  Management to the CFO

–  Control and oversight to the CRO and the Risk Division.

    —

We maintain strong operational and management governance as part of our overall liquidity and funding risk management framework. We aim to be as resilient as possible to liquidity and funding stresses. We do this by structuring our balance sheet in a prudent and sensible way.

    —

Our framework applies to all aspects of liquidity risk. It is in line with our liquidity risk appetite and we monitor it on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. We do this through different committees and levels of management, including ALCO and the Board Risk Committee.

    —

We have clear responsibilities for short-term funding, medium-term funding, encumbrance, collateral and liquid asset management. This also ensures we manage liquidity risks in our daily operations, strategy and planning.

Within our framework of prudent funding and liquidity management, we manage our activities to minimise our liquidity risk. We do this in part by distinguishing between short-term and strategic activities.

Santander UK plc

    Short-term tactical liquidity management

Liquid resources

We maintain liquid assets, contingent liquidity and defined management actions to source funds. We do this to cover unexpected demands on cash in both a plausible and significant stress scenario and other more distant and severe but less probable scenarios. Our main stress events are large and unexpected deposit withdrawals by retail customers and the loss of unsecured wholesale funding.

Funding profile

We use metrics to help control outflows in different maturities.

Intra-day collateral management

We make sure we have enough collateral to support our involvement in payment and settlement systems.

    Strategic funding management

Structural balance sheet shape

We manage our:

–  Maturity transformation (where we invest shorter-term funding in longer-term assets)

–  Use of wholesale funding for non-marketable assets

–  Use of non-marketable assets to generate liquidity.

Wholesale funding strategy

We avoid:

–  Relying too much on any individual or groups of customer, currency, market or product that might become highly correlated in a time of stress

–  Excessive concentrations in the maturity of our wholesale funding.

Wholesale funding capacity

We maintain and promote our client relationships, monitor our line availability and maintain our funding capacity by using lines and markets.

We set limits and triggers for our key tactical and strategic liquidity risk drivers. We monitor and report them monthly to oversight committees and the Board.

114  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
  

LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT

Santander UK manages liquidity risk on a consolidated basis, and has created governance, oversight arrangements, its Liquidity Risk Appetite and associated control framework on this basis. Within this model, and under the PRA’s regulatory liquidity regime, Santander UK and its subsidiaries Abbey National Treasury Services plc and Cater Allen Limited form the Santander UK Defined Liquidity Group (‘DLG’). Under these arrangements, each member of the DLG is liable to support the others in terms of transferring or receiving surplus liquidity in times of stress. Santander UK ensures that liquidity flows between the DLG and other business areas within the Santander UK group are managed efficiently.

Approach to liquidity risk

  Liquidity risks are identified, assessed, managed and encompassed within Santander UK’s Risk Framework.

  The primary objective of liquidity risk management is to ensure that Santander UK is liquidity risk resilient and compliant with the internal Liquidity Risk Appetite and regulatory requirements. This involves maintaining prudent levels of highly liquid assets, managing potential cash outflows and ensuring that access to funding is available from a diverse range of sources.

  The Board delegates responsibility for liquidity risk to the CEO. The CEO has in turn delegated the responsibilities for liquidity risk:

–  management to the CFO (who in turn delegates to the Finance Director); and

–  control and oversight to the CRO supported by the CRMO and the Risk Division.

  Santander UK maintains, as part of its overall liquidity and funding risk management framework, strong operational and management governance that seeks to make the Santander UK strategy as resilient as possible to potential liquidity and funding stresses by structuring the balance sheet in a prudent and sensible way. The framework applies to all aspects of liquidity risk, is in line with the Liquidity Risk Appetite and is monitored on a daily, weekly and monthly basis through different committees and levels of management, including ALCO and the Board Risk Committee. Within liquidity risk management the Finance Director delegates responsibility as follows:

–  Liquidity management to the Head of Liquidity to ensure that the business remains within appetite. Responsibilities include:

–  The proposition of the Liquidity Risk Appetite;

–  The design and maintenance of the Recovery Framework which forms part of Santander UK’s Recovery and Resolution Plan. This includes the governance processes for managing a liquidity stress situation and the actions that would be taken to raise liquidity in order to alleviate the stress;

–  Liquidity regulatory reporting; and

–  The creation and maintenance of the funding plan.

–  Day-to-day operational liquidity management to the Head of Short Term Markets. This encompasses collateral management of highly liquid resources including central bank reserves and intra-day liquidity.

–  All aspects of short and term funding in both secured and unsecured markets to the Director, Funding and Collateral Management delivering Santander UK’s strategic funding requirements in line with its detailed funding plan and risk appetite principles. The Director, Funding and Collateral Management ensures that Santander UK has active involvement in a range of wholesale funding markets ensuring that sources of funding can be maximised and so a conservative level of diversification of the balance sheet across product and average maturity is maintained.

Within the framework of prudent funding and liquidity management, Santander UK manages its activities to minimise liquidity risk, differentiating between short-term and strategic activities.

Short-term tactical liquidity management

Liquid resources  

Liquid assets, contingent liquidity and defined management actions to source liquidity are maintained to cover unexpected demands on cash in a most likely plausible stress scenario and other more distant and severe but less probable scenarios. In Santander UK’s case, the most significant stress events include large and unexpected deposit withdrawals by retail customers and a loss of unsecured wholesale funding.

Funding profile  

Metrics to help control the level of outflow within different maturity buckets.

Intra-day collateral

management

  

To ensure that adequate collateral is available to support Santander UK’s participation in various payment and settlement systems.

Annual Report 2014103


Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

Strategic funding management

Structural balance

sheet shape

  
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

To manage the extent of maturity transformation (investment of shorter term funding in longer term assets), the funding of non-marketable assets with wholesale funding and the extent to which non-marketable assets can be used to generate liquidity.Conduct risk

 

Wholesale funding

strategy

To avoid over-reliance on any individual counterparty, currency, market or product, or group of counterparties, currencies, markets or products that may become highly correlated in a stress scenario; and to avoid excessive concentrations in the maturity of wholesale funding.Other key risks

 

Wholesale funding capacity

To maintain and promote counterparty relationships, monitor line availability and ensure funding capacity is maintained through ongoing use of lines and markets.

Risk limits and triggers are set for the key tactical and strategic

Our liquidity risk drivers. These are monitored by and reported monthly to oversight committees and the Board.

Financial adaptability(unaudited)

Santander UK also considers its ability to take effective action to alter the amounts and timing of cash flows so that it can respond to unexpected needs or opportunities. In determining its financial adaptability, Santander UK has considered its ability to:

Obtain new sources of finance;
Obtain financial support from other Banco Santander group companies; and
Continue in business by making reductions in operations or using alternative resources.

Liquidity Risk Appetiteappetite(unaudited)

The Board’s risk objective isBoard aims to be a riskmake our balance sheet resilient institution at all times and for it to be perceived as such by stakeholders, preserving thestakeholders. This preserves our short and long-term viability of Santander UK.viability. The Board recognises that a bank engagingas we are involved in maturity transformation, we cannot hold sufficientenough liquidity to cover all possible stress scenarios butscenarios.

The Board requires Santander UKus to hold sufficientenough liquidity to ensure that itmake sure we will survive the current most plausible and significant stress scenario throughscenario. We do this by keeping a prudent balance sheet structure and the maintenance ofmaintaining our approved liquid resources. TheWe review this scenario is regularly reviewed to ensure thatkeep it reflectsrelevant to the current economic and market environment.

The Board’s Liquidity Risk AppetiteOur liquidity risk appetite statement is set inbased on the context of principles of liquidity management by which Santander UK chooseswe use to manage itsour balance sheet, and the desiresheet. It also supports our need to meet or exceed regulatory requirements. Thethe rules of our regulators.

Our liquidity management principles include:are that we:

Implementation ofUse a funding structure that is consistentin line with the composition of theour asset base;base
Maintenance of an appropriateMaintain a suitable retail deposit basebase. We do this by attracting stable deposits, whilst avoiding over reliancebut not relying too much on balances for products that have shown a propensitytended, in the past, to instability atbe unstable in times of stress;stress
Well-balancedBalance the growth of our assets and liabilities;liabilities
ImplementationUse short-term funding to manage our short-term commitments and volatility in funding
Use long-term funding to give diversification, manage the liquidity structure of our balance sheet and support our liquid resources
Use a funding strategy that:
 avoids excessive relianceAvoids relying too much on short-term wholesale funding;funding
 attractsAttracts sustainable commercial deposits;deposits
 provides effective diversification in theDiversifies our sources, products and tenor of funding; andfunding
 compliesComplies with internalour encumbrance policy;
Use of short-term funding to manage short-term commitments and volatility in funding; and
Use of long-term funding to provide diversification, manage the liquidity structure of the balance sheet and support liquid resources.policy.

The Liquidity Risk Appetite has been recommended by the CEO andOur liquidity risk appetite is approved by the Board, under advice from the Board Risk Committee. The Liquidity Risk Appetite, withinOur liquidity risk appetite, in the context of theour overall Risk Appetite,risk appetite, is reviewed and approved by the Board at least annuallyeach year or more frequentlyoften if necessary (e.g.needed. This can be due to changes in the case of significant methodologicalour business or business change). This is designedapproach. We do this to ensure that the Liquidity Risk Appetite will continue to be consistentmake sure our liquidity risk appetite stays in line with Santander UK’sour current and planned business activities.

The CEO, under advice from the BoardExecutive Risk Committee, approves more detailed allocation of liquidity risk limits. The CRO, supported by the Risk Division, (including the CRMO and the Director of Liquidity and Banking Market Risk), is responsible for monitoring the ongoingmonitors our compliance with our liquidity risk appetite.

As well as the liquidity risk appetite.

In addition to the Liquidity Risk Appetite, Santander UK also compliesappetite, we comply with regulatory requirementsrules set by the PRA, other regulatory bodiesregulators and Banco Santander group standards.

 

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Stress testing(unaudited)

We have a liquidity stress test framework in place that includes the most plausible and significant stress scenario. It is approved as part of our liquidity risk appetite. The liquidity outflows that come from this stress test must, to fit with our risk appetite, be fully covered with high-quality liquid assets.

We must cover the outcome of other plausible (but less likely) stress tests with a combination of:

High-quality liquid assets
Other liquid assets
Management actions sanctioned at the right level of governance.

Our Risk Division runs these stress tests. They are:

 

104
Santander

    Activity

Description

Our liquidity risk appetite stress

A comprehensive stress test that looks at all our risks during an idiosyncratic shock in a time of market-wide disruption that causes a loss of confidence in our brand.

Global economic stress

A stress test that looks at a slowdown in emerging markets that results in a downturn in the UK plchousing market.

US stress

Stress tests that look at the impact of losing the confidence of investors in the US, affecting our access to US funding markets.

Acute retail stress

Stress tests that look at the impact of losing the confidence of retail depositors, causing major, acute loss of deposits.

Slow bleed stress

Stress tests that look at the impact of a prolonged loss of deposits.

Wholesale stress

A stress test where losing corporate and wholesale customer confidence causes us a prolonged loss of deposits.

Protracted stress

A 12-month stress with a three-month period of severe liquidity constraint and the loss of retail customer confidence and subsequent loss of deposits

Eurozone severe

stress

A stress test that looks at a more extreme scenario in which a major deterioration in the eurozone economies has a knock-on (or contagion) effect on us, causing severe liability outflows and rating agency action.

We also conduct sensitivity analysis and reverse stress testing for instant liquidity shocks by each key liquidity risk. We do this to understand the impacts they would have on our liquidity risk appetite and our regulatory liquidity metrics.

Financial adaptability

We also consider our ability to change the amounts and timing of cash flows to respond to unexpected needs or opportunities. To determine our financial adaptability, we have considered our ability to:

Find new sources of finance
Get financial support from other Banco Santander group companies
Continue in business by reducing our operations or using different resources.

116  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

Stress testing(unaudited)

A liquidity stress test framework is in place. This incorporates the current most plausible stress scenario approved as part of the Santander UK Liquidity Risk Appetite. The liquidity outflows that result from this stress test must, in accordance with the Risk Appetite, be fully covered with high quality liquid assets. The outcome of a series of other plausible but less likely stress tests must be covered with a combination of high quality liquid assets, other assets and management actions sanctioned at the appropriate level of governance. These stress tests are run independently by the Risk Division and are as follows:

Activity

Description

Santander UK

Liquidity Risk

Appetite stress

Comprehensive stress test considering all risk drivers applicable to Santander UK during an idiosyncratic shock experienced during a period of market-wide disruption which results in a loss of confidence in the brand.
Consolidated stress

A severe stress test considering all risk drivers applicable to Santander UK during a protracted period of combined idiosyncratic and market shock resulting in significant ratings actions, outflow of funds and disruption across all main funding markets.

US stress

Stress tests designed to examine the impact of a loss of US investor confidence materially affecting Santander UK’s ability to access US funding markets.

Acute retail stress

Stress tests examining the impact of a loss of retail depositor confidence, leading to significant and acute deposit outflows.

Slow bleed stress

Stress tests designed to examine the impact of a protracted leakage of deposits.

Wholesale stress

A stress test where a loss of corporate and wholesale customer confidence in Santander UK results in a protracted leakage of deposits.

Eurozone stress

A stress test to review the impact of a significant but not severe stress resulting from a deterioration in confidence in the eurozone.

Eurozone severe

stress

A stress test considering a more extreme scenario where a significant deterioration in the eurozone economies has a knock-on (or contagion) effect to Santander UK, leading to severe liability outflows and rating agency action.

These stress tests are supplemented with sensitivity analysis and reverse stress testing for instantaneous liquidity shocks by each major liquidity risk driver to understand the impact on internal Liquidity Risk Appetite and regulatory liquidity metrics.

Annual Report 2014105


Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

Compliance with internal and regulatory stress tests

During 2014, Santander UK monitored and reported both the PRA Individual Liquidity Guidance (‘ILG’) and the Basel III regime-based liquidity ratios – the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (‘LCR’)(3) and the Net Stable Funding Ratio (‘NSFR’). It is acknowledged though that the exact calculation requirements for each ratio have been evolving over time. Santander UK monitored and managed the LCR ratio during 2014 based upon an internal view, referencing the most recent pronouncements of the EBA. A version of the LCR based upon Basel III requirements is also tracked. Santander UK uses the LCR and NSFR, especially the former, as key reference points as balance sheet plans and funding strategies are developed.

Santander UK reviewed and revised its Liquidity Risk Appetite in 2014, and it was updated to represent the coverage of the current most plausible stress by qualifying liquid resources. The Liquidity Risk Appetite for 2013 has been restated on a consistent basis. The restated 2013 figure can therefore provide a general comparison but changes in the economic and market environment and the composition of the balance sheet provide an additional context for the two sets of figures. The current Santander UK interpretation of the NSFR is also tracked and remained in excess of 100% throughout 2014.

  2014 2014 2013 2013 
 Santander UK LRA EBA LCR           Santander UK LRA Estimated 
 (two month (revised text (two month Basel III LCR 
 Santander UK         October 2014)(1)  Santander UK   (revised text  
 specific   restated specific         January 2013)(2) 
 requirement)   requirement)   
  £bn £bn £bn £bn 

Eligible liquidity pool

 36.6   38.9   30.0   31.8  

    

                 

Asset inflows

 0.5   1.0   0.6   0.9  

Stress outflows:

Retail and commercial deposit outflows

 (5.3 (7.0 (4.7 (6.2

Wholesale funding and derivatives

 (12.8 (19.0 (4.4 (13.8

Contractual credit rating downgrade exposure

 (5.3 (7.3 (6.6 (9.2

Drawdowns of loan commitments

 (2.2 (3.0 (2.2 (2.6

Other

 (1.6    (1.6   

    

                 

Total stress net cash outflows

 (26.7 (35.3 (18.9 (30.9

    

                 

Surplus

 9.9   3.6   11.1   0.9  

    

                 

Liquidity pool as a percentage of anticipated net cash flows

 137%   110%   159%   103%  

    

                 

(1)   Takes into account Santander UK’s interpretation of the EU Liquidity Coverage Ratio Delegated Act ((EU) 575/2013).

(2)   Takes into account Santander UK’s interpretation of the Basel III LCR as revised by the Basel Committee in January 2013.

(3)   Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

106Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk            
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

Compliance with internal and regulatory stress tests

In 2015, we monitored and reported the:

PRA Individual Liquidity Guidance (ILG)
Basel III regime LCR defined by the relevant EU Delegated Act and updated PRA liquidity regime.
Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR). We do this even though the rules for this ratio are not yet finalised.

We reviewed and revised our liquidity risk appetite in 2015. We updated it to represent the coverage of our most plausible and significant stress by qualifying liquid resources. This stress scenario is more severe than the one we used in 2014, so it requires us to hold more eligible liquid assets.

In 2014, the LRA Pillar 2 stress was focused on the next most plausible stress event that might occur. This was viewed to possibly result from the review by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) of the credit ratings of UK banks that followed the UK government decision to implement the EU Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive ahead of other EU states.

In 2015, S&P completed their review and affirmed our credit rating. As a result, we have updated the scenario. The most plausible stress that we could face is now considered more distant but more significant than the one in 2014. This is due to the current economic and geopolitical climate.

This table shows the Santander UK LRA and LCR reflecting the stress testing methodology in place at that time.

      

LRA

(two-month Santander UK
specific requirement)

     LCR 
      2015
£bn
     2014
£bn
     2015
£bn
     2014(1)
£bn
 

Eligible liquidity pool

     34.4       36.6       37.8       38.9  

Asset inflows

     0.8       0.5       1.5       1.0  

Stress outflows:

                

Retail and commercial deposit outflows

     (9.2     (5.3     (7.6     (7.0

Wholesale funding and derivatives

     (9.0     (12.8     (16.3     (19.0

Contractual credit rating downgrade exposure

     (4.4     (5.3     (5.9     (7.3

Drawdowns of loan commitments

     (2.7     (2.2     (3.1     (3.0

Other

     (1.2     (1.6              

Total stress net cash outflows

     (25.7     (26.7     (31.4     (35.3

Surplus

     8.7       9.9       6.4       3.6  

Liquidity pool as a percentage of anticipated net cash flows

     134%       137%       120%       110%  
(1)Non-IFRS measure. See page 332.

 

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

OUR LIQUIDITY POOL

Santander UK holds, at all times,To minimise our liquidity risk we hold a portfolio of unencumbered liquid assets to mitigateat all times.

Our liquidity risk. Therisk appetite and regulatory requirements determine the size and composition of this portfolio is determined by Santander UK’s Liquidity Risk Appetite and regulatory requirements.portfolio.

EligibleLCR eligible liquidity pool

TheThis table below shows the carrying value and liquidity value of the assets in our eligible liquidity pool held by Santander UK at 31 December 20142015 and 2013 and2014. It also shows the weighted average carrying value duringin the year:

 

Carrying value   Liquidity  value(1)   

Weighted average carrying value

during the year

 
                2014                 2013                  2014                 2013  2014 2013     Carrying value        Liquidity value(1)        Weighted average carrying value in
the year
 
£bn £bn   £bn £bn   £bn £bn     2015
£bn
           2014
£bn
             2015
£bn
           2014
£bn
       

      2015

£bn

     

 ��    2014

£bn

 

Cash and deposits with central banks

 22.5   26.0   22.5   26.0   24.5   30.9       15.9       22.5        15.9       22.5        19.1       24.5  

Government bonds

 13.1   4.4   13.1   3.7   5.6   4.4       18.1       13.1        17.8       13.1        12.5       5.6  

Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks

 1.0   0.1   1.0   0.1   0.9   0.2       1.2       1.0        1.2       1.0        1.1       0.9  

Covered bonds

 1.8   1.3   1.6   1.2   2.0   0.7       2.1       1.8        1.8       1.6        2.3       2.0  

Asset-backed securities

 0.5   0.1   0.4   0.1   0.2   0.1       0.7       0.5        0.7       0.4        0.6       0.2  

Corporate bonds

    0.5      0.4   0.6   0.8       0.1               0.1               0.1       0.6  

Equities

 0.6   0.4   0.3   0.3   0.8   0.5       0.6       0.6        0.3       0.3        0.5       0.8  

                       38.7       39.5        37.8       38.9        36.2       34.6  
 39.5   32.8   38.9   31.8   34.6   37.6  

                  

(1)   Liquidity value represents

(1)Liquidity value is the carrying value with the applicable LCR haircut applied.

Our LCR haircut applied.

The eligible liquidity pool consists of high-quality liquid assets which, according to Santander UK’s interpretation at 31 December 2014, are eligible for inclusionincluded in the LCR as high quality liquid assets. KeyLCR.

The key qualifying criteria are listed below:are:

Available cash and central bank reserves that we can draw
Government bonds or government-guaranteed bonds, but only whereif the issuer is a central government, central bank, local authority or a regional government of the European Economic Area (EEA) and other sovereigns subject tosovereigns. They must meet minimum credit ratings;ratings
Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks subject to minimum credit ratings;or issuances guaranteed by these bodies
Covered bonds subject tobonds. They must meet minimum credit ratings or RWAs,residual weighted average lives, asset coverage levels, issue size and additionalother criteria regardingfor local regulation;regulation
Senior tranches of asset-backed securities includingsecurities. These include RMBSs issued by a European Economic Area countryan EEA country. They are subject to minimum credit ratings, loan-to-value levels, residual weighted average lives and exposure levels;levels
Corporate bonds subject tobonds. They must meet minimum credit ratings, maximum tenor on issuance and issuance size; andsize
Equity shares that are listed on major stock indices and subject toindices. They must meet type of issuer and minimum price volatility levels.

Santander UK periodically testsWe regularly test the liquidity of theour eligible liquidity pool, it holds, in accordanceline with the PRA and Basel requirements to realise a proportionrules. We do this by realising some of thesethe assets through repurchase or outright sale to the market. Santander UK ensuresWe make sure that the cumulative effect of its periodic realisation over any twelve month12-month period is thatwe realise a significant proportionpart of the assets in itsour eligible liquidity pool.

As well as our eligible liquidity pool, is realised.

In deciding on the precise composition of its eligible liquidity pool, Santander UK ensures that it tailors the contents of the portfolio to the needs of its business and the liquidity risk that it potentially faces. In particular, Santander UK ensures that it holds assets in its eligible liquidity pool which can be realised with the speed necessary to meet its liabilities as they fall due.

In addition to the eligible liquidity pool, Santander UK haswe have access to other unencumbered assets which provideassets. These give us a source of contingent liquidity. A portionWe can realise some of these assets may be realised in a time of stress scenario to generatecreate liquidity through either repurchase or outright sale to the market.

Balance sheet classification

The classification of the carrying value of the assets in the eligible liquidity pool in the Consolidated Balance Sheet, or their treatment as off-balance sheet at 31 December 2014 and 2013 was as follows:

     On balance sheet   Off balance sheet 
 Eligible Cash and             Trading Available-for- Loans and  Collateral 
 liquidity balances at assets     sale securities     receivables  received/ 
 pool       central banks     securities  (pledged) 
  £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn   £bn 

31 December 2014

Cash and deposits with central banks

 22.5   22.5              

Government bonds

 13.1      6.3   4.5      2.3  

Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks

 1.0         1.1      (0.1)  

Covered bonds

 1.8         2.2      (0.4)  

Asset-backed securities

 0.5         0.4   0.1     

Corporate bonds

                  

Equities

 0.6      3.5         (2.9)  

    

                                
 39.5   22.5   9.8   8.2   0.1   (1.1)  

    

                                

 

118  Santander UK plc

Annual Report 2014107


Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

     On balance sheet   Off balance sheet 
 Eligible Cash and         Trading Available-for- Loans and  Collateral 
 liquidity balances at assets     sale securities     receivables  received/ 
 pool       central banks     securities  (pledged) 
  £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn   £bn 

31 December 2013

Cash and deposits with central banks

 26.0   26.0              

Government bonds

 4.4      3.4   3.1      (2.1

Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks

 0.1         0.1        

Covered bonds

 1.3         1.3        

Asset-backed securities

 0.1            0.1     

Corporate bonds

 0.5         0.5        

Equities

 0.4      0.6         (0.2

    

                               
 32.8   26.0   4.0   5.0   0.1   (2.3

    

                               

 

Geographical distribution

The table below shows the geographical distribution of the carrying value of the eligible liquidity pool at 31 December 2014 and 2013:

 

  

  

     UK USA EEA Other   Total 
     £bn £bn £bn £bn   £bn 

31 December 2014

Cash and deposits with central banks

 18.1   4.4         22.5  

Government bonds(5)

 9.2   3.2   0.6(1)  0.1(2)  13.1  

Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks(6)

    0.5   0.5      1.0  

Covered bonds(7)

 0.3      1.4   0.1   1.8  

Asset-backed securities(8)

 0.3      0.2      0.5  

Corporate bonds(9)

               

Equities

 0.4      0.1   0.1   0.6  

    

                               
 28.3   8.1   2.8   0.3   39.5  

    

                               

31 December 2013

Cash and deposits with central banks

 21.1   4.9         26.0  

Government bonds(5)

 1.8   1.9   0.4(3)  0.3(4)  4.4  

Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks(6)

       0.1      0.1  

Covered bonds(7)

 0.4      0.9      1.3  

Asset-backed securities(8)

 0.1            0.1  

Corporate bonds(9)

 0.5            0.5  

Equities

 0.2         0.2   0.4  

    

                               
 24.1   6.8   1.4   0.5   32.8  

    

                               

 

(1)   Consists of Germany

(2)   Consists of Switzerland

(3)   Consists of Denmark, Germany and European Investment Bank

(4)   Consists of Japan and Canada

(5)   Consists of AAA rated bonds of £13.1bn (2013: £2.6bn) and AA+ to AA- rated bonds of £nil (2013: £1.8bn)

(6)   Consists of A- or above rated bonds of £1.0bn (2013: £0.1bn)

(7)   Consists of A- or above rated bonds of £1.8bn (2013: £1.3bn)

(8)   Consists of AA- or above rated bonds of £0.5bn (2013: £0.1bn)

(9)   Consists of A+ bonds of £nil (2013: £0.5bn)

 

Currency analysis

The table below shows the carrying value of the eligible liquidity pool by major currencies at 31 December 2014 and 2013:

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

     US Dollar Euro Sterling Other   Total 
     £bn £bn £bn £bn   £bn 

31 December 2014

 9.6   1.4   28.3   0.2   39.5  

    

                               

31 December 2013

 7.5   0.6   24.0   0.7   32.8  

    

                               

108Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

Balance sheet classification

This table shows the carrying value of the assets in our eligible liquidity pool in our Consolidated Balance Sheet – or their treatment as off-balance sheet at 31 December 2015 and 2014.

             On balance sheet     Off balance sheet 
     Eligible
liquidity
pool
     Cash and
balances at
central banks
     Trading
assets
   Available-for-
sale securities
     Loans and
receivables
securities
     Collateral
received/
(pledged)
 
      £bn     £bn     £bn   £bn     £bn     £bn 

2015

                      

Cash and deposits with central banks

     15.9       15.9                          –   

Government bonds

     18.1              3.9     4.3              9.9   
Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks     1.2                   1.2              –   

Covered bonds

     2.1                   2.4              (0.3)  

Asset-backed securities

     0.7                   0.6       0.1       –   

Corporate bonds

     0.1                   0.1              –   

Equities

     0.6              5.7                   (5.1)  
      38.7       15.9       9.6     8.6       0.1       4.5   

2014

                      
Cash and deposits with central banks     22.5       22.5                          –   
Government bonds     13.1              6.3     4.5              2.3   
Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks     1.0                   1.1              (0.1)  
Covered bonds     1.8                   2.2              (0.4)  
Asset-backed securities     0.5                   0.4       0.1       –   
Corporate bonds                                      –   
Equities     0.6              3.5                   (2.9)  
      39.5       22.5       9.8     8.2       0.1       (1.1)  

Geographical distribution

This table shows the geographical distribution of the carrying value of the assets in our eligible liquidity pool at 31 December 2015 and 2014:

      UK
£bn
         USA
£bn
               EEA
£bn
           Other
£bn
                      Total
£bn
 

2015

                
Cash and deposits with central banks     13.7       2.2                 15.9  
Government bonds(3)     10.6       4.9       1.5(1)    1.1(2)    18.1  
Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks(4)     0.1       0.6            0.5     1.2  
Covered bonds(5)     0.3       0.1       1.1     0.6     2.1  
Asset-backed securities(6)     0.5              0.1     0.1     0.7  
Corporate bonds(7)                   0.1          0.1  
Equities     0.1              0.4     0.1     0.6  
      25.3       7.8       3.2     2.4     38.7  

2014

                
Cash and deposits with central banks     18.1       4.4                 22.5  
Government bonds(3)     9.2       3.2       0.6(1)    0.1(2)    13.1  
Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks(4)            0.5       0.5          1.0  
Covered bonds(5)     0.3              1.4     0.1     1.8  
Asset-backed securities(6)     0.3              0.2          0.5  
Corporate bonds(7)                               
Equities     0.4              0.1     0.1     0.6  
      28.3       8.1       2.8     0.3     39.5  

(1)Consists of Germany of £0.9bn (2014: £0.6bn), Netherlands of £0.2bn (2014: £nil), France of £0.2bn (2014: £nil) and other items

countries of £0.2bn (2014: £nil).
(2)Consists of Japan of £1.1bn (2014: £nil) and Switzerland of £nil (2014: £0.1bn).
(3)Consists of AAA rated bonds of £11.6bn (2014: £8.4bn), AA+ rated bonds of £5.1bn (2014: £4.6bn), AA rated bonds of £0.3bn (2014: £0.1bn) and A rated bonds of £1.1bn (2014: £nil).
(4)Consists of AAA rated bonds of £1.2bn (2014: £0.9bn) and AA+ rated bonds of £nil (2014: £0.1bn).
(5)Consists of AAA rated bonds of £2.0bn (2014: £1.7bn), AA+ rated bonds of £0.1bn (2014: £nil) and A rated bonds of £nil (2014: £0.1bn).
(6)Consists of AAA rated bonds of £0.7bn (2014: £0.5bn).
(7)Consists of AA rated bonds of £0.1bn (2014: £nil).

 

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Currency analysis

This table shows the carrying value of our eligible liquidity pool by major currencies at 31 December 2015 and 2014:

      US Dollar
£bn
     Euro
£bn
     Sterling
£bn
        Other
£bn
        Total
£bn
 

2015

     9.8       1.5       26.3       1.1       38.7  

2014

     9.6       1.4       28.3       0.2       39.5  

Composition of the eligible liquidity pool

This table shows the allocation of the carrying value of the assets in our eligible liquidity pool for LRA, PRA and LCR purposes at 31 December 2015 and 2014. Following the PRA’s adoption of the EBA regime in 2015, the qualifying criteria for inclusion in the eligible liquidity pool for PRA and LCR purposes are now aligned.

      Eligible     Of which     Of which     Of which LCR eligible 
     liquidity     LRA     PRA                   
     pool     eligible     eligible     Level 1     Level 2A     Level 2B 
      £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn 

2015

                        

Cash and deposits with central banks

     15.9       14.8       15.9       15.9                

Government bonds

     18.1       18.1       18.1       17.0       1.1         

Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks

     1.2       1.2       1.2       1.2                

Covered bonds

     2.1       1.8       2.1       1.5       0.6         

Asset backed securities

     0.7       0.4       0.7                     0.7  

Corporate bonds

     0.1              0.1              0.1         

Equities

     0.6       0.6       0.6                     0.6  
      38.7       36.9       38.7       35.6       1.8       1.3  

2014

                        

Cash and deposits with central banks

     22.5       20.8       20.8       22.5                

Government bonds

     13.1       13.1       12.6       13.1                

Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks

     1.0       1.0       1.0       1.0                

Covered bonds

     1.8       1.8              1.4       0.4         

Asset backed securities

     0.5       0.5                            0.5  

Corporate bonds

                                          

Equities

     0.6                 ��                 0.6  
      39.5       37.2       34.4       38.0       0.4       1.1  

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

Late 2014 and the first half of 2015 saw an easing of monetary policy after the European Central Bank (ECB) announcement in January of a programme of sovereign bond purchases which is planned to continue until March 2017 or until a sustained adjustment to inflation is achieved. In addition, general concerns about global economic growth and the risk of deflation led other central banks to ease their monetary policy. This resulted in lower short-term interest rates and, with some volatility, longer-term rates.

Investor sentiment remained positive through the year, continuing the trend in 2014 of a search for enhanced yield and increased appetite for riskier assets. This positive trend was not significantly impacted by uncertainty surrounding Greece and the eurozone. In the second half of the year, focus shifted towards the economic situation in China and emerging markets. This saw a withdrawal of capital from these areas, and a focus on the timing and trajectory of rate increases in the US and the UK. Other geopolitical tensions did not have a discernible impact.

In 2015, we continued to benefit from our strong liquidity position and conservative balance sheet structure. This was reflected by S&P affirming our credit rating as part of their UK banking assessment, while some peer banks experienced a credit rating downgrade.

Throughout 2015, we maintained robust risk management controls to monitor and manage the levels of our eligible liquidity pool and encumbrance. Our eligible liquidity pool significantly exceeded wholesale funding of less than one year, with a coverage ratio of 183% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 171%). The change in the coverage ratio (which is expected to be volatile due to the management of normal short-term business commitments) was driven mainly by:

A decrease in wholesale funding with a residual maturity of less than one year of £2.0bn to £21.1bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £23.1bn). This reflected changes in the maturity profile of our medium-term funding.
An offsetting decrease in eligible liquidity pool assets by £0.8bn to £38.7bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £39.5bn). This reflected lower liquidity requirements, largely due to the phasing of short-term funding and of medium-term maturities.

The LCR increased to 120% at 31 December 2015 (2014: 110%(1)).

(1) Non-IFRS measure. See page 332.

120  Santander UK plc


Composition of the eligible liquidity pool

The allocation of the carrying value of the assets in the eligible liquidity pool for LRA, PRA and LCR purposes at 31 December 2014 and 2013 was as follows:

  Eligible Of which Of which Of which LCR-eligible 
 liquidity LRA PRA       
 pool eligible eligible Level 1 Level 2A Level 2B 
  £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn 

31 December 2014

Cash and deposits with central banks

 22.5   20.8   20.8   22.5        

Government bonds

 13.1   13.1   12.6   13.1        

Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks

 1.0   1.0   1.0   1.0        

Covered bonds

 1.8   1.8      1.4   0.4     

Asset backed securities

 0.5   0.5            0.5  

Corporate bonds

                  

Equities

 0.6               0.6  

    

                                          
 39.5   37.2   34.4   38.0   0.4   1.1  

    

                                          

31 December 2013

Cash and deposits with central banks

 26.0   24.9   24.9   26.0        

Government bonds

 4.4   4.4   4.4   4.4        

Supranational bonds and multilateral development banks

 0.1   0.1      0.1        

Covered bonds

 1.3   1.3         1.3     

Asset backed securities

 0.1   0.1         0.1     

Corporate bonds

 0.5   0.5            0.5  

Equities

 0.4               0.4  

    

                                          
 32.8   31.3   29.3   30.5   1.4   0.9  

    

                                          

Liquidity developments in 2014(unaudited)

2014 was characterised by steadily improving sentiment regarding the UK and US economies. Confidence in the eurozone economies has been slow to recover and remains volatile. In addition, overall investor sentiment continued to strengthen. A developing trend towards the search for enhanced yield and increased risk appetite was observed through the year.

During 2014, Santander UK benefited from low wholesale, unsecured and secured MTF rates and increased confidence both in the UK banking sector and wider economic environment. This allowed a beneficial mix of MTF to be issued in line with funding plans.

Throughout 2014, Santander UK continued to maintain a strong liquidity position and a conservative balance sheet structure as well as robust risk management controls to monitor and manage the levels of the eligible liquidity pool and encumbrance. The eligible liquidity pool continued to significantly exceed wholesale funding of less than one year, with a coverage ratio of 171% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 155%). The change in the ratio (which is expected to be volatile due to the management of normal short term business commitments) was driven by an increase in eligible liquidity pool assets by £6.7bn to £39.5bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £32.8bn) offset by an increase in wholesale funding with a residual maturity of less than one year of £1.9bn to £23.1bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £21.2bn), due partly to the timing of secured funding maturities. In addition, the LCR was 110%(1) at 31 December 2014 (2013: 103%(1)).

(1) Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

Annual Report 2014    Risk109
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks


Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

 

OUR FUNDING STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE(unaudited)

Santander UK’sOur funding strategy continues to be based upon the maintenance ofon maintaining a conservatively structured balance sheet. The majoritysheet and diverse sources of Santander UK’sfunding.

Most of our funding is sourcedcomes from customer deposits; the balancedeposits. The rest is sourced from a mix of secured and unsecured funding in the wholesale markets. This strategy avoids an over-reliancemeans that we do not rely too heavily on wholesale funds, both medium and short-term, whilst atshort-term. At the same time ensuring thatit makes sure our sources of funding are not overlytoo concentrated in relation toon any one particular product. Santander UK maintainsWe have checks and controls to limit the level ofour asset encumbrance from secured funding operations.

A key source of funding for Santander UK is its significant Our base of stable retail and corporate deposits. Santander UK leverages itsdeposits is a key funding source for us. We leverage our large and diverse customer base to offer products that providegive us a long termlong-term sustainable source of funding through an emphasisfunding. We do this by focusing on the building long-term relationships. More than 90% of long term relationships. Ofour total core retail customer liabilities in excess of 90% are covered by the FSCS.Financial Services Compensation Scheme (the FSCS).

Behavioural maturities

The contractual maturity of balance sheet assets and liabilities highlights the maturity transformation whichthat underpins the role of banks to lend long-term, but to fund themselves predominantly through short-termmostly with shorter-term liabilities, such aslike customer deposits. This is achieved through the diversified

We achieve this by diversifying our funding franchise of the Santander UK groupoperations across an extensivea wide customer base, both numericallyin numbers and by depositor type.type of depositor. In practice, the behavioural profiles of many liabilities exhibit greatershow more stability and longer maturity than the contractual maturity. This is particularlyespecially true of many types of retail and corporate deposits which, whilstthat, while they may be repayable on demand or at short notice, have demonstrated very stable characteristicsshown good stability even in periodstimes of stress.

Santander UK modelsWe model behaviour profiles using our experience of historical customer behaviour. TheseWe use these behavioural maturities are used to determine the funds transfer pricing interest rates at which businesses are rewardedwe reward and chargedcharge our business units for sources and uses of funds in connection with newly originated business prior tofunds. We will apply this rate until a customer contracting to an alternativechanges onto a different product or service offered by Santander UKus or by a competitor.one of our competitors.

TheWe continue to improve the quality of our retail, commercial and wholesale deposits continues to be enhanced.deposits. Across all customer segments, Santander UK aimswe aim to deepen our customer relationships and sorelationships. We do this to lengthen the contractual and behavioural profile of theour liability base. In Retail Banking, we support this has been complemented by market leadingaim with attractive products such as the 1l2l3 World offering.

Deposit funding

TheThis table below shows our customer loans, customer deposits and the loan-to-deposit ratio for Santander UK, as well as for the business divisions, at 31 December 20142015 and 2013.2014. Retail Banking and Commercial Banking activities are largelymostly funded by customer deposits with the remainingdeposits. The rest is funded withby long-term debt and equity (including funding secured against our customer loans and advances).

The data for theour business divisions excludessegments does not include accrued interest. The total data for Santander UK includes accrued interest but excludesdoes not include repurchase agreements and reverse repurchase agreements, as described in the ‘Key Performance Indicators’ section.agreements.

 

Customer Customer Loan-to-     

Customer
loans

£bn

   

Customer
deposits

£bn

   

Loan-to-
deposit ratio

%

 
loans deposits deposit ratio 
£bn £bn % 

2015

        

Retail Banking

     164.8     137.3     120  

Commercial Banking

     20.9     18.1     115  

Global Corporate Banking

     5.5     3.0     183  

Corporate Centre

     7.4     3.9     190  

Total customer loans and deposits

     198.6     162.3    

Adjust for: fair value loans, loan loss reserves, accrued interest and other

     (0.6   0.9     

Statutory loans and advances to customers/deposits by customers(1)

     198.0     163.2    

Less: repurchase agreements and reverse repurchase agreements

     (1.0   (0.5   

Total(2)

     197.0     162.7     121  

2014

        

Retail Banking

 158.5   129.6   122       158.5     129.6     122  

Commercial Banking

 18.7   15.3   122       18.7     15.3     122  

Corporate & Institutional Banking

 5.2   2.3   226  

Global Corporate Banking

     5.2     2.3     226  

Corporate Centre

 8.3   5.2   160       8.3     5.2     160  

               

Total customer loans and deposits

 190.7   152.4       190.7     152.4    

Adjust for: fair value loans, loan loss reserves, accrued interest and other

 (2.0)   1.2       (2.0   1.2     

               

Statutory loans and advances to customers/deposits by customers(1)

 188.7   153.6       188.7     153.6    

Less: repurchase agreements and reverse repurchase agreements

 (0.2)   (0.5)       (0.2   (0.5   

               

Total(2)

 188.5   153.1   124       188.5     153.1     124  

               

2013

Retail Banking

 155.6   123.2   126  

Commercial Banking

 17.0   13.8   123  

Corporate & Institutional Banking

 5.1   2.6   196  

Corporate Centre

 9.4   6.8   138  

               

Total customer loans and deposits

 187.1   146.4  

Adjust for: fair value loans, loan loss reserves, accrued interest and other

 (2.5)   0.8  

               

Statutory loans and advances to customers/deposits by customers(1)

 184.6   147.2  

Less: repurchase agreements and reverse repurchase agreements

    (0.9)  

               

Total(2)

 184.6   146.3   126  

               

(1)   Customer loans and deposits as disclosed in Notes 18 and 29

(1)The customer loans and customer deposits numbers are the balances disclosed in Notes 16 and 27 to the Consolidated Financial Statements respectively. The customer deposits balance above excludes downstreamed funding from our immediate parent, Santander UK Group Holdings plc, of £0.8bn (2014: £nil).
(2)We calculate the total loan-to-deposit ratio as loans and advances to customers (excluding reverse repurchase agreements) divided by deposits by customers (excluding repurchase agreements).

(2)   Total loan-to-deposit ratio calculated as loans and advances to customers (excluding reverse repurchase agreements) divided by deposits by customers (excluding repurchase agreements).

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

 

 

Wholesale funding

Wholesale funding and issuance model

The Banco Santander group is a multiple point of entry resolution group. This means that should it fail, it would be split up into parts. Healthy parts might be sold or be maintained as a residual group without their distressed sister companies. The resolution of the distressed parts might be effected via ‘bail in’ of bonds that had been issued to the market by a regional intermediate holding company.

Santander UK Group Holdings plc is a single point of entry resolution group. This means that resolution would work downwards from the group’s holding company (i.e. Santander UK Group Holdings plc). Losses in subsidiaries would first be transferred up to Santander UK Group Holdings plc. If the holding company is bankrupt as a result, the group needs resolving. The ‘bail in’ tool is applied to the holding company, with the equity being written off and bonds converted as necessary into equity to recapitalise the group. Those bondholders would become the new owners. The group would stay together.

Santander UK Group Holdings plc is the immediate holding company of Santander UK plc, which in turn is the immediate parent company of Abbey National Treasury Services plc. This structure, as set out below, is a Bank of England recommended configuration which aims to resolve banks without disrupting the activities of their operating companies, thereby maintaining continuity of services for customers.

Our current structure is:

LOGO

The cross guarantees have the effect of aligning the interests of the class of creditors covered by the cross guarantees across the operating companies.

The PRA regulates our capital (including dividends and AT1 coupon payments) and large exposures. We are also required to satisfy the PRA that we can withstand capital and liquidity stresses on a standalone basis.

Santander UK Group Holdings plc issues:

110Santander UK plcSenior unsecured
Subordinated debt.

Santander UK plc and ANTS plc issuance includes:

Covered bonds
Mortgages for RMBS vehicles
Senior unsecured
Short-term funding, such as commercial paper and certificates of deposit.

During 2015, we received further clarity regarding the TLAC and MREL requirements. We believe the most efficient way of meeting the majority of our requirements will be through the issuance of senior unsecured debt from Santander UK Group Holdings plc, downstreamed to our operating companies transparently in a compliant form.

Composition of wholesale funding

We are active in the wholesale markets and we have direct access to both money market and long-term investors through our funding programmes. This makes our wholesale funding well diversified by product, maturity, geography and currency. This includes currencies available across a range of channels from:

Money markets
Repo markets
Senior unsecured, secured, medium-term and subordinated debt.

122  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

Wholesale funding

Composition of wholesale funding

Santander UK continues to have access to a variety of sources of wholesale funding in a range of currencies, including those available from money markets, repo markets, medium term and subordinated debt investors, across a variety of distribution channels. Santander UK is an active participant in the wholesale markets and has direct access to both money market and long-term investors through its range of funding programmes. As a result, wholesale funding is well diversified by product, maturity, geography and currency.

Maturity profile of wholesale funding

TheThis table below shows Santander UK’s primaryour main sources of wholesale funding sources, excludingfunding. It does not include securities financing repurchase and reverse repurchaserespurchase agreements. The tables are prepared taking into account foreigntable is based on exchange rates at issue and scheduled repayments, and dorepayments. It does not reflect the final contractual maturity of the funding.

 

Not more Over 1 Over 3 Over 6 Over 9 Sub-total Over 1 Over 2 Over 5 Total  Not more
than 1
month
 Over 1
but not
more than
3 months
 Over 3
but not
more than
6 months
 Over 6
but not
more than
9 months
 Over 9
but not
more than
12 months
 Sub-total
less than
1 year
 Over 1
but not
more than
2 years
 Over 2
but not
more than
5 years
 Over 5
years
 Total 
than but not but not but not but not less than but not but not years    £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn 
1 month more than more than more than more than 1 year more than more than     
  3 months 6 months 9 months 12 months   2 years 5 years     
£bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn 
2015          
Deposits by banks  0.2    0.8                1.0                1.0  
(non-customer deposits)          
CDs and Commercial Paper  1.6    3.2    1.7    0.6    0.1    7.2                7.2  
Senior unsecured:          
– public benchmark(1)          0.7            0.7    1.8    7.9    3.0    13.4  
– privately placed  0.5        0.2    0.7    0.6    2.0    1.8    2.0    0.2    6.0  
Covered bonds              0.9    1.6    2.5    3.2    3.7    6.9    16.3  
Securitisation and Structured Issuance  1.8    0.7    1.4    2.1    1.7    7.7    4.8    2.3    0.7    15.5  
Subordinated liabilities and equity (including AT1 issuances)(2)                          0.1    1.2    4.0    5.3  

Total at 2015

  4.1    4.7    4.0    4.3    4.0    21.1    11.7    17.1    14.8    64.7  
Of which:          
– secured  1.8    0.7    1.4    3.0    3.3    10.2    8.0    6.0    7.6    31.8  

– unsecured

  2.3    4.0    2.6    1.3    0.7    10.9    3.7    11.1    7.2    32.9  

2014

          

Deposits by banks

 0.9   0.9   0.1         1.9            1.9   0.9   0.9   0.1           1.9               1.9  

(non-customer deposits)

          

CDs and Commercial Paper

 2.0   4.4   1.2   0.4   0.1   8.1   0.2         8.3   2.0   4.4   1.2   0.4   0.1   8.1   0.2           8.3  

Senior unsecured

       0.2      0.9   1.1   0.6   4.7   2.5   8.9  

– public benchmark

Senior unsecured:         0.2       0.9   1.1   0.6   4.7   2.5   8.9  
– public benchmark(1)          

– privately placed

    0.1   0.1   0.3   0.1   0.6   2   1.7   0.7   5       0.1   0.1   0.3   0.1   0.6   2.0   1.7   0.7   5.0  

Covered bonds

    0.7   2.1         2.8   2.5   5.2   7.2   17.7       0.7   2.1           2.8   2.5   5.2   7.2   17.7  

Securitisation and Structured

 2.5   0.1   2.9   1.1   1.1   7.7   6.6   4.6   0.7   19.6  

Issuance

Subordinated liabilities

 0.1         0.8      0.9      1.3   2.6   4.8  

                              

Total at 31 December 2014

 5.5   6.2   6.6   2.6   2.2   23.1   11.9   17.5   13.7   66.2  
Securitisation and Structured Issuance 2.5   0.1   2.9   1.1   1.1   7.7   6.6   4.6   0.7   19.6  
Subordinated liabilities and equity (including AT1 issuances)(2) 0.1           0.8       0.9       1.3   2.6   4.8  

Total at 2014

 5.5   6.2   6.6   2.6   2.2   23.1   11.9   17.5   13.7   66.2  

Of which:

          

– secured

 2.5   0.8   5   1.1   1.1   10.5   9.1   9.8   7.9   37.3   2.5   0.8   5.0   1.1   1.1   10.5   9.1   9.8   7.9   37.3  

– unsecured

 3.0   5.4   1.6   1.5   1.1   12.6   2.8   7.7   5.8   28.9   3.0   5.4   1.6   1.5   1.1   12.6   2.8   7.7   5.8   28.9  

                              

2013

Deposits by banks

 0.1   1.2            1.3            1.3  

(non-customer deposits)

CDs and Commercial Paper

 1.9   2.2   1.6   0.4   0.5   6.6            6.6  

Senior unsecured

    0.8   1.5      1.0   3.3   1.1   2.4   0.7   7.5  

– public benchmark

– privately placed

 0.1   0.2   0.2   0.1   0.3   0.9   0.6   0.7   0.7   2.9  

Covered bonds

       1.3   0.1      1.4   2.8   6.0   6.8   17.0  

Securitisation and Structured

Issuance

 1.2   0.3   1.7   3.2   1.3   7.7   7.1   9.7   1.4   25.9  

Subordinated liabilities

                      0.1   4.4   4.5  

                              

Total at 31 December 2013

 3.3   4.7   6.3   3.8   3.1   21.2   11.6   18.9   14.0   65.7  

Of which:

– secured

 1.2   0.3   3.0   3.3   1.3   9.1   9.9   15.7   8.2   42.9  

– unsecured

 2.1   4.4   3.3   0.5   1.8   12.1   1.7   3.2   5.8   22.8  

                              

(1)This includes downstream funding from our immediate parent company, Santander UK Group Holdings plc. £168m (2014: £nil) was in respect of the issuance of a ¥30bn senior unsecured probond in two tranches (3 and 5 year), and £675m (2014: £nil) was in respect of the issuance of a $1bn 5 year senior unsecured SEC registered benchmark issuance. For more details see Note 30 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
(2)This includes downstream funding from our immediate parent company, Santander UK Group Holdings plc. £1,016m (2014: £nil) was in respect of the issuance of Tier 2 Dated Subordinated Notes and £1,550m (2014: £800m) was in respect of the issuance of Perpetual Capital Securities. See Notes 31 and 36 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

 

Annual Report 2014111


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Currency composition of wholesale funds

WhereWhen we raise term funding is raised in foreign currencies, we use cross currency matched swaps are used to convert the foreign currencyit into sterling. WhereWhen we raise short-term deposits are raised in US dollars or Euros, these are usedeuros, we either swap them into sterling, use them to purchasebuy eligible liquidity pool assets or place funds at the US Federal Reserve or swapped into sterling. At 31 December 2014 and 2013, the proportion ofReserve. This table shows our wholesale funding by major currencies was as follows:currency at 31 December 2015 and 2014.

 

                                
Sterling
%
 US Dollar
%
 Euro
%
 Other currencies
%
     Sterling %   US Dollar %   Euro % Other currencies
%
 

31 December 2014

2015

         

Deposits by banks (non-customer deposits)

 7   77   16          18     82           

CDs and Commercial Paper

 19   64   17          36     47     17      

Senior unsecured – public benchmark

 10   43   45   2       12     44     43    1  

– privately placed

 18   13   66   3       9     9     79    3  

Covered bonds

 32      67   1       35          64    1  

Securitisation and Structured Issuance

 40   30   29   1       52     28     20      

Subordinated liabilities

 71   26      3  

Subordinated liabilities and equity (including AT1 issuance)

     58     41         1  

                 33     26     40    1  
 31   27   41   1  
            

31 December 2013

2014

         

Deposits by banks (non-customer deposits)

 9   90   1          7     77     16      

CDs and Commercial Paper

 17   65   16   2       19     64     17      

Senior unsecured – public benchmark

 13   41   43   3       10     43     45   2  

– privately placed

 40   16   34   10       18     13     66   3  

Covered bonds

 29      70   1       32          67   1  

Securitisation and Structured Issuance

 35   33   31   1       40     30     29   1  

Subordinated liabilities

 62   27   8   3  

Subordinated liabilities and equity (including AT1 issuance)

     71     26        3  
                 31     27     41   1  
 31   28   39   2  
            

Reconciliation of wholesale funding to the balance sheet

TheThis table below presents a reconciliation ofreconciles our wholesale funding to theour balance sheet at 31 December 20142015 and 2013.2014.

 

                                                                                                                
   Balance sheet line item        Balance sheet line item 
 
 
Funding
analysis
  
  
 
 
Deposits
    by banks
  
  
 
 
    Deposits by
customers
  
(2) 
 

 
 

Debt

    securities
in issue

  

  
  

 
 
 
Financial
    liabilities at
fair value
  
  
  
 
 
Trading
    liabilities
  
  
 
 
    Subordinated
liabilities
  
  
 
 
 
 
                Share
capital and
other equity
instruments
  
  
  
(4) 
   Funding     Deposits   Deposits by   Debt   Financial     Trading   Subordinated     Share capital and  
£bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn    analysis     by banks    customers(2)  securities   liabilities at     liabilities   liabilities     other equity  

31 December 2014

      in issue   fair value        instruments(4)  
             £bn  
  £bn   £bn £bn £bn £bn   £bn £bn      

2015

            

Deposits by banks (non-customer deposits)

 1.9               1.9           1.0                      1.0           

CDs and Commercial Paper

 8.3         8.0   0.3              7.2             7.2                    

Senior unsecured – public benchmark

 8.9         8.9                 13.4         0.8    12.6                    

– privately placed

 5.0         2.5   2.5              6.0             4.0    2.0                

Covered bonds

 17.7         17.7                 16.3             16.3                    

Securitisation and Structured Issuance

 19.6   4.8   0.5   14.1      0.2           15.5     4.2    0.5    9.7         1.1           

Subordinated liabilities

 4.8                  3.7   1.1  
               

Subordinated liabilities and equity

   5.3                          3.5     1.8  

Total wholesale funding

 66.2   4.8   0.5   51.2   2.8   2.1   3.7   1.1     64.7     4.2    1.3    49.8    2.0     2.1    3.5     1.8  

Repos

 8.4               8.4           6.6                      6.6           

Foreign exchange and hedge accounting

 0.7         0.6         0.1        0.3             (0.1           0.4       

Other

 8.4   3.4(1)           4.8(3)  0.2        8.1     4.1(1)                4.0(3)          

               

Balance sheet total

 83.7   8.2   0.5   51.8   2.8   15.3   4.0   1.1     79.7     8.3    1.3    49.7    2.0     12.7    3.9     1.8  

               

31 December 2013

2014

            

Deposits by banks (non-customer deposits)

 1.3               1.3           1.9                      1.9           

CDs and Commercial Paper

 6.6         5.8   0.8              8.3            8.0   0.3                

Senior unsecured – public benchmark

 7.5         7.5                 8.9            8.9                    

– privately placed

 2.9         0.3   2.6              5.0            2.5   2.5                

Covered bonds

 17.0         17.0                 17.7            17.7                    

Securitisation and Structured Issuance

 25.9   5.5   0.9   19.5                 19.6     4.8   0.5   14.1         0.2           

Subordinated liabilities

 4.5                  3.9   0.6  
               

Subordinated liabilities and equity

   4.8                         3.7     1.1  

Total wholesale funding

 65.7   5.5   0.9   50.1   3.4   1.3   3.9   0.6     66.2     4.8   0.5   51.2   2.8     2.1   3.7     1.1  

Repos

 12.8               12.8           8.4                      8.4           

Foreign exchange and hedge accounting

 0.9         0.8         0.1        0.7            0.6            0.1       

Other

 10.7   3.2(1)           7.2(3)  0.3        8.4     3.4(1)                4.8(3)  0.2       
               

Balance sheet total

 90.1   8.7   0.9   50.9   3.4   21.3   4.3   0.6     83.7     8.2   0.5   51.8   2.8     15.3   4.0     1.1  
               

 

(1)Principally consists ofMainly items in the course of transmission and other deposits. See Note 2826 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
(2)IncludedThis is included in theour balance sheet total of £153,606m (2013: £147,167m)£164,074m (2014: £153,606m).
(3)Consists of shortShort positions in securities and unsettled trades, cash collateral and short-term deposits. See Note 3028 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
(4)Consists of £35m (2013:£300m)This is £14m (2014: £35m) fixed/floating rate non-cumulative callable preference shares, £297m (2013:£235m (2014: £297m) step-up callable perpetual reserve capital instrumentsStep-up Callable Perpetual Reserve Capital Instruments, £7m (2014: £7m) of Step-up Callable Perpetual Preferred Securities and £800m (2013: £nil) perpetual capital securities.£1,550m (2014: £800m) Perpetual Capital Securities. See Note 38.36 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

 

112Santander UK plc

124  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

In addition to

As well as deposit and wholesale funding, Santander UK haswe have access to the followingthese UK Government schemes:

i) Funding for Lending Scheme (‘FLS’)(FLS)

This Bank of England and HM Treasury schemeThe FLS is designed to boost lending to UK households and non-financial companies,companies. It does this by providinggiving funding to banks and building societies for an extended period with– it links both the price and quantity of funding provided linked to the net lending to the UK non-financial sector lending over a specified period. The FLS allowslets participants to borrow UK Treasury bills in exchange for eligible collateral duringin a drawdown window. Eligible collateral consists of all collateral eligible in the Bank of England’s Discount Window Facility.

ii) Contingent Term Repo Facility (‘CTRF’)(CTRF)

The CTRF providesgives short-term liquidity to the market through monthly auctions and using eligible collateral as security. Eligible collateral consists of all collateral eligible in the Bank of England’s Discount Window Facility.

iii) Indexed Long-Term Repo (‘ILTR’)(ILTR)

These Bank of England operations areThe ILTR is aimed at banks, building societies and broker-dealers with a predictable need for liquid assets. The Bank of England offers funds via an ILTR operation once each calendar month, normally with a six-month maturity. Participants are able tocan borrow using eligible collateral as security. Eligible

For each of these schemes, eligible collateral consists ofincludes all collateral that is eligible in the Bank of England’s Discount Window Facility.

Term issuance

In 2015, our term issuance (sterling equivalent) was:

      Sterling     US Dollar     Euro     Yen     Total     Total 
                             2015     2014 
      £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn 

Securitisations

     0.9       0.8                     1.7       1.8  

Covered bonds – public benchmark

     0.7              0.7              1.4       2.2  

                         – privately placed

                                          

Structured notes

     0.1                            0.1       0.4  

Senior unsecured – public benchmark

     0.8       1.9       2.5       0.2       5.4       4.7  

                              – privately placed

                   1.7              1.7       3.0  

Subordinated debt and equity (including AT1 issuance)

     0.8       1.0                     1.8       0.8  

Total gross issuances

     3.3       3.7       4.9       0.2       12.1       12.9  

Funding developments in2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

OurTogether with our immediate parent, Santander UK Group Holdings plc, our overall funding strategy isremains to develop and maintainsustain a diversified funding base, which allows us accessbase. We also need to a varietyfulfil regulatory requirements as well as to support our credit ratings. As in 2014, the majority of funding sources. As part of this strategy, Santander UK raises funding in a number of currencies, including US dollars and euro, and converts these back into sterling to fund its commercial assets which are largely sterling denominated.

In keeping with the pattern ofour new issuance in 2013, the focus of new issuance in 2014 was in the unsecured markets.

2015 provided, on the whole, stable market conditions. Mid-year was dominated by market instability caused by uncertainty over Greece’s membership of the eurozone. In total,the second half of the year, we issued six public US dollar unsecured securities and one public euro unsecured security. In additionsaw increased volatility due to the unsecured issuance, we issued residential mortgage-backed securitieseconomic situation in China and two benchmark Sterling covered bonds, forms of financing that permit us to benefit from our prime UK mortgage assets. The improvementcertain markets, and price pressures in market sentiment over the medium term continued in 2014. The wholesalecommodities market. However, the funding markets that we operate in whilst subject to some limited short term volatility, continued to be stable, offeringoffer us economically viable sources of funding. This stable market backdrop allowed us to continue to have a more balanced mix of wholesale unsecured and secured new issuance than in recent years. Overall, theOur cost of wholesale funding continued to fall due to the replacement ofreplacing more expensive MTF maturities with lower cost new issuance in the now more stable capital marketslower spread environment.

In 2014, our MTF issuance was £12.9bn (2013: £6.6bn). In June and December 2014, respectively, £500m and £300m However, the cost of Perpetual Capital Securities were issued tofunding associated with issuances downstreamed from our immediate parent holding company,is likely to offset this reduction in the future.

In 2015, our term issuance was £12.1bn (2014: £12.9bn), of which issued similar securities to Banco Santander, S.A. In addition, £2.2bn of Treasury bills were drawn under the FLS.our medium term issuance was £10.3bn (2014: £12.1bn):

We issued seven public senior unsecured securities and received downstreamed funding, in the form of loans that rank pari passu with our existing senior unsecured liabilities, from three public issuances by our immediate parent. These three issuances included an inaugural $1bn 5 year senior unsecured SEC registered benchmark transaction in October as well as the issuance of our first senior unsecured probond in the Japanese markets in December – ¥30bn in two tranches (3 and 5 year)
In June 2015, the Company issued £750m Perpetual Capital Securities and in September, the Company issued $1.5bn of Tier 2 Dated Subordinated Notes in two tranches (10 and 30 year). In each instance these were issued to our immediate parent, Santander UK Group Holdings plc
We also issued residential mortgage-backed securities and two covered bonds. These forms of financing permit us to benefit from our prime UK mortgage assets.

Maturities in 20142015 were approximately £14.4bn (2013: £15.4bn)£12.3bn (2014: £14.4bn). At 31 December 2014,2015, 67% (2014: 65% (2013: 68%) of wholesale funding had a maturity of greater than one year, with an overall residual duration for wholesale funding of 4043 months (2013:(2014: 40 months).

During 2014,In 2015, our continuing strategy of building closer customer relationships through the 1I2I3 World retail offering created additional current account liabilities that further strengthened this stable funding source. At

We made no additional drawings of Treasury Bills under the same time, the level of less stable retail and corporate instant access accounts reduced as a constituent of the funding mix.

Term issuance(audited)

In 2014, the majority of Santander UK’s term issuance wasFLS in unsecured format, consistent with the issuance strategy in 2013. During the year, term issuance (sterling equivalent) comprised:

          Sterling         US Dollar             Euro             Total             Total 
  £bn £bn £bn 

2014

£bn

 

2013

£bn

 

Securitisations

 0.9   0.9      1.8   1.7  

Covered bonds – privately placed

             0.8  

                           – publicly placed

 1.0      1.2   2.2   0.5  

Structured notes

 0.1   0.2   0.1   0.4   0.4  

Senior unsecured – privately placed

    0.2   2.8   3.0   0.2  

                               – public benchmark

 0.5   2.6   1.6   4.7   2.1  

Subordinated debt

 0.8         0.8   0.9  
                          

Total gross issuances

 3.3   3.9   5.7   12.9   6.6  
                          
2015. The total drawn down remained £2.2bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: £2.2bn).

 

 

Annual Report 2014113


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Encumbrance

The abilityBeing able to pledge assets as collateral is an integral part of a financial institution’s operations, and includes asset securitisation or related structured funding, the pledging of collateral to support the use of payment/settlement systems, and entering into derivatives, securities repurchase agreements and securities borrowing arrangements. operations. It includes:

Asset securitisation or related structured funding
Pledging collateral to support using payment or settlement systems
Entering into derivatives, securities repurchase agreements and securities borrowing arrangements.

An asset is encumbered if it has been pledged as collateral against an existing liability, and as a resultliability. This means it is no longer available to secure funding, satisfymeet collateral needs or be sold to reduce potential future funding requirements.needs.

Santander UK carries out a number of activities whichWe do various things that lead to asset encumbrance, including:

encumbrance. These include where we:

EnteringEnter into securitisation, covered bonds, and re-purchaserepurchase agreements including(including central bank funding programmes,programmes) to gain access to medium and long-term funding;funding
EnteringEnter into short-term funding transactions, including re-purchasetransactions. These include repurchase agreements, reverse re-purchaserepurchase agreements and stock borrowing transactions to support our trading strategies;strategies
ParticipatingParticipate in payment and settlement systems; andsystems
PostingPost collateral as part of OTC and exchange-traded derivatives activity.

Santander UK monitors theWe monitor our mix of secured and unsecured funding sources within itsin our funding plan and seeksplan. We aim to efficiently utiliseuse our available collateral efficiently to raise secured funding and to meet our other collateralised obligations. Santander UK’s most significant

Our biggest source of encumbrance is thewhere we use of itsour mortgage portfolio to raise funds via securitisation, covered bonds or other structured borrowing. Santander UK ensures that it controls the levelWe control our levels of encumbrance arising from these activities by establishingsetting a minimum acceptable level of unencumbered assets that must be available after taking account of future funding plans, whether assets can be used for future collateral needs, the impact of potential stress conditions and the current level of encumbrance. Santander UK also ensures that its secured funding activities are not structurally subordinating its liabilities.factoring in:

Our future funding plans
Whether we can use our assets for our future collateral needs
The impact of possible stress conditions
Our current level of encumbrance.

On-balance sheet encumbered and unencumbered assets

 

2014   2013   Assets encumbered as a result of transactions   Other assets (comprising assets encumbered at the central bank      
  Unencumbered assets      Unencumbered assets     with counterparties other than central banks    and unencumbered assets)     
Encumbered Readily         Other Total  Encumbered Readily         Other Total                       Assets not positioned at the central bank         
assets         realisable           assets  assets         realisable           assets   As a result   As a result   Other   Total   Assets positioned   Readily   Other assets   Cannot be   Total   Total 
£m £m £m £m   £m £m £m £m   of covered   of securitis-           at the central bank   available for   that are   encumbered       assets 
  bonds   ations           (i.e. pre-positioned   encumbrance   capable of             
                  plus encumbered)       being             
                          encumbered             
  £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m 

2015

                     

Cash and balances at central banks(1)(2)

 318   22,244      22,562   315   26,059      26,374                          340     16,502               16,842     16,842  

Trading assets

 15,086   802   5,812   21,700   12,123   1,548   8,623   22,294               14,305     14,305           2,298     7,358          9,656     23,961  

Derivative financial instruments

       23,021   23,021         20,049   20,049                                         20,911     20,911     20,911  

Financial assets designated at fair value

 8   2,100   773   2,881      2407   340   2,747                               1,721     677          2,398     2,398  

Loans and advances to banks

 122      1,935   2,057   129      2,218   2,347               91     91           462     2,995          3,457     3,548  

Loans and advances to customers

 56,851   106,683   25,157   188,691   58,960   106,767   18,860   184,587     23,390     24,111     13     47,514      27,648     96,872     5,640     20,371     150,531     198,045  

Loans and receivables securities

    118      118   160   931   10   1101                               52               52     52  

Available-for-sale securities

 1,527   7,417      8,944   897   4,108      5,005               1,716     1,716           7,296               7,296     9,012  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

       963   963         769   769                                         781     781     781  

Interests in other entities

       38   38         27   27                                         48     48     48  

Intangible assets

       2,187   2,187         2,335   2,335                                         2,231     2,231     2,231  

Property, plant and equipment

       1,624   1,624         1521   1521                                    1,597          1,597     1,597  

Current tax assets

                   114   114                                         49     49     49  

Deferred tax

                   16   16  
Deferred tax assets                                                   

Retirement benefit assets

       315   315         118   118                                         556     556     556  

Other assets

       876   876         882   882                                          1,375     1,375     1,375  
                           
 73,912   139,364   62,701   275,977   72,584   141,820   55,882   270,286  
                           

Total assets

   23,390     24,111     16,125     63,626       27,988     125,203     18,267     46,322     217,780     281,406  

 

(1)Encumbered cash and balances at central banks representare minimum cash balances we are required to be maintained withhold at central banks for regulatory purposes.
(2)Readily realisable cash and balances at central banks representare amounts held at central banks as part of the Santander UK group’sour liquidity management activities.

At 31 December 2014, only £73.9bn (2013: £72.6bn) of Santander UK’s assets were encumbered which primarily related to funding secured against loans and advances to customers, and cash collateral included within trading assets, posted to satisfy margin requirements on derivatives.

Unencumbered assets classified as readily realisable include cash and securities held in the eligible liquidity pool as well as additional unencumbered assets which provide a source of contingent liquidity. Whilst these additional unencumbered assets are not relied upon in Santander UK’s Liquidity Risk Appetite, in stress conditions a portion may be utilised to generate liquidity through use as collateral for secured funding or through outright sale.

Unencumbered assets not classified as readily realisable consist primarily of derivatives and loans and advances to customers. Loans and advances to customers are only classified as readily realisable if they are already in a form such that they can be used to raise funding without further management actions. This includes excess collateral already in secured funding vehicles and collateral pre-positioned at central banks and available for use in secured financing transactions. All other loans and advances are conservatively classified as not readily realisable; however a proportion would be suitable for use in secured funding structures.

 

 

114Santander UK plc

126  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

    Assets encumbered as a result of transactions      Other assets (comprising assets encumbered at the central bank      
   with counterparties other than central banks     and unencumbered assets)     
                         Assets not positioned at the central bank         
   As a result   As a result   Other   Total     Assets positioned   Readily   Other assets   Cannot be   Total   Total 
   of covered   of securitis-             at the central bank   available for   that are   encumbered       assets 
   bonds   ations             (i.e. pre-positioned   encumbrance   capable of             
                     plus encumbered)       being             
                             encumbered             
    £m   £m   £m   £m      £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m 

2014

                     
Cash and balances at central banks(1)(2)                        318     22,244               22,562     22,562  
Trading assets             15,086     15,086           802     5,812          6,614     21,700  
Derivative financial instruments                                       23,021     23,021     23,021  
Financial assets designated at fair value             8     8           2,100     773          2,873     2,881  
Loans and advances to banks             122     122                1,935          1,935     2,057  
Loans and advances to customers   25,468     27,902          53,370      32,461     77,703     8,581     16,576     135,321     188,691  
Loans and receivables securities                             118               118     118  
Available-for-sale securities             1,527     1,527           7,417               7,417     8,944  
Macro hedge of interest rate risk                                       963     963     963  
Interests in other entities                                       38     38     38  
Intangible assets                                       2,187     2,187     2,187  
Property, plant and equipment                                  1,624          1,624     1,624  
Current tax assets                                                   
Deferred tax assets                                                   
Retirement benefit assets                                       315     315     315  
Other assets                                        876     876     876  

Total assets

   25,468     27,902     16,743     70,113       32,779     110,384     18,725     43,976     205,864     275,977  

(1)Encumbered cash and balances at central banks are minimum cash balances we are required to hold at central banks for regulatory purposes.
(2)Readily realisable cash and balances at central banks are amounts held at central banks as part of our liquidity management activities.

Encumbered assets mainly related to funding we had secured against loans and advances to customers, and cash collateral in trading assets that we posted to meet margin needs on derivatives.

Unencumbered assets classified as readily realisable include cash and securities we hold in our eligible liquidity pool. They also include other unencumbered assets that give us a source of contingent liquidity. We do not rely on these extra unencumbered assets in our liquidity risk appetite, but we might use some of them in a time of stress. We can create liquidity by using them as collateral for secured funding or through outright sale.

Unencumbered assets that are not classified as readily realisable are mainly derivatives and customer loans and advances.

Customer loans and advances are only classified as readily realisable if they are already in a form we can use to raise funding without any other actions on our part. This includes excess collateral that is already in a secured funding structure. It also includes collateral that is pre-positioned at central banks and is available for use in secured financing.

All other loans and advances are classified as not readily realisable, but some would still be suitable for use in secured funding structures.

Encumbrance of customer loans and advances

Santander UK has providedWe have issued prime retail mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securitised products to a diverse investor base through itsour mortgage-backed and other asset-backed funding programmes, as described inprogrammes. For more on this, see Note 1917 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Funding has historically been

We have raised via mortgage-backed notes, both issued to third parties and retained (the latter being central bank eligible collateral for funding purposes in other Bank of England, Swiss National Bank, and US Federal Reserve facilities) and other asset-backed notes. Santander UKwith:

Mortgage-backed notes, both issued to third parties and retained – the latter being central bank eligible collateral for funding purposes in other Bank of England, Swiss National Bank, and US Federal Reserve facilities
Other asset-backed notes.

We also has an establishedhave a covered bond programme, wherebyprogramme. Under this, we issue securities are issued to investors and are guaranteed by a pool of ring-fenced residential mortgages.

At 31 December 2014,2015, our total notes issued externally from secured programmes (securitisations and covered bonds) decreased to £32,373m (2013: £37,247m), including£25,885m (2014: £32,373m). This included gross issuance of £4,023m (2013: £2,962m)£3,068m (2014: £4,023m) and redemptions of £8,440m (2013: £9,917m)£9,840m (2014: £8,440m). At 31 December 2014,We retained a total of £14,373m (2013: £14,599m)£11,110m (2014: £14,373m) of notes issued under securitisation and covered bond programmes had also been retained internally, a proportionprogrammes. We used some of which had been used as collateral for raising funds via third party bilateral secured funding transactions, which totalled £6,444m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £7,559m), or for creating collateral which could in the future be used for liquidity purposes.these:

As collateral for raising funds via third-party bilateral secured funding transactions, which totalled £5,393m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £6,444m)
To create collateral that we could use in future for liquidity purposes.

20142015 compared with 20132014(unaudited)

TheOur level of encumbrance arising from external issuance of securitisations and covered bonds decreased in 20142015 as planned, reflecting both the overall reduction in wholesale funding and theplanned. This reflected our desire to shift new wholesale funding issuance away from the secured markets where possible. It is expected that theWe expect our overall level of encumbrance willto continue to decrease in 2015, albeit at a slower pace than in 2014.

2016.

 

 

Annual Report 2014115


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

 

 

    

 

CREDIT RATINGS(unaudited)

Contractual credit rating downgrade exposure (cumulative cash flow)

 

                            
  Cumulative cash outflow 
At 31 December 2014

One-notch downgrade

£bn

 

Two-notch downgrade

£bn

 

Securitisation derivatives

 3.3   4.1  

Contingent liabilities and derivatives margining

 2.6   3.0  

    

          

Total contractual funding or margin requirements

 5.9   7.1  

    

          

    

  Cumulative cash outflow 
At 31 December 2013

One-notch downgrade

£bn

 

Two-notch downgrade

£bn

 

Securitisation derivatives

 4.1   5.6  

Contingent liabilities and derivatives margining

 3.5   3.9  

    

          

Total contractual funding or margin requirements

 7.6   9.5  

    

          

On 3 February 2015, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (‘S&P’) placed on CreditWatch with negative implications the long-term ratings of Santander UK and many other banks in the UK, Germany and Austria, including those of our main UK peers. CreditWatch with negative implications highlights S&P’s opinion regarding the potential direction of a rating. These rating actions followed S&P’s review of government support in countries which had fully implemented the EU’s Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive. S&P’s view is that there is a reduced likelihood of extraordinary government support being made available to UK banks in the future.

Given the rating action by S&P is part of a wider review of the banking sector it is not expected to have a material impact on our business.

    Cumulative cash outflow 
   One-notch    Two-notch 
   downgrade    downgrade 
    £bn    £bn 

2015

      

Securitisation derivatives

  2.6     2.6  

Contingent liabilities and derivatives margining

  2.0     2.3  

Total contractual funding or margin requirements

  4.6     4.9  

2014

      

Securitisation derivatives

  3.3     4.1  

Contingent liabilities and derivatives margining

  2.6     3.0  

Total contractual funding or margin requirements

  5.9     7.1  

 

 

116Santander UK plc

128  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

and other itemsConduct risk

Other key risks

Capital risk(unaudited)

        

Capital risk is the risk that we do not have an adequate amount or quality of capital to meet our internal business objectives, regulatory requirements, market expectations and dividend payments, including AT1 coupons.

In this section, we set out how we are regulated by the PRA (as a UK authorised banking group) and the ECB (as a member of the wider Banco Santander group).

We explain how we manage capital on a standalone basis as an autonomous subsidiary within the wider Banco Santander group.

We then analyse our capital resources and key ratios including our leverage and risk weighted assets (RWAs).

Key metrics

Strong CET 1 capital ratio of 11.6%

Our CET 1 capital ratio reduced from 11.9% in 2014 adversely impacted by the PPI provision charge of £450m.

Improved PRA end point Tier 1 leverage ratio of 4.0%

Our ratio increased from 3.8% in 2014 driven by £750m AT1 issuance in June 2015.

Total capital resources increased to £15.6bn

In addition to the £750m AT1 issuance above, our total capital resources increased due to US$1.5bn of Tier 2 issuances.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

THE SCOPE OF OUR CAPITAL ADEQUACY

Regulatory supervision

Santander UK plc is incorporated in the UK. For capital purposes, we are subject to prudential supervision by the following regulators:

PRA: as we are a UK authorised banking group
ECB: as we are a member of the Banco Santander group. The ECB started to supervise the Banco Santander group in 2014 as part of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM).

Although we are part of the Banco Santander group, we do not have any guarantees from our parent and we operate as an autonomous subsidiary. As we are regulated by the PRA, we have to meet the PRA capital requirements on a standalone basis. We also have to show the PRA that we can withstand capital stress tests without the support of our parent. Reinforcing our corporate governance framework, the PRA exercises oversight through its rules and regulations on the Board and senior management appointments.

Santander UK Group Holdings plc became the holding company of Santander UK plc in January 2014. From this date, Santander UK Group Holdings plc became the head of the Santander UK group for regulatory capital and leverage purposes.

The basis of consolidation for our capital disclosures is the same one we use for our consolidated financial statements.

Our approach to CRD IV

We apply Banco Santander SA’s approach to capital measurement and risk management for CRD IV. As a result, Santander UK plc is classified as a significant subsidiary of Banco Santander SA.

For more on the CRD IV risk measurement of our exposures, see Banco Santander SA’s Pillar 3 report.

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision produced revised standards for minimum capital requirements for market risk in January 2016. These standards, with other proposed revisions to the capital treatment of interest rate risk in the banking book, operational risk, credit risk standardised approaches and capital floors, have the potential to significantly impact the measurement of RWAs over the medium term. This could have a negative impact on our capital ratios.

Other negative impacts to our capital position are possible from EBA Regulatory Technical Standards, which continue to be produced to extend the CRD IV rules, and from changes to the UK Pillar 2 regime to be implemented by the PRA in 2016.

In addition, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) finalised proposals on TLAC and MREL requirements which define minimum levels of loss absorbency required for globally significant banking groups from 2019. These will apply to us as we are a subsidiary of the globally significant Banco Santander group. They will also be a factor in the Bank of England determination of the level of loss absorbing capacity we will need to have under the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD). We will need to ensure that we have enough capital and loss absorbing eligible liabilities to meet this level.

130  Santander UK plc


    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

Capital risk(unaudited)

Santander UK adopts a centralised

CAPITAL RISK MANAGEMENT

Our approach to capital management approach, basedis centralised. We base it on anour assessment of both regulatory requirementswhat the regulators ask of us, and the economic capital impacts of our businesses. This approach operatesbusiness. We operate within the Board-approved Risk Appetite,capital risk framework and appetite approved by our Board. This takes into accountaccount:

The commercial environment we operate in
Our strategy for each of our material risks
The potential impact of any adverse scenarios or stresses on our capital position.

As we do not benefit from any guarantees from our parent and we are an autonomous subsidiary, the commercial environment in which Board (and some subsidiary boards) are responsible for managing, controlling and assuring capital risk.

Santander UK operates, management’s strategy for each of its material risksplc, Abbey National Treasury Services plc, and Cater Allen Limited, which are the potential impact of adverse scenarios and stresses onthree PRA-regulated entities within the Santander UK group, are party to a capital position. Details of Santander UK’s objectives, policies and processes for managing capital can be found in Note 46 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

support deed dated 23 December 2015 (the Capital risk is the riskSupport Deed) with certain other non-regulated subsidiaries of Santander UK not having an adequate amount or quality of capital to meet its internal business objectives, regulatory requirementsplc and market expectations.

Whilst Santander UK is part of the wider Banco Santander group, Santander UK plc is incorporated in the UK, regulated by the PRA and does not benefit from parental guarantees and operates as an autonomous subsidiary. As such, responsibility for the management, control and assurance of capital risk lies with the Board and, when applicable, certain subsidiary boards. The Board delegates day-to-day responsibility for capital risk to the CEO.

The Capital Risk Framework, reviewed by the Board annually, describes the high level arrangements for identifying, assessing, managing and reporting capital risk.

Scope of Santander UK’s capital adequacy

Santander UK is a UK banking group effectively subject to two tiers of supervision. Santander UK is subject to prudential supervision by both the PRA (as a UK authorised bank) and the Banco de España (as a member of the Banco Santander group). The ECB commenced supervision of the Banco Santander group in November 2014 as part of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (‘SSM’).

As a PRA regulated entity, Santander UK is expected to satisfy the PRA capital requirements on a standalone basis. Similarly, Santander UK must demonstrate to the PRA that it can withstand capital stress tests without parental support. Reinforcing the corporate governance framework adopted by Santander UK, the PRA exercises oversight through its rules and regulations on the Santander UK plc Board and senior management appointments.

Santander UK has applied Banco Santander, S.A.’s approach to capital measurement and risk management in its implementation of CRD IV. As a result, Santander UK has been classified as a significant subsidiary of Banco Santander, S.A. at 31 December 2014. Further information on the CRD IV risk measurement of Santander UK’s exposures is included in Banco Santander, S.A.’s Pillar 3 report.

Santander UK Group Holdings Limited becameplc. The parties to the holding companyCapital Support Deed constitute a core UK group as defined in the PRA Rulebook. Exposures of Santander UK plc with effect from 10 January 2014. From this date, Santander UK Group Holdings Limited became the headeach of the Santanderthree regulated entities to other members of the core UK group for regulatory capital and leverage purposes.are exempt from large exposure limits that would otherwise apply. The basis of consolidation used for capital-related disclosures in this document reflects the Santander UK plc group, which corresponds to the basis of consolidationpurpose of the financial statements.

Capital transferability between Santander UK’s subsidiariesSupport Deed is managed in accordance with Santander UK’s corporate purpose and strategy, its risk and capital management policies and with regard to UK legal and regulatory requirements. There are no other current or foreseen material practical or legal impediments tofacilitate the prompt transfer of available capital resources from, or repayment of liabilities when due betweenby, the Companynon-regulated parties to any of the regulated parties in the event that one of the regulated parties has breached or is at risk of breaching its capital resources requirements or risk concentrations requirements. The core UK group permission expires on 31 December 2018.

We quantify regulatory capital demand for credit, market, operational, pension obligation and its subsidiaries.

securitisation risk in line with what the PRA requires of us.

 

Annual Report 2014117


Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

CAPITAL RISK MANAGEMENT

The key elements of Santander UK’s capital management are:

    ApproachOur approach to Capital Riskcapital risk

 

    —

Strategic capital risk management where, in the form of an annual– each year we create a capital plan, (contained within the Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (‘ICAAP’)), theas part of our ICAAP. We forecast our regulatory and internal capital requirementsneeds and capital resources are forecasted based on the medium termour medium-term business plan. Alongside thisWe also stress test our capital plan, Santander UK stresses the capital requirementsneeds and resources using a suiteset of macroeconomic scenarios.

 

    —

Short term,Short-term, tactical capital risk management where frequent monitoring– we monitor and reportingreport regularly against theour capital plan is performed to detect whereidentify any deterioration or change in the planned business performance may impact the capital levels. Additionally, monthly monitoring ofthat might affect our capital. Every month, we also review the economic assumptions usedwe use to create and stress thetest our capital plan against economic reality is undertakenplan. We do this to detectidentify any potential deteriorationreduction in the capital levels.our capital.

 

    —

Decisions on the allocation ofAllocating capital resources are conducted– we decide how to allocate capital as part of Santander UK’sour strategic planning process basedplanning. We base our decisions on the relative returns on capital using both economic and regulatory capital measures.

 

    —

Santander UK also defines management actions in the event thatPlanning for severe periods of stress– we set out what action we would take if an extremely severe period of stress threatens itsthreatened our viability and solvency. TheseThis could include but are not limited to: suspension of disbursements; divestment of assets; selective reduction in newsuspending dividends, selling assets, reducing some business activity and capital issuances.issuing more capital.

 

Santander UK manages its capital based on an assessment of both regulatory requirements and the economic capital impacts ofWe share our businesses. The regulatory capital position at 31 December 2014 is based on the CRD IV rules, which implement Basel III in the EU and came into force on 1 January 2014. Regulatory capital demand is quantified for credit, trading market, banking market, operational, pension obligation and securitisation risk in accordance with PRA requirements. Santander UK produces and sharesICAAP document with the PRA. The PRA its ICAAP document, which can result in the PRA advising the firmthen informs us of an amount and quality ofhow much capital (Pillar 2A), and of what quality, it considers the firmthinks we should hold in addition to Pillar 1 to meet the overall financial adequacy rule. At 31 December 2014,2015, the PRA’s Pillar 2A guidance to Santander UKus was 3.6% of RWAs (2014: 3.6%), of which 2.0% (56%(2014: 2.0%), or 56% (2014: 56%) of Pillar 2A)2A, should be met by CET 1 capital.

We manage capital transferability between our subsidiaries in line with our business strategy, our risk and capital management policies, and UK laws and regulations. Nothing from 1 January 2015.a practical or legal point of view stops us moving capital resources promptly, or repaying liabilities, between the Company and its subsidiaries.

Capital regulation developments in 2014(unaudited)

The Bank of England, acting through the FPC, undertook a review of the leverage ratio during 2014, the results of which were publishedFor more on 31 October 2014. It recommended that a minimum leverage ratio requirement should be set at 3%, with additional supplementary leverageour objectives, policies and countercyclical leverage ratio buffers to be held. These buffers would be set equal to 35% of the risk-weighted systemic buffer and countercyclical buffer respectively. This framework will supersede the current supervisory expectation that a 3% leverage ratio is maintained.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision also produced a range of proposalsprocesses for revisionsmanaging capital, see Note 45 to the capital treatment of trading book market risk, operational risk, credit risk standardised approaches and capital floors. These proposals have the potential to significantly impact the measurement of RWAs for these risk types. In addition, the European Banking Authority is continuing to develop and finalise a range of Regulatory Technical Standards which extend the CRD IV rules.Consolidated Financial Statements.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCES

Key capital ratios

The calculations of capitalbelow are prepared on a basis consistent with Santander UK’sour regulatory filings at 31 December 2014, following the adoption of CRD IV with effect from 1 Januaryfor 2015 and 2014. The amounts presented for 31 December 2013 have been prepared on a consistent basis, to aid comparability, as described above. Ratios are calculated by taking the relevant capital resources as a percentage of RWAs.

The table below summarises Santander UK’sOur key capital ratios under CRD IV:are:

 

  
 
                 2014
%
  
  
 

 

                 2013

%

(1) 

  

CET 1 capital ratio

 11.9   11.6  

Total capital ratio

 17.9   17.1  
           

(1)Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

      

2015

%

     

2014

%

 

CET 1 capital ratio

     11.6       11.9  

Total capital ratio

     18.2       17.9  

 

 

118Santander UK plc

132  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

 

Regulatory capital resources

The tablecalculations below analyses the composition of Santander UK’s regulatory capital resources. The calculations reflect the amounts prepared on a basisare consistent with Santander UK’sour regulatory filings at 31 December 2014, following the adoption of CRD IV with effect from 1 Januaryfor 2015 and 2014. The amounts presented for 31 December 2013 have been prepared on a consistent basis, to aid comparability. The amounts presented for 2013 have not been adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as set out in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. The adjustment would not have had a material effect on Santander UK’s

This table shows our regulatory position.capital.

 

 

 

                 2014

£m

  

  

 

 

                2013

£m

(1) 

  

    2015      2014  

Common Equity Tier 1 (‘CET 1’) capital instruments and reserves:

    £m      £m  

Common Equity Tier 1 (CET 1) capital instruments and reserves:

        

– Capital instruments and related share premium accounts

 8,725   8,725       8,725        8,725   

– Retained earnings

 4,056   3,307       4,679        4,056   

– Accumulated other comprehensive income and other reserves

 273   (116
   

– Accumulated other comprehensive income, other reserves and non-controlling interest

     449        273   

CET 1 capital before regulatory adjustments

 13,054   11,916       13,853        13,054   
   

CET 1 regulatory adjustments:

        

– Additional value adjustments

 (101 (75     (98)       (101)  

– Intangible assets (net of tax)

 (2,174 (2,319     (2,199)       (2,174)  

– Fair value reserves related to gains or losses on cash flow hedges

 (262 110       (254)       (262)  

– Negative amounts resulting from the calculation of regulatory expected loss amounts

 (484 (544     (670)       (484)  

– Gains or losses on liabilities valued at fair value resulting from changes in own credit standing

 (17 (25     (72)       (17)  

– Deferred tax assets that rely on future profitability excluding temporary differences

 (11   

– Deferred tax assets that rely on future profitability excluding timing differences

     (8)       (11)  

– Defined benefit pension fund assets

 (249 (94     (416)       (249)  
   

   

– Dividend accrual

     (18)       –   

– Deduction for minority interests

     (135)       –   

Total regulatory adjustments to CET 1

 (3,298 (2,947     (3,870)       (3,298)  
   

CET 1 capital

 9,756   8,969       9,983        9,756   
   

Additional Tier 1 (‘AT1’) capital instruments:

– Capital instruments and the related share premium accounts

 800     

– Amounts of qualifying items and related share premium accounts subject to phase out from AT1

 1,066   1,298  
   

Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital instruments:

        

– Capital instruments

     1,550        800   

– Amounts of qualifying items subject to phase out from AT1

     708        1,066   

AT1 capital before regulatory adjustments

 1,866   1,298       2,258        1,866   
   

Total regulatory adjustments to AT1

           –        –   
   

AT1 capital

 1,866   1,298       2,258        1,866   
   

   

Tier 1 capital

 11,622   10,267       12,241        11,622   
   

Tier 2 capital instruments:

        

– Capital instruments and related share premium accounts

 1,819   1,767  

– Amounts of qualifying items and related share premium accounts subject to phase out from Tier 2

 1,253   1,253  
   

– Capital instruments

     2,547        1,819   

– Amounts of qualifying items subject to phase out from Tier 2

     834        1,253   

Tier 2 capital before regulatory adjustments

 3,072   3,020       3,381        3,072   
   

Total regulatory adjustments to Tier 2

           –        –   
   

Tier 2 capital

 3,072   3,020       3,381        3,072   
   

   

Total capital

 14,694   13,287       15,622        14,694   
   

(1)Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

Total regulatoryOur total capital consists of:

CET 1 capital instruments and reserves

Capital instruments and related share premium accounts compriseconsist of ordinary share capital of £3,105m (2013:(2014: £3,105m) and share premium of £5,620m (2013:(2014: £5,620m). Also included within CET 1 capital before regulatory adjustments are

We also include retained earnings of £4,056m (2013: £3,307m)£4,679 (2014: £4,056m) and accumulated other comprehensive income, other reserves and non-controlling interests of £273m (2013: deduction of £116m), as£449m (2014: £273m). These are per theour Consolidated Balance Sheet.

 

 

Annual Report 2014119


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

 

 

    

 

CET 1 regulatory adjustments

These are adjustments to CET 1 regulatory adjustments represent adjustments to capital and reserves attributable to ordinary shareholders required underby CRD IV. The adjustments applicable to Santander UK are as follows:They are:

Additional value adjustments:Prudent valuation adjustments of £101m (2013: £75m)£98m (2014: £101m) assessed using a PRA-defined approach.an approach set by the PRA
Intangible assets:Goodwill and intangible assets of £2,174m (2013: £2,319m)£2,199m (2014: £2,174m) net of deferred tax of £22m (2013: £16m) represent£35m (2014: £22m). These are goodwill arising on the acquisition ofacquired businesses and certain capitalised computer software costs.costs
Fair value reserves relating to gains or losses on cash flow hedges: Gains on cash flow hedges of £262m (2013: £110m loss)£254m (2014: gains of £262m) which have beenwere recognised in reserves.reserves
Negative amounts resulting from the calculation of regulatory expected loss amounts: Excess expected losses deduction of £484m (2013: £544m) representing£670m (2014: £484m). This is the difference betweenexcess of expected loss calculated in accordance with Santander UK’slosses using our Internal Rating-Based (‘IRB’)(IRB) and Advanced Internal Rating-Based (‘AIRB’)(AIRB) models, and impairment loss allowances calculated in accordance withunder IFRS. Santander UK’sFor our accounting policy for impairment loss allowances is set out inon this, see Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. RegulatoryWe calculate expected losses are calculated using risk parametersinputs based on either through-the-cycle or economic downturn estimates. These estimates and are subject to conservatismconservative due to the imposition of regulatory floors. TheyAt the moment they are therefore currently higher than theour impairment loss allowances under IFRS whichIFRS. This is because we only reflect losses incurred at the balance sheet date.date under IFRS
Gains or losses on liabilities valued at fair value resulting from changes in our own credit standing: This consists of aThese are:
A debit valuation adjustment of £28m (2013: £29m) relating£58m (2014: £28m) due to changes in OTC derivatives and changes
Changes in liabilities designated at fair value through profit and loss of £11m (2013: £4m) relating£14m (2014: £11m) due to changes in Santander UK’sour own credit risk.risk
Deferred tax assets that rely on future probabilityprofitability excluding temporary differences:timing differencesRemoval: Assets of deferred tax assets of £11m (2013; £nil)£8m (2014: £11m)
Defined benefit pension fund assets:assetsRemoval: Assets of the defined benefit pension scheme assets of £249m (2013: £94m)£416m (2014: £249m) net of deferred tax of £66m (2013: £24m).£140m (2014: £66m)
Dividend accrual:Our foreseeable future dividends from current year profits of £18m (2014: £nil)
Deduction for minority interests:The non-controlling interest of £135m (2014: £nil) on the PSA cooperation.

AT1 capital instruments

AT1 capital consists of preference shares and innovative/hybrid Tier 1 securities. All suchNone of the instruments we issued by the Santander UK group prior tobefore 1 January 2014 do not fully meet the CRD IV requirements for AT1 capital rules, which became effective onapply from that date. These instruments are subject to transitional phasewill be phased out provisions underby CRD IV rules which restrict their recognition as capital. The £750m and £800m Perpetual Capital Securities we issued in 2014since then fully meet the CRD IV AT1 rules and are fully recognised as AT1 capital.capital rules.

Tier 2 capital

Tier 2 capital consists of fully CRD IV eligible Tier 2 instruments and ‘grandfathered’grandfathered Tier 2 instruments whose recognition as capital recognition is subject tobeing phased out under CRD IV transitional phase out provisions.

A reconciliation of Core Tier 1 capital at 31 December 2013, calculated in accordance with the PRA rules in force at that date, and CET 1 capital calculated in accordance with the CRD IV rules which came into force on 1 January 2014 is set out below:

31 December 2013

£m

Core Tier 1 capital – PRA rules

9,680

CRD IV adjustments to Core Tier 1:

– Excess of regulatory expected losses over impairment losses

(335

– Defined benefit pension adjustment

(310

– Other(1)

(66

CET 1 capital – CRD IV rules

8,969

(1)Other adjustments to Core Tier 1 capital include the effect of additional valuation adjustments, deferred tax, securitisation and unrealised losses on available-for-sale securities.
IV.

 

 

120Santander UK plc

134  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

 

Movements in regulatory capital

The calculations below are consistent with our regulatory filings for 2015 and 2014.

Movements in regulatoryour capital during the years ended 31 December 2014 and 2013 are set out below. The calculations are prepared on a basis consistent with Santander UK’s regulatory filings at 31 December 2014, following the adoption of CRD IV with effect from 1 January 2014. The amounts presented for 2013 have been prepared on a consistent basis, to aid comparability, as described above.were:

 

  
 
                     2014
£m
  
  
 

 

            2013

£m

(1) 

  

CET 1 capital

Opening amount

 8,969   9,302  

Contribution to CET 1 for the year:

– Increase in retained earnings

 679   (5

– Increase in opening reserves due to prior period restatement

 70     

– Increase/(decrease) in comprehensive income

 389   (134

– Decrease in additional value adjustments

 (26   

– (Increase)/decrease in intangible assets (net of tax)

 145   (10

– (Increase)/decrease in fair value reserves related to gains and losses on cash flow hedges

 (372 110  

– Decrease in negative amounts resulting from the calculation of regulatory expected loss amounts

 60   15  

– Gain on liabilities valued at fair value resulting from changes in own credit standing

 8   (19

– (Increase)/decrease in defined benefit pension fund assets

 (155 382  

– (Increase)/decrease in deferred tax assets that rely on future profitability excluding timing differences

 (11   

Regulatory adjustments applied to CET 1 in respect of amounts subject to pre-CRR treatment

– Amounts to be deducted from or added to CET 1 capital with regard to additional filters and deductions required pre-CRR

    39  

Basel II to CRD IV impact

    (711
          

Closing amount

 9,756   8,969  
          

AT1 capital

Opening amount

 1,298   1,901  

– Increase/(decrease) in capital instruments and related share premium accounts

 800   (512

–Decrease in amount of qualifying items and related share premium amounts subject to phase out from AT1

 (232 (10

Basel II to CRD IV impact

    (81
          

Closing amount

 1,866   1,298  
          

Tier 2 capital

Opening amount

 3,020   2,756  

– Decrease/(increase) in capital instruments

 52   735  

– Increase in qualifying items subject to phase out from Tier 2

    22  

Basel II to CRD IV impact

    (493
          

Closing amount

 3,072   3,020  
          

Total regulatory capital

 14,694   13,287  
          
      2015      2014  
      £m      £m  

CET 1 capital

        

Opening amount

     9,756        8,969   

– Increase in retained earnings

     623        679   

– Increase in opening reserves due to the adoption of IFRIC 21

     –        70   

– Increase in comprehensive income and other reserves

     176        389   

– Increase/(decrease) in additional value adjustments

            (26)  

– (Increase)/decrease in intangible assets (net of tax)

     (25)       145   

– Decrease/(increase) in fair value reserves related to gains and losses on cash flow hedges

            (372)  

– (Increase)/decrease in negative amounts resulting from the calculation of regulatory expected loss amounts

     (186)       60   

– (Loss)/gain on liabilities valued at fair value resulting from changes in own credit standing

     (55)         

– Increase in defined benefit pension fund assets

     (167)       (155)  

– Increase in dividend accrual

     (18)       –   

– Increase in deductions for minority interests

     (135)       –   

– Decrease/(increase) in deferred tax assets that rely on future profitability excluding timing difference

            (11)  

Closing amount

     9,983        9,756   

AT1 capital

        

Opening amount

     1,866        1,298   

– Increase in capital instruments and related share premium accounts

     750        800   

– Decrease in amount of qualifying items and related share premium amounts subject to phase out from AT1

     (358)       (232)  

Closing amount

     2,258        1,866   

Tier 2 capital

        

Opening amount

     3,072        3,020   

– Increase in capital instruments

     728        52   

– Decrease in qualifying items subject to phase out from Tier 2

     (419)       –   

– Increase in minority interest deductions

     –        –   

Closing amount

     3,381        3,072   

Total regulatory capital

     15,622        14,694   

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

We complied with the PRA’s capital adequacy rules throughout 2015 and 2014. The changes in our CET 1 capital reflectreflected movements in our ordinary share capital share premium, and profits for the years ended 31 December2015 and 2014 and 2013 after adjustmentwe adjusted them to comply with the PRA’s rules. Santander UK complied with the PRA’s

In 2015, our CET 1 capital adequacy requirements during the years ended 31 December 2014 and 2013.

Duringincreased by £227m to £9,983m. This was largely due to profits for the year ended 31 Decemberattributable to equity holders of the parent of £939m, less interim ordinary dividends declared of £427m. In 2015, the increase in our AT1 capital was due to the issuance of £750m Perpetual Capital Securities to our immediate parent company.

In 2014, our CET 1 capital increased by £787m to £9,756m. This was largely due to profits for the year attributable to equity holders of the parent of £1,110m, less an interim ordinary dividend approveddeclared of £487m. DuringIn 2014, the increase in our AT1 capital was due to the issuance of £800m of Perpetual Capital Securities to our immediate parent company.

The latest PRA stress test results were released on 1 December 2015. The Santander UK plc’s immediate parent company as set out in Note 38 toGroup Holdings plc group (including the Consolidated Financial Statements.

DuringSantander UK group) significantly exceeded the year ended 31 December 2013,PRA’s stress test CET 1 capital decreased by £333m to £8,969m, comprising an increase in Core Tierratio threshold requirement of 4.5%, with a stressed CET 1 capital ratio of £378m combined9.5%. Additionally, it exceeded the leverage threshold requirement of 3.0%, with a decreasestressed leverage ratio of £711m from3.3%.

The PRA stress test focused on vulnerabilities in UK banks to increased global financial risks and lower global economic growth, particularly in developing markets. It also included a severe stress scenario for the impactUK property market, coupled with rising unemployment and the Base Rate remaining lower for longer. The outcome of moving from Basel II Core Tier 1 to CRD IV CET 1.

(1) Non-IFRS measure. See page 355.

the stress tests demonstrated our continuing resilience, robust balance sheet and credit strength.

 

 

Annual Report 2014121


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

 

 

    

 

Regulatory Leverage – using PRA definition

The Basel III and CRD IV rules include proposals for theto use of a leverage ratio as a backstop measure to complement risk-based capital ratios. The methodology for calculation ofrules to calculate the leverage ratio has continued to evolve, with the Basel Committee in January 2014 producing a revised definition of the exposure measurehave now been set in the ‘Basel IIIEU by European Commission Delegated Regulation. We also have to meet a minimum level for the end-point Tier 1 leverage ratio framework and disclosure requirements’ document.

The PRA has requested that UK banking groups disclose leverage ratios using a methodology based onunder rules set by the January 2014 Basel Committee framework for exposure measurement, and an end-point definition of Tier 1 capital at 31 December 2014.PRA.

The table below presents the Santander UK groupshows our leverage ratio, which we calculated using the approach requestedrules set by the PRA. This is the same as the leverage ratio for the Santander UK Group Holdings Limitedplc prudential consolidation group. The positionOur ratio was greater than the minimum of 3% at 31 December 2013 below has been restated to reflect the same basis as that used for the presentation of the position at 31 December2015 and 2014. Santander UK exceeded the proposed minimum 3% leverage ratio at 31 December 2014 and 2013.

 

                     2014
£m
                      2013
£m
 
    

2015 

£m 

     

2014 

£m 

 

Regulatory exposure

 276,296   272,084       284,950        276,296   

End-point Tier 1 capital

 10,556   9,037       11,533        10,556   

PRA end-point Tier 1 leverage ratio

 3.8%   3.3%       4.0%        3.8%   
      

The Basel leverage ratio framework requires certain adjustments to be made toUnder the CRD IV rules, we adjust our total assets per the consolidated balance sheetConsolidated Balance Sheet to arrive atcalculate our regulatory exposure for leverage purposes. A reconciliation of total assets per the consolidated balance sheet to the regulatory exposure for leverage purposes at 31 December 2014 and 2013 isWe do this as follows:

 

                     2014
£m
                      2013
£m
     

2015 

£m 

     

2014 

£m 

 

Total assets per consolidated balance sheet

 275,977   270,286  

Derivatives netting adjustment and potential future exposure

 (14,385 (11,367

Total assets per the Consolidated Balance Sheet

     281,406        275,977   

Derivatives netting and potential future exposure

     (12,214)       (14,385)  

Securities financing current exposure add-on

 2,275   1,963       3,356        2,275   

Removal of IFRS netting

 2,036   2,085       1,718        2,036   

Commitments calculated in accordance with Basel Committee Leverage Framework

 13,299   12,114       13,285        13,299   

CET 1 regulatory adjustments

 (2,906 (2,997     (2,601)       (2,906)  
        284,950        276,296   
 276,296   272,084  
   

The adjustments are as follows:are:

Derivatives netting and potential future exposure: Where derivativewhere netting is allowed in the calculation of regulatory risk weightsto calculate RWAs for derivatives, thisit is also allowed for the purposes of the leverage ratio.purposes. This is partially offset by including the inclusion of the potential future exposure as used in the calculation of regulatoryPFE we use to calculate RWAs for derivatives.
Securities financing current exposure add-on: Anwe include an add-on for securities financing transactions to reflectshow current exposure is included for theleverage purposes of the leverage ratio.
Removal of IFRS netting: Wherewhere netting of assets and liabilities is permittedallowed under IFRS, this is removedbut not under the Basel rules, we remove it for theleverage purposes of the leverage ratio.
Commitments calculated in accordance with Basel Committee Leverage Framework: Thewe add the gross value of undrawn commitments is added to total assets for leverage purposes after applyingwe apply regulatory credit conversion factors.factors
CET 1 regulatory adjustments: Wherewhere we have deducted assets are deducted from CET 1, they can be deducted from total assets for the purposes of the leverage ratio.purposes.

 

 

122Santander UK plc

136  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

 

Risk-weighted assets (‘RWAs’)(RWAs)

The tablescalculations below analyse the composition of Santander UK’s RWAs. The calculations reflect the amounts prepared on a basisare consistent with Santander UK’sour regulatory filings at 31 Decemberfor 2015 and 2014.

RWAs by risk    

2015

£bn

     

2014

£bn

 

Credit risk

     71.0       66.3  

Counterparty risk

     5.1       5.1  

Market risk

     2.8       4.3  

Operational risk

     6.9       6.6  
      85.8       82.3  

RWAs by segment    

2015

£bn

     

2014

£bn

 

Retail Banking

     42.4       38.4  

Commercial Banking

     20.9       19.9  

Global Corporate Banking

     15.4       16.8  

Corporate Centre

     7.1       7.2  
      85.8       82.3  

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

RWAs increased by £3.5bn to £85.8bn (2014: £82.3bn), broadly in line with asset growth and reflecting the £2.5bn RWAs from the PSA cooperation we consolidate. This was partially offset by decreases in market and counterparty credit risk in Global Corporate Banking.

Credit risk RWAs increased by £4.7bn to £71.0bn (2014: £66.3bn), primarily driven by an increase in unsecured consumer and vehicle finance lending, following the adoptionstart of CRD IVthe PSA cooperation, growth in commercial banking customer loans, and growth in mortgage lending. Counterparty risk RWAs remained stable at £5.1bn (2014: £5.1bn) in line with effect from 1 January 2014. The amounts presented for 2013 have been prepared on a consistent basisbalance sheet and off balance sheet exposures in securities financing transactions and derivatives. Market risk RWAs decreased by £1.5bn to aid comparability. The amounts presented for 31 December 2013 have not been adjusted£2.8bn (2014: £4.3bn) due to reflectposition changes and market movements. Operational risk RWAs increased by £0.3bn to £6.9bn (2014: £6.6bn) driven by increased operating income over an average 3 year period.

Retail Banking RWAs increased by £4.0bn to £42.4bn (2014: £38.4bn) mostly reflecting the adoptionstart of IFRIC 21, as set outthe PSA cooperation and growth in Note 1mortgages. Commercial Banking RWAs increased by £1.0bn to the Consolidated Financial Statements. The adjustment would not have had a material effect on Santander UK’s regulatory position.

RWAs by risk                 2014
£bn
              2013
£bn
 

Credit risk

 66.3   61.1  

Counterparty risk

 5.1   4.8  

Market risk

 4.3   4.8  

Operational risk

 6.6   7.0  
           
 82.3   77.7  
           

    

RWAs by division

2014

£bn

 

2013

£bn

 

Retail Banking

 38.4   36.3  

Commercial Banking

 19.9   17.0  

Corporate & Institutional Banking

 16.8   16.5  

Corporate Centre

 7.2   7.9  
           
 82.3   77.7  
           

A reconciliation of£20.9bn (2014: £19.9bn) driven by growth in customer loans. Global Corporate Banking RWAs decreased by £1.4bn to £15.4 (2014: £16.8bn) primarily due to decreases in market risk RWAs. Corporate Centre RWAs remained broadly flat at 31 December 2013, calculated in accordance£7.1bn (2014: £7.2bn) with the PRA rulesreduction in force at that date,non-core customer loan exposures offset by a small increase in operational risk RWAs.

Exposure and calculated in accordance with the CRD IV rules which came into force on 1 January 2014 is set out below:

31 December 2013
£bn

Pillar 1 RWAs – PRA rules

75.2

CRD IV adjustments to RWAs:

– Securitisation

1.1

– Counterparty Risk and Other(1)

1.4

RWAs – CRD IV rules

77.7

(1)The counterparty risk adjustments to RWAs include credit valuation adjustment, central counterparty clearing, asset value correlation, operational risk and changes to credit risk from provision treatment and SME risk weight reduction.

RWAs by division may be further analysed intoand risk

In the next tables, we analyse RWAs by division and risk. We show the balance sheet amount, the equivalent regulatory exposure, measured under the standardised and IRB approaches, the risk-weighting appliedwe apply to those regulatory exposures, and the resulting RWAs calculated, as follows:RWAs.

The main differences between Santander UK’sour balance sheet amounts and itsour regulatory exposures are as follows:are:

For secured lending in Retail Banking, and for Commercial Banking and Corporate Centre customer assets, the regulatory exposure is larger than the balance sheet amount as the regulatory exposurelarger. This is because it includes unutilisedundrawn credit facilities, which are adjusted for usingfacilities. We use a credit conversion factor (‘CCF’).(CCF) to adjust for them
For counterparty risk, the regulatory exposure is smaller than the balance sheet amount as regulatory exposures forsmaller. This is because repurchase, reverse repurchase, securities financing and derivative transactions are calculatedshown net of any associated collateral and netting agreements.agreements
For liquid assets, the regulatory exposure is smaller than the balance sheet amount as the regulatory exposure forsmaller. This is because reverse repurchase transactions are calculatedshown net of collateral received.received
For other assets, the regulatory exposure is smaller than the balance sheet amount as the regulatory exposure forsmaller. This is because derivatives hedgingthat hedge debt issuances is calculatedare shown net of any associated collateral and netting agreements.agreements
Intangible assets are deducted from capital resources, and therefore no regulatory exposure is recognised.so they are not included in the RWAs.

Santander UK applies Basel IIIWe use CRD IV to the calculation of its capital requirement. In addition, Santander UK appliescalculate our capital. We also use the Retail IRB and AIRB approaches to itsfor our credit portfolios. Residential lending capital resources requirements include securitised residential mortgages.

Retail Banking RWAs increased by £2.1bn to £38.4bn reflecting growth in both mortgages and unsecured lending, as well as a small increase in the average mortgage We calculate operational risk weight. Commercial Banking RWAs increased by £2.9bn to £19.9bn (2013: £17.0bn) reflecting growth in customer loans and a recalibration of risk models. RWAs in Corporate & Institutional Banking increased £0.3bn to £16.8bn (2013: £16.5bn) in line with customer loan growth and RWAs in Corporate Centre declined by £0.7bn to £7.2bn (2013: £7.9bn) reflecting the reduction in customer loans.

Operational Risk RWAs are calculated using the standardised approach basedapproach. We base it on three yearthree-year average income, with the reduction in RWAs of £0.4bn to £6.6bn (2013: £7.0bn) due to a reduction in the average during the period. Market Risk RWAs reduced £0.5bn to £4.3bn (2013: £4.8bn) in the year due to position changes, market movements and updates to risk models. Counterparty Risk RWAs have increased by £0.3bn to £5.1bn (2013: £4.8bn) in line with balance sheet exposures in derivatives and securities financing transactions.

income.

 

 

Annual Report 2014123


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Balance sheet management risk

continued

 

 

    

 

In the following table below, regulatory exposure representsis the EAD calculated in accordance with CRRCRD IV and related PRA supervisory statements. EAD for customer loans includes unutilisedundrawn credit facilities and iswe have adjusted it for a credit conversion factor. We have calculated EAD for repurchase,repo, reverse repurchase,repo, securities financing and derivative transactions are calculated net of any associated collateral and are adjusted forcollateral. We include regulatory changesadjustments and potential future exposure adjustments (‘PFE’) where applicable.(PFE) elements if it is appropriate.

 

   Regulatory exposure    Risk-weighting applied    RWAs               Regulatory exposure     Risk-weighting applied     RWAs 
Balance Standardised IRB Total Standardised IRB Total Standardised IRB Total     Balance     Standardised     IRB     Total     Standardised     IRB     Total     Standardised     IRB     Total 
    sheet     approach     approach           approach     approach           approach     approach       
    £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn     %     %     %     £bn     £bn     £bn 

2015

                                        

Retail Banking

                                        

– Secured lending

     152.8       0.1       162.7       162.8       83.6       15.5       15.6       0.1       25.3       25.4  

– Unsecured lending

     12.0       9.4       7.9       17.3       79.1       56.8       68.9       7.4       4.5       11.9  

– Operational risk

                                                      5.1              5.1  
Commercial Banking                                        

– Customer assets

     20.9       10.6       12.9       23.5       111.7       63.8       85.4       11.8       8.2       20.0  

– Operational risk

                                                      0.9              0.9  
Global Corporate Banking                                        

– Credit risk

     5.5       5.1       4.9       10.0       96.1       53.1       75.0       4.9       2.6       7.5  

– Counterparty risk

     26.3       3.9       5.6       9.5       41.0       50.0       46.3       1.6       2.8       4.4  

– Market risk(1)

                                                      2.7              2.7  

– Operational risk

                                                      0.8              0.8  

Corporate Centre

                                        

– Customer assets(2)

     7.4       1.2       7.5       8.7       66.1       8.0       16.3       0.8       0.6       1.4  

– Counterparty risk

     2.3              0.6       0.6                                   0.5       0.5  

– Eligible liquid assets(3)

     34.2       22.4              22.4                                            

– Market risk(1)

                                                      0.1              0.1  

– Operational risk

                                                      0.1              0.1  
Intangible assets and securitisation deductions     2.2                                                                 

Other assets(4)

     17.8       10.2       2.8       13.0       45.3       14.1       38.6       4.6       0.4       5.0  
sheet approach approach   approach approach   approach approach        281.4       62.9       204.9       267.8                      40.9       44.9       85.8  
£bn £bn £bn £bn % % % £bn £bn £bn 

2014

                                        

Retail Banking

                                        

– Secured lending

 150.1   0.2   159.2   159.4   50.0   15.3   15.3   0.1   24.3   24.4       150.1       0.2       159.2       159.4       50.0       15.3       15.3       0.1       24.3       24.4  

– Unsecured lending

 8.4   5.8   7.1   12.9   77.6   63.4   69.8   4.5   4.5   9.0       8.4       5.8       7.1       12.9       77.6       63.4       69.8       4.5       4.5       9.0  

– Operational risk

                      5.0      5.0                                                        5.0              5.0  

Commercial Banking

                                        

– Customer assets

 18.7   11.7   11.4   23.1   95.7   71.1   83.5   11.2   8.1   19.3       18.7       11.7       11.4       23.1       95.7       71.1       83.5       11.2       8.1       19.3  

– Operational risk

                      0.6      0.6                                                        0.6              0.6  

Corporate & Institutional Banking

Global Corporate Banking                                        

– Credit risk

 5.2   4.9   4.4   9.3   93.9   56.8   76.3   4.6   2.5   7.1       5.2       4.9       4.4       9.3       93.9       56.8       76.3       4.6       2.5       7.1  

– Counterparty risk

 29.9   2.8   5.7   8.5   57.1   52.6   54.1   1.6   3.0   4.6       29.9       2.8       5.7       8.5       57.1       52.6       54.1       1.6       3.0       4.6  

– Market risk(1)

                      4.1      4.1                                                        4.1              4.1  

– Operational risk

                      1.0      1.0                                                        1.0              1.0  

Corporate Centre

                                        

– Customer assets(2)

 8.3   1.4   8.5   9.9   64.3   11.8   19.2   0.9   1.0   1.9       8.3       1.4       8.5       9.9       64.3       11.8       19.2       0.9       1.0       1.9  

– Counterparty risk

                         0.2   0.2                                                               0.2       0.2  

– Eligible liquid assets(3)

 30.9   29.0      29.0                         30.9       29.0              29.0                                            

– Market risk(1)

                      0.2      0.2                                                        0.2              0.2  

– Operational risk

                                                                      

Intangible assets and securitisation deductions

 2.2                                  2.2                                                                 

Other assets(4)

 22.3   8.8   2.8   11.6   42.0   42.9   42.2   3.7   1.2   4.9       22.3       8.8       2.8       11.6       42.0       42.9       42.2       3.7       1.2       4.9  
                                   276.0       64.6       199.1       263.7                      37.5       44.8       82.3  
 276.0   64.6   199.1   263.7   37.5   44.8   82.3  
                              

2013

Retail Banking

– Secured lending

 148.1   0.2   157.3   157.5   77.1   14.5   14.5   0.1   22.8   22.9  

– Unsecured lending

 7.5   4.8   6.5   11.3   78.2   65.1   70.8   3.8   4.2   8.0  

– Operational risk

                      5.4      5.4  

Commercial Banking

– Customer assets

 17.0   9.3   10.6   19.9   86.0   78.3   81.9   8.0   8.3   16.3  

– Operational risk

                      0.7      0.7  

Corporate & Institutional Banking

– Credit risk

 5.1   4.1   4.2   8.3   100   54.8   77.4   4.1   2.3   6.4  

– Counterparty risk

 27.6   3.5   4.6   8.1   52.2   56.5   54.7   1.8   2.6   4.4  

– Market risk(1)

                      4.8      4.8  

– Operational risk

                      0.9      0.9  

Corporate Centre

– Customer assets(2)

 9.4   2.0   9.1   11.1   77.2   21.5   31.5   1.5   2.0   3.5  

– Eligible liquid assets(3)

 31.5   28.1      28.1                    

– Counterparty risk

                      0.5      0.5  

Intangible assets & securitisation deductions

 2.3                             

Other assets(4)

 21.8   7.0   3.6   10.6   42.2   26.4   36.8   3.0   0.9   3.9  
                              
 270.3   59   195.9   254.9   34.6   43.1   77.7  
                              

 

(1)MarketWe calculate market risk RWAs are determined using both the internal model-based and standardised approaches. SeeWe have described this in more detail in the Market risk‘Market risk’ section of the Risk Review.review.
(2)Largely comprise social housing.Mostly Social Housing.
(3)IncludeWe include reverse repurchase agreements collateralised by eligible sovereign securities.
(4)TheWe have not allocated segmentally the balance sheet amounts of other assets, although we have not been allocated segmentally, although the RWAs have been allocated to Corporate Centre. The RWAs cover credit risk, market risk and operational risk.

 

 

124Santander UK plc

138  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

 

Pension risk(unaudited)

  
 

Pension risk is the risk caused by our contractual or other liabilities with respect to a pension scheme (whether established for our employees or those of a related company or otherwise). It also refers to the risk that we will make payments or other contributions with respect to a pension scheme due to a moral obligation or for some other reason.

 
In this section, we explain how we manage pension risk, including how we mitigate the risk. We also give some insight into our pension investment strategy.

Key metrics

Pension VaR decreased to £1,260m

The pension VaR decreased by £80m to £1,260m at 31 December in 2015 (2014: £1,340m) due to a slightly higher real interest rate reducing the size of the discounted liability.

Defined benefit scheme accounting surplus increased to £483m

The improvement in the position was mainly driven by gains of £319m from adjustments in actuarial assumptions in the year.

 

Pension risk(unaudited)

Pension risk is the risk to Santander UK caused by its contractual or other liabilities to, or with respect to, a pension scheme (whether established for its employees, those of a related company or otherwise). It is also the risk that a company will make payments or other contributions to, or with respect to, a pension scheme because of a moral obligation or because the company considers that it should do so for some other reason.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Pension risk is one of theour key financial risks thatand arises mainly because Santander UK faces. It arises principally from Santander UK’s role as aplc is the sponsor of the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme (the ‘Scheme’)Scheme), a defined benefit scheme. Pension scheme toliabilities mainly vary with changes in long-term interest rates and inflation, the extentlongevity of scheme members, and legislation. Pension scheme assets mainly vary with changes in interest rates, inflation expectations, credit spreads, exchange rates and equity and property prices.

Our risk is that the Scheme’s assets, do not fully match the timing and amount of the Scheme’s liabilities due to the uncertainty oftogether with future investment returns and any additional future contributions, might not be sufficient to meet liabilities as they fall due. In circumstances where the projected value of the Scheme’s liabilities. assets is lower than the Scheme’s liabilities, we could have to (or might choose to) make extra contributions to the Scheme. We might also need to hold more capital to mitigate this risk.

Our key pension risk factors are:

Investment risk
Interest rate risk
Longevity risk
Salary risk
Inflation risk.

For instance, deterioration inmore on these risks, see Note 34 to the funding valuation position canConsolidated Financial Statements.

Our defined contribution plans result in a requirementfar less market risk exposure for us as they place the responsibility for choosing investments directly with employees. However, we remain exposed to make material contributionsoperational and reputational risks. To manage these risks, we monitor the performance of defined contribution investment funds and we engage with our people to eliminate deficits, as mentioned above. Alternatively, changes inensure they are given enough information about the accounting position can impact on capital ratios.

Key risk factors that affect pension risk include interest rates, inflation, credit spreads, investment performance, longevity of Scheme members and other demographic risks as well as changes in the regulatory environment. Santander UK manages its risk as a sponsor of the Scheme using a framework covering risk appetite articulation, risk reporting, monitoring and stress testing within the agreed governance structure.options available to them.

 

 

  Approach  Our approach to pension risk

 

  — 

Risk framework– Our pension risk framework explains the way we manage risks in relation to our pension obligations.

  —

  —

Scheme assets– We hold the Scheme assets separately from our assets. The assetsTrustee of the Scheme are held separately from the assets of Santander UK. The trustees ofis responsible for investing the Scheme have the ultimate responsibility for the investment strategy of the Scheme’s assets andassets. They also maintain a Statement of Investment Principles that is agreed with Santander UK.

Responsibility forPrinciples.

The Trustee delegates investment and hedging decisions within the Scheme has been delegated to the Santander UK Common Investment Fund that is managed by the Santander (CF Trustee)Trustee Board (jointly referred(referred to as the ‘Common Fund’)Common Fund).

The Common Fund has two independent trustees, one member-nominated trustee and four directors selected by Santander UK. The Santander (CF Trustee)Trustee Board meets on a monthly basis andbasis. It is the primary forum for Santander UKboth the Trustee and the trusteesus to propose, discuss, analyse and agree investment and risk management strategies withinstrategies. As the Scheme. The Strategicsponsor of the Scheme, we discuss and form our views on these topics at the Pensions Committee helpand the CEO and CFO to discharge their primary executive responsibility and delegated responsibility, respectively, for pensions.Pensions Risk Forum before the Common Fund Trustee Meeting.

 

 

  —

Within theRisk Appetite– We set our pension risk appetite within our wider Risk Framework, Santander UK has articulated a Pension Risk Appetite. Pension risk is monitoredFramework. We monitor it on a monthly basis and reported on a regular basisreport it to the Risk Management Committee, Executive Risk Committee, Operational Pensions Committeerisk committees and the Strategic Pensions Committee. In the event of a Pension Risk Appetite trigger being exceeded, it is reported to the Executive Risk Committee, Board Risk Committee and to the Board. Senior management will then decide what, if any, remedial action should be recommended, which is necessary, which will then be discussed with the trustees.Trustee.

 

  — 

  —

AOur risk metrics– We monitor pension risk using a number of risk metrics. Our regular reporting metrics are used in the management of pension risk. Regular risk reporting includesmainly include VaR, measurement carried out at a 95% confidence level over a one-year time horizon using industry standard modelling techniques, attribution of VaR to market risk factors, forward-looking, historic and ad-hoc stress testing scenarios and risk factor sensitivities andsensitivities. We calculate risk appetite utilisation.

Risk measures are calculatedmetrics on both an accounting valuation basis and a technical provisions (funding) valuation basis. The funding valuation basis has been the primary focus inand an accounting basis (measured according to IAS 19 ‘Employee Benefits’). We manage and hedge pension risk management decision making, althoughon the funding basis. However, we also consider the impact on the accounting valuation basis is also considered.basis. Both the funding valuation basis and the accounting valuation basisbases are key inputs into our capital calculations.

Pension developments in 2014(unaudited)

During 2014, the risk profile of the Scheme remained stable with the focus on positive performance of the assets relative to liabilities, whilst managing volatility through hedging a proportion of the liabilities with bond assets and derivatives. Santander UK seeks the right balance of the reward for the risk undertaken and manage the impact of the pension risk arising from market movements via portfolio management and hedging. Consistent with previous years, the Scheme was managed within the risk triggers and limits.

During 2014, the accounting position of the Scheme improved by £670m to a surplus of £156m, attributable to positive asset returns as well as a net gain of £218m that arose from scheme changes that limit future defined benefit pension entitlements and provide for the longer term sustainability of our staff pension arrangements. In addition, the latest triennial Trustee funding valuation at 31 March 2013 was agreed. Following this, an updated schedule of deficit funding contributions was agreed with the Scheme Trustee. The new funding valuation and contribution schedule did not have a significant impact on VaR and stress loss metrics.

Further information on Santander UK’s pension obligations, including the current asset allocation and sensitivity to key risk factors can be found in ‘Critical Accounting Policies’ in Note 1 and in Note 36 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Annual Report 2014125


Risk review

Operational risk(unaudited)

Operational risk is the risk of direct, or indirect, loss to Santander UK resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems, or from external events. As operational risk is inherent in the processes Santander UK operates, in order to provide services to customers and generate profit for investors, an objective of operational risk management is not to eliminate operational risk altogether, but to manage the risk within an acceptable level, taking into account the cost/benefits of risk optimisation. When operational risks materialise, they can have not only immediate financial consequences for Santander UK, but also an effect on its business objectives, customer service and regulatory responsibilities. Examples of operational risks include fraud, process failures, system downtime or damage to assets due to fire or flood.

Operational Risk Framework

The Operational Risk Framework represents the operating model and explains how Santander UK controls and manages its operational risks within the appetite agreed by the Board and helps everyone understand their responsibilities. It is a core component of the overall Risk Framework and facilitates the ongoing identification, assessment, management and reporting of operational risk, to ensure that Santander UK manages its risks at all times in line with its business objectives and within its risk appetite. Santander UK’s priority is to identify and optimise the risk of loss wherever appropriate, irrespective of whether losses have materialised. Measurement of the risk contributes to the establishment of priorities in operational risk management.

Operational risk management and tools

The following table sets out the key operational risk management tools:

   Key tools

Description

 VaR: We model the assets and liabilities of the Scheme using a VaR framework to show the volatility of the pension positions on a total portfolio level. This ensures that we adequately capture the risks, diversification benefits and liability matching characteristics of the obligations and investments of the Scheme. We use a time period of 1 year and a 95% confidence interval in our VaR model.

Scenario analysis

Santander UK performs scenario analysis of the most significant operational risk exposures in the processes and activities within business areas. Each business area has a set of scenarios that is reviewed and refreshed on an annual basis, taking into account changes to the business’ risk profile, the operating environment of the business and potential breaches of the Risk Appetite. The analysis provides insight into low frequency, high impact events, and allows management to better understand the potential impacts and remediate issues by:

–  Identifying the events that would cause most damage from a financial, regulatory or reputational perspective;

–  Ensuring that remedial actions are taken where control and assurance around a scenario is not sufficient; and

–  Facilitating the assessment of capital adequacy.

 Stress testing: We also take account of the impact of pension risk as part of our stress testing process. The tests are designed to examine the behaviour of the assets and liabilities of the Scheme under a range of deterministic financial and demographic shocks. We incorporate the results of the stress tests and their impact on our balance sheet, income statement and capital position into our overall enterprise wide stress test results.

Operational risk assessments

Business units identify and assess their operational risks to ensure they are being effectively managed and controlled, and aligned to Santander UK’s risk appetite with any actions prioritised.

 We perform internal forward-looking stress testing on a monthly basis and historic stress testing on a quarterly basis. We also perform stress tests to satisfy the requests of regulators such as the PRA, including for ICAAPs and PRA stress tests.

Key risk indicators and key control indicators

Key indicator performance is monitored against tolerances and trigger points that prompt an early warning to potential exposures, whilst the creation of mitigation strategies help address potential concerns. Indicator metrics are used to provide insight into Santander UK’s changing risk profile and are also used to assess the performance of key controls.

 

Loss data collectionRisk factor sensitivities: We monitor and incident management

Loss data capturereport regularly how sensitive the Scheme’s assets and analysis processes existliabilities are to capture all operationalchanges in key pension risk loss events. The data is usedfactors. For details of the sensitivity of the Scheme’s assets and liabilities to identifychanges in interest rates and correct control weaknesses using root cause analysisinflation at the year-end, taking account of the current asset allocation and hedging arrangements, see Note 34 to identify emerging themes, prevent or reduce the impacts of recurrence, and inform risk and control assessments, scenario analysis and risk reporting. Escalation of single or aggregated events to senior management and appropriate committees is determined by threshold breaches.Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

Reporting

Reporting forms an integral part of operational risk management ensuring that issues are identified, escalated and managed on a timely basis. Exposures for each business area are reported through monthly risk and control reports which include details on risk exposures and mitigating plans. Events that have a material impact on Santander UK’s finances, reputation, or customers are prioritised and reported immediately to key executives.

Where appropriate, insurance products are utilised to complement existing risk mitigation measures.

 

 

126Santander UK plc

140  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

Risk mitigation

The Trustee has taken measures to mitigate inflation and interest rate risks. It has done this by investing in suitable fixed income and inflation linked assets and by entering into inflation and interest rate swaps. The assets of the Scheme are invested in a diversified portfolio of UK and overseas equities, corporate and government bonds, property, infrastructure and other assets.

We have also mitigated risk in other ways:

In 2002, the Scheme was closed to new employees
In 2008, the Santander UK Common Fund Trustee Board was created to make investment and other itemshedging decisions on behalf of the Trustee, improving the investment decision making process
In 2010, the cap applied to future pension increases for active members was lowered
In 2014, following a review of the Scheme, pension arrangements for colleagues in the Scheme were amended through a new cap on pensionable pay increases of 1% each year from 1 March 2015.

The next funding valuation of the Scheme will be undertaken in March 2016. There remains a risk that if long-term interest rates fall, the contribution schedule required might be higher than we previously anticipated.

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

In 2015, as in previous years, the Scheme was managed within the pension risk appetite triggers and limits. The risk profile of the Scheme also remained stable. For example, the Scheme continued to be 50% hedged to interest rate risk and 65% hedged to inflation risk.

We also continued to seek the right balance between risk and reward. In 2015, portfolio management yielded positive performance mainly from properties and index-link gilts. Our long-term objective is to reduce the risk of the Scheme and eliminate the deficit on a funding valuation basis within ten years.

In 2015, VaR (1 year, 95% confidence interval) decreased slightly to £1,260m (2014: £1,340m). This was mainly due to the slightly higher real interest rate reducing the size of the discounted liability.

During 2015, the accounting position of the Scheme and other funded arrangements improved, with sections in surplus (retirement benefit assets) of £556m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £315m) and sections in deficit (retirement benefit obligations) of £73m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £159m). The overall position was a £483m surplus at 31 December 2015 (2014: £156m surplus). In addition there were unfunded defined benefit scheme liabilities of £37m at 31 December 2015 (2014: £40m). The improvement in the position was mainly driven by gains of £319m from adjustments in actuarial assumptions in the year.

Further information

For more on our pension obligations, including the current asset allocation and sensitivity to key risk factors, see Note 34 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Pension investment strategy

 

LOGO

Since 2013, the Scheme (through the Common Fund Trustee) has started to make significant investments in UK property and infrastructure.

The aim has been to seek better risk-adjusted returns by choosing properties with strong underlying fundamentals, though often needing active management to achieve this.

Although the independent Board of the Common Fund Trustee makes the final decision on each investment, they consider the independent reviews carried out each time by our Real Estate Risk team – part of our independent Risk division.

The real estate asset portfolio began by acquiring a £430m property portfolio from the Government’s sale of former Royal Mail pension scheme assets. A further property portfolio with inflation-linked rent increases was acquired, allowing us to partly mitigate inflation risk.

Recognising the strength of the commercial property market, we have begun to sell real estate acquired in the last two years where the proceeds were ahead of business plan.

However, we also continued to increase our real estate exposure through the initial and add-on acquisitions of a number of different portfolios. These included retail/ leisure, office, residential and industrial real estate propositions.

Our longer time horizon for returns means we can take on more complex projects and find embedded value needing true active management. This does not mean just buying higher yielding and higher risk investments – each asset acquired has a clear and detailed business plan and exit strategy pre-purchase.

At its December meeting, Santander UK’s Board reviewed the property portfolio of the Scheme. In particular, our Board challenged whether the current buoyant property conditions meant that it was appropriate to consider further disposals of the portfolio. In response the likely pipeline of transactions in 2016 has been outlined, including the reasons behind them. Enhanced monitoring and managerial oversight that had been introduced for the remaining assets were also highlighted.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Operational risk(unaudited)

Operational risk is the risk of direct, or indirect, loss due to inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems, or external events.

In this section, we explain how we manage operational risk and the key tools we use to do this. This includes how our Operational Risk Transformation Programme progressed in the year.
We discuss our top operational risks in the year, and we give some insight into cyber security developments.
We also report our operational losses in the year under CRD IV. However, we manage some of these risks in our Risk Framework within other risk types. These include conduct, regulatory and financial crime risk.

Key metrics

Operational losses increased to £609m

Most of our operational risk losses related to charges for conduct remediation, mainly relating to historic sales of PPI. Our operational risk losses increased mainly due to an additional conduct remediation provision of £450m in the fourth quarter of 2015.

142  Santander UK plc


Key risks

Santander UK manages its key operational risks in the interests of all its stakeholders, responding to critical developments both within Santander UK and in the environment in which it operates. Risk events and any required changes to management controls are reported through the governance structure. These key risks are set out in the table below:

  Key risks

    Risk
  
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

DescriptionConduct risk

 

Other key risks

OPERATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT

Operational risk is inherent in our business. As a result, we aim to manage it down to as low a level as possible, rather than eliminate it entirely. Operational risk events can have a financial impact and can also affect our business objectives, customer service and regulatory obligations. Examples of operational risk events include:

Product mis-selling
Fraud
Process failures
System downtime
Damage to assets.

  Our approach to operational risk

  —  Our operational risk framework helps us to manage risk in line with our business objectives. It also:
  – Describes our operational risk model
– Sets out how we control and manage our operational risks within the Risk Appetite agreed by the Board
– Helps our people understand their responsibilities

– Supports the identification, assessment, management and reporting of operational risk.

  —

Our priority is to identify and reduce the risk of customer impact, financial loss or damage to reputation. We measure risk exposures and monitor risk events to help us set strategic and operational priorities.

  Cyber-attack  

We manage key risks in the interests of all our stakeholders. We respond to key developments in our business and in the environments in which we operate. We report risk events, and any required changes to controls, through our governance structure.

  —

Cyber-attacks referWe apply the standardised approach for Pillar 1 operational risk capital needs. We use an internal model aligned to the CRD IV advanced measurement approach to assess Pillar 2 capital needs. We also use it to model operational risk losses we might incur under stressed conditions.

The key tools we use to manage operational risk are:

  Key tools

Description

Operational risk and control assessments

Our business units identify and assess their operational risks involving electronic storage, communication networksto ensure that they are effectively managed and infrastructure,controlled within our Risk Appetite. They also ensure that we prioritise any actions needed.

New products and may fall undermajor change risk & control assessment

Every area identifies their risks and assesses their controls for adequacy, and formulates a plan to address any deficiencies noted.

Scenario analysis

We review the general categorieslargest operational risks across our business. Each business area has a set of cyber-crime, sabotage,scenarios that it reviews and refreshes each year. This reflects changes to its risk profile, its operating environment and assessment against our Risk Appetite. The analysis gives us insight into rare but high impact events. It also allows us to better understand the potential impacts and to remediate issues. It helps us:
– Identify the events that would cause us the most financial, regulatory or reputational damage
– Take corrective action where the controls and assurance around a scenario were insufficient

– Assess capital adequacy needs.

Key risk indicators and key control indicators

We monitor key performance indicators against limits and triggers. This gives us early warning of potential risk exposures. It also allows us to create mitigation strategies. We use risk indicators to give us insight into our changing risk profile and to assess the performance of our key controls.

Loss data leakagecollection and incident

management

We have processes to capture and analyse loss events. We use data from these processes to identify and correct control weaknesses. We also use root cause analysis to:

– Identify emerging themes

– Prevent or espionage. Cyber-attackreduce the impacts of recurrence

– Support risk and control assessments, scenario analysis and risk reporting.

We escalate events to senior management and committees based on the impact on our finances, reputation or customers.

Reporting

Reporting is an integral part of how we manage risk. It ensures we identify, escalate and manage issues on a timely basis. We report exposures for each business area through monthly risk and control reports. These include details on risk exposures and how we plan to mitigate them. We prioritise events that have a material impact on our finances, reputation, or customers by reporting them to key executives.

Where appropriate, we use insurance products along with existing risk mitigation measures.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

OPERATIONAL RISK REVIEW

Operational Risk Transformation Programme (ORTP)

Our Board approved a new Operational Risk Framework in 2014. We developed an ORTP to help us deliver it, which we are rolling out, including new technology, in phases to the end of 2016. This will enable us to achieve market best practice in our operational risk management. In 2015 we worked to:

Specify and support the needs for a new Group Operational Risk Management system
Manage our Operational Risk Self-Assessment programme. This included recording and reporting through the new system
Complete our Scenario Analysis programme
Complete and embed our Operational Risk Assurance plan
Update the operational risk appetite approach for Board review and approval
Enhance our policies. These included operational resiliency, change management, and cyber risk.

Top operational risks

Our top operational risks at 31 December 2015 were:

    Key risks

Description

Cyber risk

In recent years, we have seen an industry-wide increase in the risks from organised crime. Cyber fraud and deception scams are a major threat to us and our customers. The risk is high due to sustained threats and industry incidents, as well as rapid changes in the methods, targets and targets change rapidlysophistication used.

In common with other financial institutions with a large customer base, we manage and hold confidential personal customer data, as well as a large number of assets. We are increasingsubject to a range of cyber attacks, such as denial of service, malware and phishing. Cyber attacks could give rise to the loss of customer data, other sensitive data, and liquid assets (including cash). Cyber attacks could also disable the systems we use to service our customers.

We continually monitor our systems for attempted cyber attacks and undertake a comprehensive range of cyber security tests designed to replicate real attacks. This approach allows us to assess the effectiveness of our technical and non- technical controls in frequencypreventing, detecting, responding to and sophistication. Santander UK worksrecovering from a cyber attack.

We have established a response and recovery plan and we conduct exercises to ensure our employees are aware of how to respond before an attack occurs. Our incident escalation framework ensures timely reporting and escalation of incidents to senior leadership and the Board. We work closely with other financial organisations,institutions, government bodiesagencies and security specialistsexperts to constantly review and improve operationalour resilience, share intelligencedata and deploytake preventative measures in a timely manner,manner.

In 2015, we continued to improve our systems, processes, controls and continues to focus investment on technology and process control improvements and education programmesstaff training to reduce cyber risk and enhance our data security. For more on this, see ‘Cyber security’ on the next page.

 

 
Supplier management 
  Supplier risk

Supplier risk is the risk of reductions in earnings and/or value, through financial or reputational loss associated with the failure of a service or goods provision by a third party organisation. Santander UK has arrangements with Banco Santander group companies (including the provision of IT infrastructure, software development, and banking operations) and external outsourced service providers. A comprehensiveWe manage these supplier relationships to minimise the possibility of disruption to our business as a result of the failure of a supplier. The consequences to our business of such a failure may be operational disruption, unlawful conduct, negative customer impact, financial loss or reputational damage.

In order to manage this risk managementwe operate pre-contract selection to ensure that suppliers with whom we intend to conduct business meet our risk and control policy applies to the management of all suppliers contracted by Santander UK to provide services or goods. Santander UK uses written service level agreements with these entities that include key service performance metrics. Santander UK works closely with outsourced service providers via the application of appropriate processesstandard requirements. We also monitor and procedures designedmanage our ongoing supplier relationships to ensure the business resilience of critical services.our standards continue to be met.

 

 

Process change

management

 
  Fraud

A key part of our business strategy is to develop and deliver new banking channels and products. These include mobile banking and third party payment products. The scale and pace of our plans increases our operational risk.

In addition, we face a large number of regulatory and legal changes, impacting all areas of our business. There is more on this in the Regulatory risk

section. Our business units are reporting operational issues due to the volume and complexity of these changes.

Fraud

These changes could have financial, customer, reputational and regulatory impacts if we do not manage them properly.

To address this in 2015, we:

–    Appointed a Chief Transformation Officer to lead and coordinate our change programmes. Part of their role is to make sure that the risks are identified, assessed, managed and reported

–    Required all major change programmes to assess operational risk is the risk of reductions in earnings and/or value through activities such as theft, corruption, conspiracy, embezzlement, money laundering, bribery and extortion. Santander UK has continuedbefore approval to invest in staff education and improved external and internal fraud detection and prevention systems, in order to counter the increasing threat of financial crime. The introduction of sophisticated internet fraud prevention solutions and use of mandatory identification numbers for payments has reduced the risk of fraudulent account takeovers by organised criminals, enhancing our customer identification protocols in a customer-friendly manner. The fraud prevention functions continually monitor emerging fraud trends and losses on a case-by-case basis. Action plans are formulated and tracked to ensure root causes have been identified and effective remediation conducted.proceed.

 

Annual Report 2014127


Risk review

Operational risk(unaudited)

continued

 

 

Capital and modelling

144  Santander UK applies the standardised approach for Pillar 1 operational risk capital requirements. In addition, an internal model has been developed to assess the Pillar 2 capital requirements. In 2014, we further enhanced our approach to the statistical modelling of operational risk losses developing an improved engine which is now aligned with the CRD IV advanced measurement approach.

Operational loss profile

The following table sets out the major categories of Santander UK’s operational risk loss profile in 2014 and 2013. The operational loss categories in the chart reflect the CRD IV loss event type classification, although within the Santander UK Risk Framework the responsibility for management of some of these risks may fall within other risk types (for example, conduct, regulatory and legal risk). The figures and volumes quoted reflect the loss data collection and categorisation policies in place at 31 December 2014.

  2014   2013 
          £m         Volume           £m         Volume 

Internal Fraud

 1   788   3   1,318  

External Fraud

 20   121,976   24   163,272  

Employment Practices and Workplace Safety

 1   118   1   183  

Clients, Products, and Business Practices

 127   113,496   170   121,363  

Damage to Physical Assets

    8   1   66  

Business Disruption and Systems Failures

    155      1,892  

Execution, Delivery, and Process Management

 22   544,434   22   614,610  
                        
 171   780,975   221   902,704  
                        

Operational risk developments in 2014(unaudited)plc

During 2014, the majority of Santander UK’s £171m (2013: £221m) of operational risk losses arose within the clients, products and business practices category. These principally represented redress payouts (excluding related costs) on the sales of PPI products. Additional conduct provisions were made in 2014 as the number of PPI claims have not reduced in line with previous expectations. See Note 35 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for more information. As a consequence, the operational risk losses were greater than we had originally anticipated in setting our 2014 forecasts and associated risk limits.

A revised Operational Risk Framework was approved in January 2014. To support the delivery of this revised framework a phased Operational Risk Transformation Programme (‘ORTP’) running through to 2016 has been developed. Included within the ORTP are significant developments in the key components of Operational Risk Assessments, scenario analysis, key risk indicator monitoring, change assessments and loss/incident data collection, all of which build on the work undertaken during the Santander UK-wide cultural risk change initiative programmes to strengthen and further embed a risk management culture. The key operational risk indicators, defined as part of Operational Risk Appetite, are monitored on a monthly basis and escalated to the Board Risk Committee when they exceed certain pre-agreed thresholds.

128Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

Conduct

Operational losses

In the table below, we show our losses in 2015 and 2014 by major category. The categories reflect the CRD IV loss event types. However, we manage some of these risks in our Risk Framework within other risk types. These include conduct, regulatory and financial crime risk.

      2015        2014(1) 
      £m     Volume        £m     Volume 

Internal fraud

            134        1       788  

External fraud

     16       96,754        20       121,976  

Employment practices and workplace safety

     1       57        1       118  

Clients, products, and business practices

     514       4        154       8  

Damage to physical assets

            15               8  

Business disruption and systems failures

            19               155  

Execution, delivery, and process management

     78       421,122         26       544,435  
      609       518,105         202       667,488  

(1)We have changed the basis of the data in this table to reflect losses charged in the year. In the past, we showed amounts paid in the year, regardless of when they had been charged. The data for 2014 has been restated accordingly.

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

ConductIn 2015 and 2014, most of our operational risk islosses were in the risk that‘Clients, products and business practices’ category. These mainly represented conduct provision charges relating to past sales of PPI products. For more on PPI, see the Santander UK’s decisions‘Conduct risk’ section and behaviours leadNote 33 to a detriment or poor outcomes for our customersthe Consolidated Financial Statements.

Losses relating to ‘Execution, delivery, and that the Santander UK group failsprocess management’ increased due to hold tohistoric systems functionality and maintain high standards of market integrity. As part of this risk definition, the following sub-types have been identified:process issues.

 

Key risks

Description

Product risk

The risk that Santander UK puts on sale products and services that do not meet customer needs.

Sales risk

The risk that Santander UK sells unsuitable products and services to customers or provides insufficient information to allow customers to make an informed decision.

Post sales &The risk that Santander UK does not:
servicing risk

–  Have robust processes and systems, resulting in poor customer outcomes;

–  Communicate properly with its customers after-sale and creates unreasonable barriers for customers; or

–  Work appropriately with customers in financial difficulty resulting in poor and/or unsustainable outcomes.

Culture risk

The risk that Santander UK does not sustain a culture where success is achieved by being Simple, Personal, and Fair to its customers.

Santander UK also aligns these sub-types under the operational risk category ‘Clients, Product & Business Practices’.

Santander UK considers conduct risk to be a primary risk type and takes a forward-looking approach to managing the risk in alignment with the Conduct Risk Framework. This framework has been developed through Santander UK’s overall Risk Framework and Operational Risk Framework, which include the core principles of risk management and control activities.

The Conduct Risk Framework defines the overriding principles and responsibilities for the identification, assessment, management, and reporting of conduct risk. It is the operation of, and outputs from, these risk management activities that enable Santander UK to manage conduct risk exposures. Business units are required to manage their activities in accordance with the principles and guidelines set out in the Conduct Risk Framework, together with those detailed in the Santander UK Risk and Operational Risk Frameworks.

Key business decisions, including product approval, business strategy developments and conduct related remediation programmes are monitored and reported through formal governance committees.

Approach to conduct risk

Santander UK takes a robust and pro-active approach to managing conduct risk in accordance with the Conduct Risk Framework and has embedded the key principles necessary for managing conduct risk effectively in its strategy of being Simple, Personal and Fair to its customers. The approach is supported by ‘the Santander Way’, a cultural programme which defines the values that are expected throughout the organisation.

Cyber security

 

LOGO

Cyberspace and the internet have changed the way we live and work. They have allowed us to develop and improve the way we deal with our customers.

It is critically important that we give our customers a secure environment in which to deal with us. We also have obligations to our regulators to make sure our use of these technologies is safe. If we do not effectively manage and control our activities, it can give rise to significant risks. As part of this, it is critically important that we protect our data.

In 2015, we improved our cyber risk management capability through the implementation of controls to enhance our ability to detect, prevent, respond to and recover from cyber attacks. And we continually review the effectiveness of our controls against globally recognised security standards and both internal and external threat analysis.

Cyber resilience

We took part in the Bank of England sponsored CBEST cyber resilience exercise, designed to test our effectiveness in response to a real-life cyber attack. The results of the exercise were shared with us and we included the lessons learnt in our ongoing activities.

In line with other banks, Santander UK has undertakenCyber safe awareness

Our Cyber Security team also created a series of activitiesworkshops to enhance the management of its conduct risks, which culminated in the Conduct Risk Programme. This has focused on the development of four key elements: Risk Frameworkhelp our staff understand more about cyber threats and Policy, Products, Governancewhat they can do to help protect our customers’ data and Reporting, and Culture. Changes have been made to specific business processes, as well as to the way the business considers, manages and reports conduct risks. In particular, enhancements continue to be made to the product governance and underlying sales processes to ensure that new products are appropriately designed and sold, with risks of customer detriment having been considered and mitigated prior to launch.

The Santander UK conduct risk appetite defines the type and level of:

–  Inherent conduct risk (Low – Medium) that Santander UK is willing and able to accept in the pursuit of its strategic objectives, as expressed in business plans;

–  Residual conduct risk (Minimal) that Santander UK is willing to tolerate in the pursuit of its strategic objectives; and

our business. These interactive workshops discussed:

–    The principleshistory of computer hacking and how this crime has evolved into a professional business that Santander UK will adopt

–    Types of cyber crimes in orderuse against banks and customers

–    How phishing emails work, incidents against us and how we are dealing with them

–    How we can protect the data we process

–    Steps each of our staff can take to manage its businessensure we classify and protect our data

–    Types of mobile attacks made by criminals and how to a minimal tolerance for the residual risk.avoid mobile fraud.

 

The Conduct Risk Appetite is accompanied by an inherent conduct risk matrix, which articulates the business model features associatedOur awareness activities also include:

–    Mandatory cyber security training and assessment in addition to different level of inherent conduct risk.existing data protection and data security modules

–    Bespoke cyber security briefings for senior staff, including Executive Committee members and Non-Executive Directors

–    Simulated phishing exercises to improve staff awareness and response capability.

 

 

Annual Report 2014129


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

 

 

    

Conduct risk developments in 2014(unaudited)

During 2014, the Conduct Risk Strategy programme strengthened the Conduct Risk Management Framework through enhanced reporting and monitoring, and clearer consideration of conduct risk in material business decisions. Work continues to embed this fully within Retail Banking, as well as to adapt and fully align the framework to the market integrity objective and to apply it within Commercial Banking, and Corporate & Institutional Banking businesses.

With respect to the provisions for conduct remediation, the remaining provision for PPI redress and related costs amounted to £129m at 31 December 2014, which included £95m of additional provisions made in 2014. The additional provisions were taken following a recent review of claims activity, which indicated that claims are expected to continue for longer than originally anticipated. Monthly redress costs, including pro-active customer contact, decreased to an average of £11m per month, compared to a monthly average of £18m in 2013. Excluding pro-active customer contact, the average redress costs in the fourth quarter of 2014 were £7m per month. The high proportion of invalid complaints also continued.

Non-PPI related conduct provisions amounted to £162m at 31 December 2014, which included a net £45m of additional provisions taken in 2014, relating to existing remediation activities and an additional provision taken principally for wealth and investment products. The Card Protection Plan (‘CPP’) conduct issue (relating to the industry remediation exercise for the identity and card protection products sold by Card Protection Plan Ltd, of which Santander was one of a number of partners) has been closed, with only exceptional claims remaining. The interest hedging products conduct issue (relating to the sale of interest hedging products primarily to SME customers) continues to be managed down and a modest provision has been released in the period.

Details of Santander UK’s provision for conduct remediation, including sensitivities, are set out in Note 35 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Further information on conduct remediation provision sensitivities is set out in ‘Critical accounting policies and Areas of Significant Management Judgement’ in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

130Santander UK plc

Conduct risk(unaudited)

Conduct risk is the risk that our decisions and behaviours lead to a detriment or poor outcomes for our customers and that we fail to maintain high standards of market integrity.

In this section, we explain how we manage conduct risk, including details of the improvements we made in 2015 as part of our Conduct Risk Strategy Programme.
We also describe our main conduct remediation provisions, with a focus on PPI, and give some insight into how we support vulnerable customers.

Key metrics

PPI provision increased to £465m

In November 2015, the FCA published a consultation paper relating to the introduction of a deadline for customer PPI complaints. It also proposed rules and guidance on the application of the Plevin case.
Following our review of the consultation paper and its potential impact, we made a conduct remediation charge of £450m for the fourth quarter of 2015. This charge represents our best estimate of redress and costs, notwithstanding the ongoing nature of the consultation.

The total provision for PPI redress and related costs amounted to £465m. We will continue to review our provision levels in respect of recent claims experiences and the observed impact of the proposal to introduce a two year deadline for claims.

Other conduct provisions increased to £172m

Other conduct provisions amounted to £172m, which included £43m of additional provisions taken in the third quarter of 2015 relating to wealth and investment products.

146  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

Regulatory risk(unaudited)

Regulatory

CONDUCT RISK MANAGEMENT

Conduct risk is the risk of reductions in earnings and/or value, through financial or reputational loss, from failing to comply with applicable codes and regulatory rules. Santander UK seeks to ensure it fully meets all its regulatory obligations.

Regulatory risk arises principally from the potential non-adherence to specific regulations and the requirements of the following regulators and their rules and guidance:can be viewed as four key underlying risks:

 

FCA, including Anti-Money Laundering

  Key risks

Description

  Product risk

We offer products and Anti-Bribery Regulations;services that do not give our customers the right outcomes.

PRA;
  Sales riskInformation Commission Officer;

We sell unsuitable products and services to customers, give them the wrong advice or do not give them enough information to make an informed decision.

Lending Standards Board;
  After-sale and
  servicing risk
Financial Ombudsman Service (‘FOS’);

Failures of our controls and operations result in risk to customers:

– We do not provide appropriate after-sale communications to customers, making it difficult for them to contact us

– We fail to treat customers in financial difficulties fairly.

Advertising Standards Authority;

  Culture risk

Competition and Markets Authority (‘CMA’);
Finance and Leasing Association; and
Payment Systems Regulator.

We do not maintain a culture where the customer is at the centre of what we do.

 

 

Approach  Our approach to regulatoryconduct risk

 

  —We consider conduct risk as part of the governance around our key business decisions. To support this, our conduct risk framework sets out how we manage the risk. It includes:

Santander UK takes compliance with regulatory requirements seriously and manages its arrangements in accordance with the Regulatory Risk Framework. This framework has been developed through Santander UK’s overall Risk Framework and Operational Risk Framework, which include the core principles of risk management and control activities.

 Key roles and responsibilities

The Regulatory Risk Framework defines the overriding principles and responsibilities for the identification, assessment, management, and reporting of regulatory risk. It is the operation of, and outputs from, these risk management activities that enables Santander UK to manage regulatory risk exposures.

 Our approach to risk culture and remuneration

All Business Units are expected to manage their team activities and processes in accordance with the principles and guidelines in the Regulatory Risk Framework, the Santander UK Risk Framework and the Operational Risk Framework.

 Formal governance, escalation lines and committee structures

Key regulatory developments are monitoredOur core control systems and reported through formal governance committees. Reporting captures all material regulatory reviews and investigations and upstream regulatory developments, as well as tracking the status of, and trends in key regulatory relationships.processes.

 

  —

We have embedded the key principles for managing conduct risk within The Santander Way in our strategy of being Simple, Personal and Fair to our customers.

Regulatory risk developments in 2014(unaudited)

There are a number of legislative and regulatory developments both in the UK and abroad going through consultation and implementation processes, which may impact Santander UK’s approach to regulatory risk. Key developments at varying stages of the UK regulatory consultation process which are expected to have a significant impact include the implementation of ring-fencing and new accountability regimes (senior managers and certification regimes) following the passing of the Banking Reform Act in 2013.

In addition, there were a number of UK regulatory developments in 2014. The most significant were the implementation of the Mortgage Market Review and the transfer of consumer credit regulation from the OFT to the FCA, both of which became effective in April 2014. Santander UK managed these changes and has in a place a robust approach to identifying, assessing, managing and reporting any additional risks emerging from the new requirements. As reported at the half year, Santander UK was fined £12m by the FCA in March 2014 in relation to historic investment advice failings. The fine was covered by an existing provision. Whilst no material levels of mis-selling were identified, Santander UK agreed to undertake a customer contact and redress exercise to relevant customers.

Further information on regulatory developments is set out in ‘Risk Factors’ section.

  —

All colleagues are made aware of their responsibilities for conduct risk. They are made accountable through objective setting, performance management and remuneration.

 

  —

We aim to secure the best outcome for our customers. This means we have minimal tolerance for residual conduct risk. This allows us to pursue our business strategy without leading to poor customer outcomes.

  —We ensure ongoing assessment and management of conduct risks through our governance model:
Annual Report 2014Product approval and ongoing oversight is a crucial control in the first line of defence
131
Residual risks are managed through the conduct lifecycle and monitored by the second line

Risk Appetite and policies are cascaded through the business after approval.

  —We have continued to enhance conduct risk identification, assessment, management and reporting across:
Strategy: we use risk assessments in business planning to proactively identify conduct risks in our strategy
Risk framework and policy: we have improved our documentation to give clearer guidance to the business
Management information: we use this to help proactively identify and manage conduct risks
Products: we have implemented a new product initiation process that gives early sight and acceptance, where appropriate, of conduct risks. We have also enhanced our ongoing monitoring through post-implementation and long-term reviews

Culture: we have carried out training and communications in line with The Santander Way and I AM Risk programmes to support cultural change and conduct risk awareness.


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

 

 

    

 

Legal riskCONDUCT RISK REVIEW

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

LegalOur Conduct Risk Strategy Programme has delivered substantial improvements since it was set up in 2013. In 2015, we continued to enhance the way we report and monitor conduct risk. We also improved how we assess conduct risk isin our business decisions. The Programme worked closely with, and input into, our wider cultural change initiatives. These included Simple, Personal and Fair, I AM Risk and the riskSantander behaviours, a new set of an impact arising from legal deficiencies inorganisational behaviours that help us live The Santander UK’s contracts, its failureWay.

We also carried out related initiatives to take appropriate measurescontinue to protect its assets, its failure to manage legal disputes appropriately or its failure to assess or implementimprove the requirements of a change in law.

Legal risk arises from the following main sources:

outcomes for our customers. We:

Documentation usedImplemented a framework and guidance for our customer business: inadequate, incomplete or inaccurate documentation may not protect the interests of either Santander UK or our customers;how we treat and help vulnerable customers. There is more on this below
FailureSimplified our retail product range. This made it easier for customers to ensure that Santander UK’s security interests are registered:a failure to properly register a legal charge, such as a mortgage, or other security interest, will leave Santander UK exposed;understand and use them. It also simplified our sales and servicing processes
The paceImproved our branch and distribution incentive schemes to focus away from volume and product-based incentives. It has also made delivering good outcomes for customers critical to successfully achieving the incentives.

Our key areas of focus for 2016 are:

Continuing to embed the conduct risk framework into our Commercial Banking and Global Corporate Banking businesses
Continuing to roll out our cultural change programme. This will also support embedding the framework across the business
Monitoring areas of regulatory change:which mayhigher risk arising from our business model and strategy. These include the risk of unintended detriment to some customers, and the increased risk of cyber attack and IT infrastructure resilience, as a result in failure to be compliant with new laws in their entirety on the date they come into force.of our network transformation and digitalisation strategy.

PPI provisions

When assessing the adequacy of our provision, we have applied the November 2015 FCA consultation paper, including the Plevin case, to our current assumptions. This application has resulted in an additional £450m provision charge for the fourth quarter of 2015, which represents our best estimate of the remaining redress and costs. The additional provision is predicated on the probable two-year deadline by which customers would need to make their PPI complaints and the anticipated increase in claim volumes as a result of the finite claim period.

The total provision for PPI redress and related costs amounted to £465m at 31 December 2015, which included £450m of additional provisions made for the fourth quarter of 2015. While we saw a reduction in PPI redress costs in the first half of the year, we have seen an increase in the third quarter in line with industry trends, with the fourth quarter remaining flat. Although we are comfortable with our current position, we will continue to review our provision levels in respect of recent claims experiences and the observed impact of the two-year deadline.

Other conduct provisions

Other conduct provisions amounted to £172m, which included £43m of additional provisions taken in the third quarter of 2015 relating to wealth and investment products. The additional provisions were taken following the agreement of the revised approach to redressing portfolio and structured investment customers with the FCA. Outstanding non-PPI provisions relate predominantly to wealth and investment products.

For more on our provision for conduct remediation, including sensitivities, see Note 33 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. We explain more about these sensitivities in ‘Critical accounting policies and areas of significant management judgement’ in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

 

Approach to legal riskHelping vulnerable customers

 

Santander UK takesWe are committed to sharing our experience, insight and best practice across our business and the industry. In this way, banking can become part of a robustsolution rather than a problem for people facing vulnerable circumstances.

Vulnerable customers may be impacted both financially or personally as a result of their circumstances. They may be vulnerable due to a physical or mental condition or become vulnerable due to their surroundings – for example if their town is flooded. This broad range of issues is likely to impact financial behaviour or decisions, and may require us to take a tailored and flexible approach to managing legal risk in accordance with the Legal Risk Framework. This framework has been developed through Santander UK’s overall Risk Framework, which includes the core principles of risk management and control activities.support their financial needs.

 

Supporting/understanding vulnerability
By helping customers to make the best decision for their situation, we will improve both the customer journey and our reputation for putting customers at the heart of all we do.

We have already set up a number of guidelines to help us develop our approach:

  

The Legal Risk Framework defines–    Introduced the overriding principlesconsideration of vulnerability to the product approval process

–    Launched mandatory training for all our people

–    Became an official ‘Dementia Friend’

–    Further refined our fraud and responsibilities forscams policy and support structure to customers

–    Piloted a scheme to centralise our probate and bereavement process and improve the identification, assessment, management,overall customer and reporting of legal risk. It is the operation of, and outputs from, these risk management activities that enables Santander UK to manage legal risk exposures within the tolerances outlined in the Santander UK Risk Appetite statement.representative experience.

 

We are working with key charities and specialist third parties to develop our understanding of vulnerability.

Leveraging expertise

We estimate that almost 35,000 of our customers are British Sign Language users. To help broaden the channels of communication available to them, we are an early adopter of new technology that allows them to contact us direct using secure video links with fully qualified interpreters.

  

All Business Units are expectedThis video relay service has given these
customers a quick and simple method to
interact with us. This is a benefit to manage their team activitiesmany
customers and processesis a step forward in accordance with the principles and guidelines in the Legal Risk Framework, the Santander UK Risk Framework and the Operational Risk Framework.

creating
barrier-free banking.

 

LOGO  

Santander UK continues to monitor, assess and respond to developments concerning legal requirements intended to prevent future financial crises or otherwise assure the stability of financial institutions.

Legal risk developments in 2014(unaudited)

Effective management of legal risk continued and was expanded throughout 2014 as it remained a key area of focus. The scale and pace of regulatory change continued to be a challenge together with other related changes in the law. As noted under regulatory risk, key regulatory developments were regularly identified, assessed, managed and reported in line with Santander UK’s Risk Framework. The key risk indicator of ‘aggregated value at risk of all managed legal claims’ remained stable during the year, at a level well below the threshold triggers and represented a significant reduction on the average 2013 levels.

 

 

132Santander UK plc

148  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

 

  

Other key risks

    

Strategic risk(unaudited)

Strategic risk is the risk of not achieving the strategic business plan due to strategic decisions taken or the inability to respond to changes in the business environment.

Strategic risk can conceptually arise from the following main sources:

 

An incomplete evidence base on which to base our decisions regarding the current and future operating conditions including the macroeconomic and regulatory environment, changing customer expectations, actions by competitors, and rapid technological change.
A partial view of our own capabilities, positioning in the market place, and / or of our ability to implement our chosen strategy.

Effective management of strategic risk is central to Santander UK maintaining its market share, revenues and returns to our shareholders.

 

Approach to strategic risk

Other key risks and areas of focus
Other key risks

Key risks are discussed and managed on a regular basis through Santander UK’s governance structure including the Executive Committee and Board, the Board Risk Committee and the Executive Risk Committee. As part of this, management assesses relevant information across the whole business which may highlight either risks to the implementation of Santander UK’s strategy.

 

There is a detailed planning cycle centred on three year financial plans, performed once a year. It sets out Santander UK’s objectives in detailed plans which also take account of the likely business and regulatory environment, and are subject to business plan testing to ensure that Santander UK stays within our Risk Appetite. As part ofIn this process,section, we also conduct deep dives into specific business areas where appropriate to articulate and define our strategy in this particular area and determine how it relates to Santander UK’s wider strategy.

We strive to reduce risks by having a clear strategic framework in place (for more detail please refer to the Strategic Report). This framework maps our principal stakeholders (Employees, Customers, Shareholders and Communities) and measures our progress towards the goal of becoming the best bank for our stakeholders. We aim to achieve this through the ‘Santander Way’, which centres on building a bank that is simple, personal and fair in how it treats its people, cares for its customers, serves its shareholders and supports its communities.

We have developed specific targets and key performance indicators (‘KPIs’) that underpin this framework and help measure our progress against our strategic priorities. Management reviews the KPIs and tracks their performance against clear targets, and routinely reports ondescribe how we perform against them. Deviations from expected values or targets are analysed to ascertain the underlying causesmanage our other key risks and explore potential mitigants. We also monitor a wide range of external economic and market metrics and reporting, and internal financial, regulatory and business measures to track changesdiscuss developments in the operating environment and our business performance.

year. Our other key risks are:
Financial crime risk: the risk that we are used to legitimise the proceeds from criminal activity which conceal their true origins. This includes money laundering, financing terrorism, sanctions, and bribery and corruption
Strategic risk: the risk of significant loss or damage arising from strategic decisions that impact the long-term interests of our key stakeholders, or from an inability to adapt to external developments
Reputational risk: the risk of damage to the way our reputation and brand are perceived by the public, clients, government, colleagues, investors, or any other interested party
Regulatory risk: the risk of loss, through financial or reputational loss, from failing to comply with applicable codes and regulations
Model risk: the risk of loss arising from decisions mainly based on results of models, due to errors in their design, application or use.
Areas of focus
In this section, we provide more information on:

Country risk exposures: we analyse our on and off-balance sheet exposures, with a focus on the eurozone. We show our exposures to the wider Banco Santander group separately

Strategic risk developments in 2014(unaudited)

Risks to banks’ strategies continued in 2014, as factors such as regulatory, economic and to some degree political uncertainty, technological change and the emergence of new bank business models challenged the industry. Regulatory initiatives including the implementation of UK bank ‘ring-fencing’ legislation, the recently announced market investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, and other macro-prudential, micro-prudential and conduct-related announcements continued to affect banks’ operating environment.

During 2014, we made continued progress towards achieving our strategic objectives (see the Strategy

Annual Report 2014). Our strategic model, with its customer focus and low risk approach, helps us respond to the above challenges and meet our strategic goals.2015

Risk review

 

FINANCIAL CRIME RISK(unaudited)

Financial crime risk can arise in four key areas:

 

Annual Report 2014133


Risk review

Reputational risk(unaudited)

Reputational risk is the risk of brand damage and potential financial loss if Santander UK fails to meet stakeholders’ expectations of its conduct and performance. Stakeholders include colleagues, customers, clients, shareholders, investors, rating agencies, regulators, media, special interest and consumer groups, and the general public. Reputational risk encompasses negative reaction not only to activities which may be illegal or against regulations, but also to activities that may not be fully aligned to society’s standards, values and expectations.

Reputational risk arises from a wide variety of causes, including:

How we conduct our customer business:and the way in which clients to whom we provide financial services, and bodies who represent Santander UK, conduct themselves.
Failures in corporate governance or management:past, present or potential non-performance or non-compliance.
How we conduct our business or how business activities are conducted in the banking and financial industry: the actual or perceived manner in which Santander UK or other participants in the financial services industry conduct themselves.

Approach to reputational risk  Key risks

 

Santander UK rigorously manages risks that may affect its reputation and which may in turn detract from its ability to achieve its strategic objectives. Reputational considerations are built into all the key risk and issue assessment tools, and the governance structure provides the vehicle through which these considerations are addressed.Description

 

 

Policies to guide subsidiary companies and management at all levels in the conduct of business to safeguard Santander UK’s reputation are established by the Board and its committees.  Money laundering

 

We are used by criminals to transform the proceeds of crime into seemingly legitimate money or other assets.

 

Reputational risk is managed by every member of staff and is covered by policies and guidelines. There is a clear structure of committees and individuals charged with mitigating reputational risk, with the objective of ensuring that all decision-making includes an evaluation of the reputational risk and that, where material risk is identified, it is managed at the appropriate level of seniority and in a timely way.  Terrorist financing

 

We are used by terrorists to deposit, distribute or collect funds that are used to fund their activity.

 

Every member of staff is responsible for managing the reputational risk associated with their decisions and actions. The implementation of Simple, Personal, Fair: The Santander Way, which is Santander UK’s framework for how we do business, encourages colleagues to speak up if they encounter decisions or behaviours which are not in keeping with Santander UK’s purpose and values, and promotes a more open culture conducive to the identification, assessment, management and reporting of risks.  Sanctions

 

We do not identify payments, customers or entities that are subject to economic or international sanctions.

 

Reputational risks can also arise from environmental, social  Bribery and governance issues, as a consequence of operational risk events and as a result of employees acting in a manner inconsistent with Santander UK’s values. Reputational risk may also cause damage to Santander UK’s image, through association with clients, their transactions or projects if these are perceived by external stakeholders to be socially, ethically or environmentally damaging. As part of the Banco Santander group, we comply with the Equator Principles (see www.equator-principles.com), factoring social, ethical and environmental impacts into our risk analysis and financial decision-making process.
  corruption

 

We fail to put in place effective controls to prevent or detect bribery and corruption.

Santander UK regularly reviews its policies and procedures for safeguarding against reputational risk.In 2015, financial crime was added as a key risk in our Risk Framework. This is an evolutionary process which takes account of industry guidance, best practice and society’s expectations.

Reputational risk developments in 2014(unaudited)

During 2014, Santander UK undertook a range of initiatives to strengthen governance and drive positive cultural change throughdemonstrates the organisation. Governance around the management of reputational risk was enhanced to promote such a consistent approach and a risk-aware culture across Santander UK, including a substantial increase in resources and investment allocated to the Compliance Division, as well as an increase in dedicated resources in the Risk Division. This was supported more widely across Santander UK by the continued roll-out of Simple, Personal, Fair – The Santander Way.

importance we place on it.

 

134

  Our approach to financial crime risk

Santander UK plc  —

We recognise the critical importance of ensuring we are not used for the purposes of financial crime. We manage our financial crime risks in line with the financial crime risk framework and the financial crime risk appetite statement.

  —

Our financial crime function strives to be world-class in predicting, detecting, preventing and, where possible, disrupting financial crime. We manage the risk through internal controls, policies, standards and procedures. We also monitor key risk indicators and management information. These are designed to ensure we comply with anti-money laundering (AML), counter terrorist financing, sanctions, and anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) laws, regulations and industry guidance.

  —

We expect all our business units to manage their activities in line with the principles and guidance in our financial crime risk framework and to comply with our AML, sanctions and ABC policies and standards.

  —

We monitor key regulatory developments and enhance our controls to comply with new or amended laws, regulations or industry guidance.

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

In 2015, we continued to improve our financial crime controls, culture and awareness. As part of our Financial Crime Transformation Programme, we:

Enhanced our financial crime governance, oversight, training and awareness strategy
Upgraded our financial crime policies and standards
Established a revised governance structure which holds senior management to account
Strengthened our financial crime leadership team and staff
Introduced accountability statements for senior management
Improved our management data
Rolled out mandatory training to all staff, and introduced financial crime training tailored by role
Undertook financial crime business unit risk assessments to identify and prioritise risks
Enhanced our systems, controls and processes, including our automated controls.

150  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

  

Other key risks

    

Model riskSTRATEGIC RISK(unaudited)

ModelSimilar to other risks, strategic risk iscan affect the risklong-term success and value of loss arising from decisions mainly based on results of models, due to errors in the design, application or usage of such models. Model risk arises from the following main sources:

our business. It can arise from:

Modelling limitations:Limitations or approximationsHaving a partial picture of our environment. This can include the economy, new rules and regulations, customer demands, competitor activity, and changes in the modelling techniques that have been employed. This risk is mitigated by the appropriate control environment and model governance.technology
Potential inappropriate useOur business model becoming out of a model: This is considered as an operational risk scenario.date due to material changes in our operating environment
Misunderstanding our own capabilities, position in the market, or ability to implement our strategy
Pursuing initiatives like acquisitions that might not fit with our business model, or ignoring opportunities that could boost it.

 

 

Approach  Our approach to modelstrategic risk

 

  —

Good governance– strategic risks are determined by Board and management decisions about our objectives and direction. We make sure our Board and management decision-making processes are very thorough. As such, our Board and senior management regularly review key issues we face and potential risks.

Clear strategy– we try to reduce risk by having a clear and consistent strategy. Our strategy takes account of our main stakeholders, sets out our vision and priorities, and how we achieve progress towards our goal of becoming the best bank. Importantly, our strategy is supported by strong values – what we call ‘The Santander UK mitigates model risk through a control environmentWay’. It is based on our aim to be Simple, Personal and governance protocol that manages models throughout their lifecycle. The key elements of this control environment are includedFair in management policiesall we do. In other words, how we treat our people, care for our customers, serve our shareholders and procedures,support our communities. It is also reflected in our products and include:services.

 

–  The collation and maintenance of a central model inventory;

–  The assignment of a materiality for each model in the model inventory – an assessment of the relative criticality of the model to the organisation;

–  The identification of key model stakeholders (owners, developers and independent reviewers) and assignment of their associated responsibilities;

–  The establishment of a robust governance protocol to manage model risk and to act as the single approval body for model developments and enhancements as well as the tracking of model performance, model-related actions and issues, and agreement and prioritisation of development plans;

–  The inclusion of model risk updates at the appropriate fora and committee levels including risk metrics in the Risk Appetite statement; and

–  The inclusion of a model performance escalation process via which senior management and/or committees can be informed of any significant deterioration in a given model’s performance.

  —

Sound planning– we like to be prepared, so we try to plan well. We have simple and effective planning processes and regularly review our performance, products/services and strategy. Our planning helps us identify key risks and opportunities. It also helps us use our resources efficiently and find the best way to serve our customers. We closely track our business environment – such as changes in the economy, customer expectations, technology, regulatory and government policies. We also look at long-term trends and how they might affect us. Finally, our planning processes involve stakeholders both inside our business and outside Santander UK (customers, shareholders, communities) to make sure we capture a wide range of views.

A specialised independent model validation unit reviews modelsBeing customer-centric– we cannot say it often enough. Customers are at the heart of what we do. So we are constantly thinking about our customers, what they want from a bank, and helps ensure that appropriate rigourthe best way we can meet their ever-changing needs. We think this is deployed in the independent review process, to help further mitigate model risk. Typical validations incorporate not only the core model methodology but a wider range of investigations, including checks on data (quality, reliability, and coverage), useone of the model, control environment, technology deployed, surrounding documentation, sensitivities, assumptionsbest ways to be a successful bank and boundaries. The output from validations is regularly presented to the appropriate committees.manage strategic risks.

 

  —

Robust risk management– we have a strong risk management framework. We also have a prudent risk appetite, which limits the risks we take and the services we are willing to provide. This is aligned with our balanced and customer-centric business model. So we provide straight-forward banking services aimed at helping our customers.

Model risk developments in2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

During 2014, Santander UK reviewedOur business environment is always changing, and strengthened its approach and governance of model risk management acrossthis affects the way we do business. In 2015, the key changes were:

The post-financial crisis regulatory agenda has led to significant change and with it high costs of regulatory compliance. One notable change involves Banking Reform, with major UK banks separating their wholesale and retail operations. Here, we have analysed the required changes and begun the work to structure ourselves to comply
The Competition and Markets Authority launched a market investigation into current accounts and lending to SMEs to decide if barriers to competition exist and, if so, how to address them. As a full-service scale challenger with a strong customer focus, we welcome steps to combat inertia in personal and SME banking and promote competition
Competitive pressures have increased both from established players and new entrants. Our business model and strategy are customer-focused, adaptable and innovative, so we believe we can thrive in this environment. Indeed, we are embracing these opportunities as shown by our partnerships with Funding Circle and our FinTech fund
We are seeing rapid changes in customer expectations – adopting new technology and moving to digital channels. We are embracing these changes that offer benefits to our customers. For example, we were in the first wave of UK banks to introduce Apple Pay. We also introduced mobile tools like the highly-rated customer apps Spendlytics, KiTTi and SmartBank
Overall, we embrace change and continue to make strong progress towards our strategic priorities. For more on this, see the ‘Strategic report’ section.

Annual Report 2015

Risk division. This is planned to be extended into other divisions during 2015.review

 

REPUTATIONAL RISK(unaudited)

Reputational risk is inherent in our business. It can arise from decisions and behaviour which may be against laws or regulations, or out of line with society’s standards, values and expectations. Examples of the sources of this risk are:

Failures in corporate governance or management
The actual or perceived way we do business
How our clients and those who represent us conduct themselves
How business is conducted in our industry.

Sustained damage to our reputation could have a material impact on our ability to operate fully. In turn, this could affect our financial performance and prospects.

Reputational risk is not static; today’s decisions may be judged by different standards tomorrow. We build this into our risk culture, evaluation and sanction procedures.

 

Annual Report 2014

  Our approach to reputational risk

135  —

We set out the principles and responsibilities for identifying, assessing, managing and reporting this risk in our reputational risk framework.

  —

We expect all our business units to manage their operations in line with this framework. We also expect our people to manage this risk in their own work by complying with our policies and guidelines.

  —

We regularly review our policies and procedures to protect our reputation. We focus on developments across our industry, guidance from our regulators, best practice and the expectations of society.

  —

We measure this risk through regular surveys of how we are perceived by our stakeholders. These include the media, government, regulators, customers and staff.

  —Formal committees oversee and direct our assessment:

–    Board Risk Committee and Executive Risk Committee oversee reputation issues as part of our overall Risk Appetite

–    Our Corporate Affairs and Marketing team, reporting to the CEO, are challenged with monitoring, building and protecting our reputation and brand

–    Corporate Affairs and Marketing report regularly to our Executive Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Public Affairs policies. They do this from an environment, community and sector point of view.


Risk review2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

Areas of focusIn 2015, we further strengthened governance and other itemsculture across the business. We have:

continued

Built on the substantial increase in resources and investment in the Compliance and Risk divisions in 2014
Continued to simplify our business to make it easier to manage. This included reducing the number of products and services we offered, identifying improved ways of working, simplifying complex processes as well as developing technology to improve our customers’ experience
Introduced The Santander Way Committee to further embed Simple, Personal and Fair
Developed a set of behaviours we expect all colleagues to embrace.

 

 

Areas of focus and other items

1. COUNTRY RISK EXPOSURE152  

Santander UK manages its country risk exposure under its global limits framework. Within this framework, Santander UK sets its individual risk appetite for each country, taking into account any factors that may influence the risk profile of each country, including political events, the macro-economic situation and the nature of the risk incurred. Exposures are actively managed if it is considered appropriate. Accordingly, and over recent years, Santander UK has intensified its monitoring of exposures to sovereigns and counterparties in eurozone countries, and has proceeded to selectively divest assets directly or indirectly affected by events in those countries.Banco Santander group-related risk is considered separately.plc

The country risk tables below show Santander UK’s exposures to central and local governments, government guaranteed counterparties, banks, other financial institutions, retail customers and corporate customers at 31 December 2014 and 2013. Total exposures consist of the total of balance sheet values and off-balance sheet values. Balance sheet values are calculated in accordance with IFRS (i.e. after the effect of netting agreements recognised in accordance with the requirements of IFRS) except for credit provisions which have been added back. Off balance sheet values consist of undrawn facilities and letters of credit.

The country of exposure has been assigned based on the counterparty’s country of incorporation except where Santander UK is aware that a guarantee is in place, in which case the country of incorporation of the guarantor has been used. The exposures are presented by type of counterparty other than where the specific exposures have been guaranteed by a sovereign counterparty in which case they are presented within the ‘Government guaranteed’ category.

Given the ongoing interest in eurozone economies, disclosures relating to those economies are presented first and highlighted separately.

The tables exclude credit risk exposures to Banco Santander and other Banco Santander group companies, which are presented separately in the ‘Balances with other Santander UK group companies’ section.

  Central   Government   Banks(2)  Other               Retail   Corporate                Total(1) 
 and local guaranteed   financial       
 governments     institutions       
  £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn 

31 December 2014

Eurozone:

Peripheral eurozone countries:

Ireland

                0.3   0.3  

Spain (excluding Banco Santander)

       0.3         0.1   0.4  

Italy

 0.9      0.1         0.2   1.2  

Portugal

                     

Greece(3)

                     

Other eurozone countries:

Germany

 0.2      1.9         0.3   2.4  

France

    0.4   2.2         0.1   2.7  

All other eurozone(4)

       1.3   0.1      1.5   2.9  
                                   
 1.1   0.4   5.8   0.1      2.5   9.9  
                                   

All other countries:

UK

 20.2   0.4   11.2   5.4   176.9   48.1   262.2  

US

 4.7   0.2   10.1   1.0      0.2   16.2  

Switzerland

 0.7      0.5         0.3   1.5  

Denmark

 0.3      0.2         0.3   0.8  

Japan

 3.8      0.1   0.1      1.1   5.1  

Russia

                0.2   0.2  

All others(5)

       1.4   0.3      3.6   5.3  
                                   
 29.7   0.6   23.5   6.8   176.9   53.8   291.3  
                                   

Total

 30.8   1.0   29.3   6.9   176.9   56.3   301.2  
                                   

136Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

 

REGULATORY RISK(unaudited)

Regulatory risk arises mainly from failing to comply with relevant regulations and codes.

  Our approach to regulatory risk

  —

We categorise regulatory risk into financial (i.e. financial prudence) and non-financial (i.e. conduct risk, described previously). This is in line with the regulatory model in the UK, where financial institutions have two key supervisors: one focusing on prudential regulation (the PRA) and one focusing on conduct (the FCA).

  —

We have no appetite for regulatory risk. To achieve this we set out the principles and responsibilities for identifying, assessing, managing and reporting this risk in our regulatory risk framework.

  —

Our framework is supported by policies, processes and standards which provide the structure for us to operate in accordance with laws, regulations and voluntary codes which apply to our activities.

  —

We monitor and report regulatory developments through formal governance committees. Our reporting captures all material regulatory reviews, investigations and developments. It also tracks the status of, and trends in, our key relationships with regulators.

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

The level of regulatory risk remained high during 2015 as a result of regulatory and governmental bodies’ efforts to further enhance protection of consumers and market integrity through heightened supervision and regulatory change.

In common with much of the financial services industry, we continue to experience significant levels of regulatory scrutiny. Over the course of the year this included supervisory reviews, meetings and requests for information across business lines and customer sectors.

We carried out a number of regulatory-driven activities in 2015 in response to the evolving regulatory environment. We:

Made changes to comply with regulations that came into force during the year, including the recast Client Asset FCA Rulebook and Deposit Protection Rules. We also made changes to comply with the Volcker Rule (derived from the US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act)
Started activities to ensure compliance with future regulatory regime and rule changes. These included Banking Reform, ring-fencing, the new Accountability Regime and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II
Applied for full FCA Consumer Credit permissions following the transfer of consumer credit regulation from the OFT to the FCA in 2014.

For more on regulatory developments, see the ‘Risk factors’ section.

MODEL RISK(unaudited)

Model risk can arise from flaws in our modelling techniques, or the incorrect use of a model.

  Our approach to model risk

  —We manage model risk through a set of controls over the use of models throughout their lifecycle. We:
– Maintain a central model inventory. This includes data on owners, uses and key dates
– Assess how important each model is to our business
– Identify key model owners, developers and independent reviewers and agree their responsibilities
– Maintain a single approval body for model developments, updates and performance tracking
– Report updates to risk forums and committees. This includes risk appetite metrics
   

– Escalate to our senior management and committees if the predictive capability of a model deteriorates.

  —  

Our independent model validation unit helps mitigate model risk. It checks how a model is built and documented, and reviews the reasons for its construction. It also checks the external environment in which a model is released, giving as full a review as possible. The output of the review is presented with the model in the approval process.

2015 compared to 2014(unaudited)

  Central   Government                Banks(2)  Other               Retail   Corporate                Total(1) 
 and local guaranteed   financial       
 governments     institutions       
  £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn 

31 December 2013

Eurozone:

Peripheral eurozone countries:

Ireland

                0.1   0.1  

Spain (excluding Banco Santander)

       0.2         0.1   0.3  

Italy

 0.8      0.1         0.1   1.0  

Portugal

                0.1   0.1  

Greece(3)

                     

Other eurozone countries:

Germany

       1.6         0.2   1.8  

France

    0.4   1.9         0.1   2.4  

All other eurozone(4)

    0.2   1.4         1.3   2.9  
                                   
 0.8   0.6   5.2         2.0   8.6  
                                   

All other countries:

UK

 24.2   0.4   12.4   5.1   172.7   41.6   256.4  

US

 5.3      8.2   0.1   0.1   0.5   14.2  

Switzerland

 0.5      1.3         0.5   2.3  

Denmark

       1.4         0.1   1.5  

Japan

 3.8      0.1         0.1   4.0  

Russia

                0.2   0.2  

All others(5)

       0.8   0.1   0.5   2.8   4.2  
                                   
 33.8   0.4   24.2   5.3   173.3   45.8   282.8  
                                   

Total

 34.6   1.0   29.4   5.3   173.3   47.8   291.4  
                                   

We have developed a framework to help improve the way we manage risks associated with the various models we use to make risk-based decisions. In 2015, we began to extend our model risk management practices into Retail Banking and Commercial Banking, as well as our Finance division. We identified the models we use in these areas and determined their importance to us. This will help us to compare our most important models across and within divisions.

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

COUNTRY RISK EXPOSURE

We manage our country risk exposure under our global limits framework. Within this framework, we set our Risk Appetite for each country, taking into account factors that may influence its risk profile. These can include political events, macroeconomics and the nature of the risk. We actively manage exposures if we think we need to. As an example, in recent years, we have increased our monitoring of exposures to eurozone counterparties. As part of this, we have selectively divested assets affected by events in those countries. We consider Banco Santander group-related risk separately.

The tables below show our exposures at 31 December 2015 and 2014. Total exposures are the total of balance sheet and off-balance sheet values. We calculate balance sheet values in accordance with IFRS (i.e. after netting allowed under IFRS) except for credit provisions which have been added back. Off balance sheet values are undrawn facilities and letters of credit.

We classify geographical location according to country of risk – in other words, the country where each counterparty has its main business activity or assets. That is unless there is a full risk transfer guarantee in place, in which case we use the guarantor’s country of domicile instead. If our clients have operations in many countries, we use their country of incorporation.

We show the exposures by type of counterparty. The only exception is where exposures have been guaranteed by a sovereign. In that case we show them in the ‘Government guaranteed’ category. Due to the interest in the eurozone, we show those disclosures first and highlight them separately.

The tables exclude exposures to other Banco Santander group companies. We show them separately in the ‘Balances with other Banco Santander group companies’ section.

  Central  Government    Banks(2)   Other       Retail       Corporate       Total(1) 
  and local guaranteed     financial                   
  governments       institutions                   
   £bn £bn  £bn  £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn 

2015

                

Eurozone:

                

Peripheral eurozone countries:

                

Italy

 0.8      0.1                  0.1       1.0  

Ireland

           0.1              0.6       0.7  

Spain (excluding Banco Santander)

       0.2                  0.2       0.4  

Portugal

       0.1                         0.1  

Greece

                                  

Other eurozone countries:

                

France

 0.1  0.3    2.1    0.1              1.6       4.2  

Germany

 0.1      2.2                  0.5       2.8  

All other eurozone(3)

 0.5      1.1    0.3              1.4       3.3  
  1.5  0.3    5.8    0.5              4.4       12.5  

All other countries:

                

UK

 17.0  0.4    9.6    6.8       184.1       52.5       270.4  

US

 2.5  0.2    9.0    3.2              0.1       15.0  

Japan

 2.7      1.0    0.1              1.7       5.5  

Switzerland

 0.1      0.2                  0.4       0.7  

Denmark

       0.1                  0.4       0.5  

Russia

           0.2                     0.2  

All others(4)

       1.5    0.4              1.9       3.8  
  22.3  0.6    21.4    10.7       184.1       57.0       296.1  

Total

 23.8  0.9    27.2    11.2       184.1       61.4       308.6  

 

(1)Credit exposures exclude cash at hand, the macro hedge of interest rate risk, intangible assets, property, plant and equipment, current and deferred tax assets, retirement benefit assets and other assets. Loans and advances to customers are included gross of loan loss allowances.
(2)Excludes balances with central banks.
(3)At 31 December 2014 there was no exposure to Greece (2013: £3m).Includes The Netherlands of £1.0bn, Luxembourg of £0.9bn, Belgium, Finland and Austria, as well as Cyprus of £39m.
(4)Includes Luxembourg,Ukraine of £nil.

154  Santander UK plc


    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

Other key risks

  Central  Government    Banks(2)   Other       Retail       Corporate       Total(1) 
  and local guaranteed     financial                   
  governments       institutions                   
   £bn £bn  £bn  £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn 

2014

                

Eurozone:

                

Peripheral eurozone countries:

                

Italy

 0.9      0.1                  0.2       1.2  

Ireland

                         0.3       0.3  

Spain (excluding Banco Santander)

       0.3                  0.1       0.4  

Portugal

                                  

Greece

                                  

Other eurozone countries:

                

France

   0.4    2.2                  0.1       2.7  

Germany

 0.2      1.9                  0.3       2.4  

All other eurozone(3)

       1.3    0.1              1.5       2.9  
  1.1  0.4    5.8    0.1              2.5       9.9  

All other countries:

                

UK

 20.2  0.4    11.2    5.4       176.9       48.1       262.2  

US

 4.7  0.2    10.1    1.0              0.2       16.2  

Japan

 3.8      0.1    0.1              1.1       5.1  

Switzerland

 0.7      0.5                  0.3       1.5  

Denmark

 0.3      0.2                  0.3       0.8  

Russia

           0.2                     0.2  

All others(4)

       1.4    0.3              3.6       5.3  
  29.7  0.6    23.5    7.0       176.9       53.6       291.3  

Total

 30.8  1.0    29.3    7.1       176.9       56.1       301.2  

(1)Credit exposures exclude cash at hand, the macro hedge of interest rate risk, intangible assets, property, plant and equipment, current and deferred tax assets, retirement benefit assets and other assets. Loans and advances to customers are included gross of loan loss allowances.
(2)Excludes balances with central banks.
(3)Includes The Netherlands of £1.0bn, Luxembourg of £0.9bn, Belgium, Finland and Finland,Austria, as well as Cyprus of £36m (2013: £20m).£39m.
(5)(4)Includes Ukraine of £nil (2013 £nil).£nil.

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

Key changes in sovereign and other country risk exposures during the year ended 31 December 2014 were as follows:in 2015 were:

An increase of £5.8bn£8.2bn in exposure to the UK to £262.2bn (2013: £256.4bn)£270.4bn (2014: £262.2bn). This was primarilymainly due to increased commitments and undrawn facilities in UK corporate and retail mortgage lending, partially offset by a decrease in cash held with the Bank of England as part of normal liquid asset portfolio management activity.activity
An increase of £2.0bn£1.5bn in exposure to France to £4.2bn (2014: £2.7bn). This was principally due to increased trading assets held at fair value with corporate customers.
A decrease of £1.2bn in exposure to the US to £16.2bn (2013: £14.2bn)£15.0bn (2014: £16.2bn). This was primarily due to additional securities purchased under resale activity partially offset by a decrease in depositstrading assets held at the US Federal Reserve as part of normal liquid asset portfolio management activity.fair value with banks.
A decrease of £0.8bn in exposure to Switzerland to £1.5bn (2013: £2.3bn)£0.7bn (2014: £1.5bn). This was mainly due to reduced securities purchased under resale activitya decrease in trading assets held at fair value with central and lower gross derivative exposures.local governments.
An increase of £0.6bn£0.4bn in exposuresexposure to GermanyJapan to £2.4bn (2013: £1.8bn)£5.5bn (2014: £5.1bn). This was primarily due to the additional purchase of equity instruments listed in Japan as part of increased securities purchased under resale activity and higher grosstrading by Short Term Markets. These equity instrument risk exposures are hedged using derivative exposures.instruments.
An increase of £1.1bn£0.4bn in exposuresexposure to JapanGermany to £5.1bn (2013: £4.0bn)£2.8bn (2014: £2.4bn). This was primarily due to increased corporatetrading assets held at fair value.value with banks and corporate customers.
An increase of £0.2bn£0.4bn in exposuresexposure to Ireland to £0.3bn (2013: £0.1bn). This was due to increased corporate assets held at fair value and new corporate facilities provided.
An increase of £0.2bn in exposures to Italy to £1.2bn (2013: £1.0bn). This was principally due to new corporate facilities provided.
An increase of £0.1bn in exposures to Spain to £0.4bn (2013:£0.7bn (2014: £0.3bn). This was mainly due to new corporate facilities provided.
A decrease of £0.7bn in exposures to Denmark to £0.8bn (2013: £1.5bn). This was principally due to the disposal of securities purchased under resale activity.
An increase of £0.3bn in exposure to France to £2.7bn (2013: £2.4bn). This was due to an increase in derivative assets at fair value and an increase in loans and advances to banks.corporate customers.
Movements in the remainingother country risk exposures were minimal and exposures to these countries remained at low levels.minimal.

 

 

Annual Report 2014137


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Areas of focus and other items

continued

 

 

    

 

Further analysis of sovereign debt and other country risk exposures including peripheral eurozone exposures

PresentedThe tables below foranalyse our sovereign debt and other country risk exposures is additional analysis offurther. We show which exposures into those that are accounted for on-balance sheet (further analysed(analysed into those measured at amortised cost and those measured at fair value) and those thatwhich are off-balance sheet.

TheWe mainly classify our assets held at amortised cost are principally classified as loans and advances to banks, loans and advances to customers, and loans and receivables securities. Santander UK hasWe have no held-to-maturity securities. TheWe classify our assets held at fair value are classified as either trading assets or have been designated as held at fair value through profit or loss, with the exception ofloss. The only exceptions are government debt held for liquidity purposes, which are classifiedwe classify as available-for-sale securities. Santander UK has made no reclassifications to/from theWe have not reclassified any assets which are held at fair value from/to any other category.value.

Sovereign debt

 

Assets held at amortised cost   Assets held at fair value           

Assets held at amortised cost

   Assets held at fair value                      
Central     Government             Total  Central Government             Total Total Commitments             Total  Central     Government         Total     Central     Government     Total       Total     Commitments     Total 
and local guaranteed    and local guaranteed   balance and undrawn    and local guaranteed     and local     guaranteed           balance     and undrawn       
    governments      governments     sheet asset facilities    governments       governments                 sheet asset     facilities       
£bn £bn £bn   £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn  £bn £bn £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn       £bn     £bn     £bn 

31 December 2014

2015

                         

Eurozone countries:

                         

Italy

            0.8              0.8       0.8              0.8  

France

             0.4   0.4   0.4      0.4              0.1       0.3       0.4       0.4              0.4  

Italy

          0.9      0.9   0.9      0.9  

Germany

          0.2      0.2   0.2      0.2              0.1              0.1       0.1              0.1  

All other eurozone

                                       0.5              0.5       0.5              0.5  
                              
          1.1   0.4   1.5   1.5      1.5  
                                          1.5       0.3       1.8       1.8              1.8  

All other countries:

                         

UK

 16.9      16.9   3.3   0.4   3.7   20.6      20.6   13.5      13.5     3.5       0.4       3.9       17.4              17.4  

US

 4.4      4.4   0.3   0.2   0.5   4.9      4.9   2.2      2.2     0.3       0.2       0.5       2.7              2.7  

Japan

          3.8      3.8   3.8      3.8              2.7              2.7       2.7              2.7  

Switzerland

          0.7      0.7   0.7      0.7              0.1              0.1       0.1              0.1  

Denmark

 0.3      0.3   0.3      0.3                                                   
                               15.7      15.7     6.6       0.6       7.2       22.9              22.9  
 21.3      21.3   8.4   0.6   9.0   30.3      30.3  
                              

31 December 2013

2014

                         

Eurozone countries:

                         

Italy

            0.9              0.9       0.9              0.9  

France

             0.4   0.4   0.4      0.4  ��                  0.4       0.4       0.4              0.4  

Italy

          0.8      0.8   0.8      0.8  

Germany

                                       0.2              0.2       0.2              0.2  

All other eurozone

             0.2   0.2   0.2      0.2                                                   
                              
          0.8   0.6   1.4   1.4      1.4  
                                          1.1       0.4       1.5       1.5              1.5  

All other countries:

                         

UK

 20.3      20.3   3.9   0.4   4.3   24.6      24.6   16.9     16.9     3.3       0.4       3.7       20.6              20.6  

US

 4.9      4.9   0.4      0.4   5.3      5.3   4.4     4.4     0.3       0.2       0.5       4.9              4.9  

Japan

          3.8      3.8   3.8      3.8              3.8              3.8       3.8              3.8  

Switzerland

          0.5      0.5   0.5      0.5              0.7              0.7       0.7              0.7  

Denmark

                                       0.3              0.3       0.3              0.3  
                               21.3     21.3     8.4       0.6       9.0       30.3              30.3  
 25.2      25.2   8.6   0.4   9.0   34.2      34.2  
                              

Santander UK hasWe have no direct sovereign exposures to any other countries. Santander UK hasWe have not recognised any impairment losses againstfor sovereign debt which is held at amortised cost. Santander UK has

We have no exposures to credit default swaps (either written or purchased) which are directly referenced to sovereign debt or other instruments that are directly referenced to sovereign debt.

 

 

138Santander UK plc

156  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

  

Other key risks

 

Other country risk exposures(1)

 

Assets held at amortised cost   Assets held at fair value(2)            Assets held at amortised cost   Assets held at fair value(2)              
    Banks Other         Retail Corporate         Total      Banks Other     Corporate         Total Total Commitments         Total       Banks   Other   Retail   Corporate   Total   Banks   Other   Corporate   Total   Total   Commitments Total 
  financial          financial     balance and         financial                   financial           balance   and   
      institutions              institutions     sheet undrawn         institutions                   institutions           sheet   undrawn   
 asset   facilities(3)                      asset     facilities(3)  
£bn £bn £bn £bn £bn   £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn   £bn   £bn   £bn   £bn   £bn   £bn   £bn   £bn   £bn   £bn   £bn £bn 
31 December 2014

2015

                       
Eurozone:                       
Peripheral eurozone countries:                       
Ireland          0.1   0.1         0.1   0.1   0.2   0.1   0.3          0.1          0.2     0.3               0.2     0.2     0.5     0.2    0.7  
Spain                0.2         0.2   0.2   0.2   0.4                              0.2               0.2     0.2     0.2    0.4  
Italy                0.1         0.1   0.1   0.2   0.3                              0.1               0.1     0.1     0.1    0.2  
Portugal                                       0.1                    0.1                         0.1         0.1  
Other eurozone countries:                       

France

                            2.1     0.1     1.6     3.8     3.8         3.8  
Germany          0.1   0.1   1.9      0.2   2.1   2.2      2.2                    0.1     0.1     2.2          0.4     2.6     2.7         2.7  
France          0.1   0.1   2.2         2.2   2.3      2.3  
Other          0.5   0.5   1.3   0.1   0.3   1.7   2.2   0.7   2.9          0.1          0.5     0.6     1.1     0.2     0.1     1.4     2.0     0.8    2.8  
                                    
          0.8   0.8   5.7   0.1   0.6   6.4   7.2   1.2   8.4  
                                       0.1     0.2          0.8     1.1     5.7     0.3     2.3     8.3     9.4     1.3    10.7  
All other countries:                       
UK 1.3   0.6   158.9   26.0   186.8   9.9   4.4   8.6   22.9   209.7   31.9   241.6     2.2     0.9     164.6     29.3     197.0     7.4     5.9     8.2     21.5     218.5     34.5    253.0  
US 0.6         0.1   0.7   9.5   1.0      10.5   11.2   0.1   11.3     0.3     0.3               0.6     8.7     2.9          11.6     12.2     0.1    12.3  

Japan

   0.9                    0.9     0.1     0.1     1.7     1.9     2.8         2.8  
Switzerland          0.3   0.3   0.5         0.5   0.8      0.8                    0.3     0.3     0.2               0.2     0.5     0.1    0.6  
Denmark                0.2         0.2   0.2   0.3   0.5                              0.1               0.1     0.1     0.4    0.5  
Japan                0.1   0.1   1.1   1.3   1.3      1.3  
Russia          0.2   0.2               0.2      0.2          0.2               0.2                         0.2         0.2  
Other 0.1   0.1      2.3   2.5   1.3   0.1   0.2   1.6   4.1   1.2   5.3          0.2          1.1     1.3     1.5     0.2     0.1     1.8     3.1     0.7    3.8  
                                       3.4     1.6     164.6     30.7     200.3     18.0     9.1     10.0     37.1     237.4     35.8    273.2  
 2.0   0.7   158.9   28.9   190.5   21.5   5.6   9.9   37.0   227.5   33.5   261.0  
                                    
31 December 2013

2014

                       
Eurozone:                       
Peripheral eurozone countries:                       
Ireland          0.1   0.1               0.1      0.1                    0.1     0.1               0.1     0.1     0.2     0.1   0.3  
Spain 0.1            0.1   0.1         0.1   0.2   0.1   0.3                              0.2               0.2     0.2     0.2   0.4  
Italy 0.1         0.1   0.2               0.2      0.2                              0.1               0.1     0.1     0.2   0.3  
Portugal          0.1   0.1               0.1      0.1                                                             
Other eurozone countries:                       

France

                  0.1     0.1     2.2               2.2     2.3        2.3  
Germany 0.1         0.2   0.3   1.5         1.5   1.8      1.8                    0.1     0.1     1.9          0.2     2.1     2.2        2.2  
France 0.1         0.1   0.2   1.8         1.8   2.0      2.0  
Other          0.6   0.6   1.4         1.4   2.0   0.7   2.7                    0.5     0.5     1.3     0.1     0.3     1.7     2.2     0.7   2.9  
                                    
 0.4         1.2   1.6   4.8         4.8   6.4   0.8   7.2  
                                                      0.8     0.8     5.7     0.1     0.6     6.4     7.2     1.2   8.4  
All other countries:                       
UK 1.5      155.5   26.1   183.1   10.8   4.9   4.9   20.6   203.7   28.1   231.8     1.3     0.6     158.9     26.0     186.8     9.9     4.4     8.6     22.9     209.7     31.9   241.6  
US 0.5      0.1   0.4   1.0   7.7   0.1   0.1   7.9   8.9      8.9     0.6               0.1     0.7     9.5     1.0          10.5     11.2     0.1   11.3  

Japan

                            0.1     0.1     1.1     1.3     1.3        1.3  
Switzerland          0.4   0.4   1.3         1.3   1.7   0.1   1.8                    0.3     0.3     0.5               0.5     0.8        0.8  
Denmark                1.4         1.4   1.4   0.1   1.5                              0.2               0.2     0.2     0.3   0.5  
Japan                0.1      0.1   0.2   0.2      0.2  
Russia          0.2   0.2               0.2      0.2          0.2               0.2                         0.2        0.2  
Other       0.5   2.0   2.5   0.8   0.1      0.9   3.4   0.8   4.2     0.1     0.1          2.3     2.5     1.3     0.1     0.2     1.6     4.1     1.2   5.3  
                                       2.0     0.9     158.9     28.7     190.5     21.5     5.6     9.9     37.0     227.5     33.5   261.0  
 2.0      156.1   29.1   187.2   22.1   5.1   5.1   32.3   219.5   29.1   248.6  
                                    

 

(1)Excluding Banco Santander and other Banco Santander group companies.
(2)The assets held at fair value were presented as either trading assets or designated as held at fair value through profit or loss. Santander UKWe did not hold any significant available-for-sale securities, with the exception ofexcept for government debt held for liquidity purposes, as described on the previous page.
(3)Of which £18.0bn (2013: £19.1bn)£19.3bn (2014: £18.0bn) is presented in Retail Banking and the remainder is presented in Commercial Banking and Global Corporate & Institutional Banking.

Commitments and undrawn facilities principally consist ofare mainly formal standby facilities and credit lines in Santander UK’slines. In Retail Banking, and Commercial Banking operations. Within Retail Banking, these representthey are credit cards, (excluding co-brand credit cards), mortgagemortgages and overdraft facilities. Withinoverdrafts. In Commercial Banking and Global Corporate & Institutional Banking, these representthey are standby loan facilities. A summary ofFor the key terms and a maturity analysis of formal standby facilities, credit lines and other commitments, are set out insee Note 3735 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

MaturityFor maturity analyses of Santander UK’sour assets held at amortised cost, are set out insee Note 4443 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

 

Annual Report 2014139


Annual Report 2015

Risk review

Areas of focus and other items

continued

 

 

    

 

Peripheral eurozone countries

ThisIn this section discusses Santander UK’swe discuss our direct exposureand indirect exposures to the peripheral eurozone countries at 31 December 20142015 and 20132014 by type of financial instrument.It excludes We exclude balances with other Banco Santander group companies which are presentedwe show separately below. This section also discusses our indirect

Our exposures to peripheral eurozone countries.

Direct and indirect risk exposures to peripheral eurozone countries arise primarilymainly in the large corporate element of the portfolio viawith large multinational companies and financial institutions, which are monitored on a regular basis by the Wholesale Credit Risk Departmentinstitutions. We monitor these regularly as part of theour overall risk management process. The large corporate portfolio is mainly comprised of multinational UK companies which are considered to be geographically well diversified in terms of theirwhose assets, operations and profits.profits are geographically diversified. The remainderrest of the Commercial Banking portfolio is predominantlymainly UK-based with no material peripheral eurozone exposure. In addition,We mitigate the risk is further mitigated by the fact that credit agreements are underpinned by both financial and non-financialusing covenants.

TheWe mitigate the risk arising from indirect exposures from our transactions with financial institutions is mitigated by thetheir short-term tenor, of the transactions,by margin calls and collateral, and by using standard legal agreements that allow offsetting. We mitigate the fact that many such transactions contain margin calls and/or collateral requirements, and are subject to standard ISDA Master Agreements permitting offsetting.

The risk arising from indirect exposures from our transactions with other corporates is mitigated bywith standard financial and non-financial guarantees and the fact that the companiescompanies’ assets, operations and profits are geographically well diversified in terms of their assets, operations and profits.diversified.

Direct exposures to peripheral eurozone countries

Balances with respect to Italy at 31 December 2014 comprised2015 were trading assets issued by central and local governments of £0.9bn (2013: £0.8bn)£0.8bn (2014: £0.9bn); Loans and receivables securities issued by banks of £nil (2013: £0.1bn), commitments and undrawn facilities with corporate customers of £0.2bn (2013: £0.1bn); derivative assets issued by banks of £0.1bn (2013: £0.1bn), net of derivative liabilities held by banks of £nil (2013: £0.1bn).

Balances with respect to Spain at 31 December 2014 comprised loans and receivables securities issued by banks of £nil (2013: £0.1bn), derivative assets issued by banks of £0.2bn (2013: £0.1bn), commitments and undrawn facilities with banks of £0.1bn (2013: £nil) and commitments and undrawn facilities with corporate customers of £0.1bn (2013:(2014: £0.2bn); and derivative assets issued by banks of £0.1bn (2014: £0.1bn).

Balances with respect to Ireland at 31 December 2014 comprised2015 were loans and advances to corporate customers of £0.1bn (2013:£0.3bn (2014: £0.1bn), assets held at fair value with corporate customers of £0.1bn (2013: £nil)£0.2bn (2014: £0.1bn) and commitments and undrawn facilities with corporate customers of £0.1bn (2013: £nil)£0.2bn (2014: £0.1bn).

Balances with respect toSpain at 31 December 2015 were derivative assets issued by banks of £0.2bn (2014: £0.2bn), commitments and undrawn facilities with corporate customers of £0.2bn (2014: £0.1bn) and commitments and undrawn facilities with banks of £nil (2014: £0.1bn).

Balances with Portugal at 31 December 20142015 were £nil (2013: £0.1bn)loans and advances to banks of £0.1bn (2014: £nil).

Indirect exposures to peripheral eurozone countries

IndirectThese exposures to peripheral eurozone countries are considered to exist where our direct counterparties outside the peripheral eurozone countries themselves have a direct exposure to one or morethe peripheral eurozone countries. Indirecteurozone. We identify these exposures are identified as part of our ongoing credit analysis and monitoring of our counterparty basebase. We do this by the review of availablereviewing financial informationdata to determine the countries where the materialmain parts of a counterparty’stheir assets, operations or profits arise.

Our indirect exposures to the peripheral eurozone countries consist ofcome from a small number of corporate loans to large multinational UK companies based in the UK that derive a proportionsome of their profits from one or morethe peripheral eurozone countries;eurozone; trading transactions and hedging transactions with financial institutions based in the UK and Europe that derive a proportionsome of their profits from or have a proportion of their assets in one or morethe peripheral eurozone countries;eurozone; and a small number of loans to other corporate entitiescompanies which have either a proportion of their operations within,in, or profits from, one or morethe peripheral eurozone countries.eurozone. We have no significant indirect exposure to the peripheral eurozone countries in our retail business.

Redenomination risk(unaudited)

We consider the total dissolution of the eurozone to be extremely unlikely. We also believe widespread redenomination of our euro-denominated assets and liabilities is highly improbable. However, we have analysed the redenomination risk that might arise from an exit of a member state from the euro or a total dissolution of the euro and how that would be implemented. It is not possible to predict what the total financial impact on us might be of this.

Determining which balances would be legally redenominated is complex and depends on a number of factors. These factors include the precise exit scenario. This is because the effects on contracts of a disorderly exit or one sanctioned under EU law may differ. We monitor these risks and have taken steps to mitigate them and/or reduce our overall exposure to losses that might arise in the event of a redenomination. We have done this by reducing our balances and funding mismatches. As part of maintaining a diverse funding base, we raise funding in a number of currencies, including euro, and convert it into sterling through currency swaps to fund our commercial assets which are largely sterling denominated.

Our net asset position denominated in euro, reflecting assets, liabilities and related swaps (which are mainly cross-currency derivatives entered into to swap funding raised in euro into sterling for reasons set out above) in connection with contracts denominated in euro, was net assets of £0.5bn at 31 December 2015 (2014: net assets of £0.7bn). This was debt securities (covered bonds and securitisations) of £23.0bn (2014: £20.0bn) we issued as part of our medium term funding activities, medium-term repo liabilities of £1.3bn (2014: £0.8bn), other deposit liabilities of £4.4bn (2014: £1.9bn), other deposits by Banco Santander group companies of £1.1bn (2014: £1.7bn), other loans and securities of £4.9bn (2014: £4.6bn), net trading repo liabilities of £1.3bn (2014: £2.8bn) and related swap assets of £26.7bn (2014: £23.3bn) which swap the euro exposures into sterling to ensure our assets and liabilities are currency matched in sterling.

Our exposures to individual eurozone countries and total exposures to eurozone counterparties, including any euro-denominated contracts, are set out earlier in this section.

 

 

140Santander UK plc

158  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

    Risk
    governanceCredit riskMarket riskLiquidity riskCapital riskPension riskOperational risk 

Conduct risk

  

Other key risks

 

Balances with other Banco Santander group companies

Santander UK enters into transactionsWe deal with other Banco Santander group companies in the ordinary course of business. Such transactions are undertaken in areas of businessWe do this where Santander UK haswe have a particular business advantage or expertise and where other Banco Santander group companiesthey can offer us commercial opportunities,opportunities. This is done substantially on the same terms as for comparablesimilar transactions with third party counterparties.parties. These transactions also arise inwhere we support of the activities of, or with, larger multinational corporate clients and financial institutions which may have relationshipsdeal with a number of entities in theother Banco Santander group. Thesegroup companies. We conduct these activities are conducted in a mannerway that appropriately manages the credit risk arising against such other Banco Santander group companies within limits acceptable to the PRA. At 31 December 2015 and 2014, and 2013, Santander UKwe had gross balances with other Banco Santander group companies as follows:

 

                                                                
Banks Other financial Corporate Total  2015     2014        
  institutions      Banks Other financial Corporate   Total     Banks     Other financial     Corporate     Total 
£bn £bn £bn £bn    institutions                 institutions             

31 December 2014

 £bn £bn £bn   £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn     £bn 

Assets:

                     

– Spain

 2.1   0.1      2.2    1.5             1.5       2.1       0.1              2.2  

– UK

    0.8      0.8        1.3         1.3              0.8              0.8  

– Chile

 0.2         0.2    0.3             0.3       0.2                     0.2  

– Norway

 0.1         0.1    0.1             0.1       0.1                     0.1  

– Ireland

 0.1         0.1                        0.1                     0.1  

–Other <£100m

 0.1         0.1    0.1    0.1         0.2       0.1                     0.1  
     2.0    1.4         3.4       2.6       0.9              3.5  
 2.6   0.9      3.5  
   

Liabilities:

                     

– Spain

 (5.1 (0.5 (0.1 (5.7  (3.6  (0.3  (0.1   (4.0     (5.1     (0.5     (0.1     (5.7

– UK

    (0.4    (0.4      (2.0  (0.1   (2.1            (0.4            (0.4

– Chile

  (0.3           (0.3     (0.2                   (0.2

– Norway

  (0.1           (0.1     (0.1                   (0.1

– Ireland

 (0.1       (0.1                      (0.1                   (0.1

– Belgium

                      (0.2                   (0.2

– Italy

 (0.1       (0.1                      (0.1                   (0.1

– Belgium

 (0.2       (0.2

– Chile

 (0.2       (0.2

– Germany

    (0.1    (0.1                             (0.1            (0.1

– Norway

 (0.1       (0.1

– Uruguay

 (0.1       (0.1                      (0.1                   (0.1

– Other < £100m

 (0.1 (0.2    (0.3

– Other <£100m

  (0.2  (0.1       (0.3     (0.1     (0.2            (0.3
     (4.2  (2.4  (0.2   (6.8     (6.0     (1.2     (0.1     (7.3
 (6.0 (1.2 (0.1 (7.3
   

31 December 2013

Assets:

– Spain

 2.2   0.1      2.3  

– UK

    0.7   0.2   0.9  

– Chile

 0.1         0.1  

– Other < £100m

 0.1         0.1  
   
 2.4   0.8   0.2   3.4  
   

Liabilities:

– Spain

 (3.7 (0.8    (4.5

– UK

    (1.8 (0.1 (1.9

– Italy

    (0.2    (0.2

– Chile

 (0.1       (0.1

– Germany

    (0.1    (0.1

– Other < £100m

 (0.1 (0.5 (0.1 (0.7
   
 (3.9 (3.4 (0.2 (7.5
   

20142015 compared to 20132014(unaudited)

The above balances with other Banco Santander group companies at 31 December 2014 principally consisted of:2015 mainly included:

Reverse repos of £nil (2013: £50m) all of which were collateralised by OECD Government (but not peripheral eurozone) securities. The reverse repos were classified as ‘Loans and Advances to banks’ in the balance sheet and were offset by repoRepo liabilities of £nil (2013: £50m)£309m (2014: £nil), classified as ‘Deposits by banks’. See Notes 17 and 28 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
Derivative assets of £2,538m (2013: £2,224m)£1,778m (2014: £2,538m) subject to ISDA Master Agreements including the Credit Support Annex. These balances were offset by derivative liabilities of £2,214m (2013: £2,141m)£1,929m (2014: £2,214m) and cash collateral received, as described below, and are included in Note 15.13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements
Cash collateral of £121m (2013: £112m)£217m (2014: £121m) given in relation to derivatives futures contracts. The cash collateral was classified as ‘Trading assets’ in the balance sheet. This was more than offset by cash collateral received in relation to other derivatives of £1,460m (2013: £829m)£1,128m (2014: £1,460m), classified as ‘Trading liabilities’ and ‘Deposits by banks’. See Notes 14, 3012, 26 and 28.28 to the Consolidated Financial Statements

Annual Report 2014141


Risk review

Areas of focus and other items

continued

Asset-backed securities of £nil and £nil (2014: £7m and £54m (2013: £23m and £56m)£54m), which were classified as ‘Loans and receivables securities’ and ‘Financial assets designated at fair value’, respectively, in the balance sheet. See Notes 1614 and 21.19 to the Consolidated Financial Statements
Deposits by customers of £867m (2013: £1,014m)£1,405m (2014: £867m) and other liabilities of £300m (2013: £247m).£134m (2014: £300m)
Debt securities in issue of £349m (2013: £654m)£127m (2014: £349m). These balances representare holdings of debt securities by the wider Banco Santander group as a result of market purchases and for liability management purposes. The decrease in the year reflected contractual maturities. See Note 32.30 to the Consolidated Financial Statements
Subordinated liabilities of £1,867m (2013: £2,229m)£1,656m (2014: £1,867m) reflecting holdings of debt securities by the wider Banco Santander group as a result of market purchases and for liability management purposes.purposes
Financial Liabilities designedliabilities designated at fair value of £96m (2013: £189m)£25m (2014: £96m). See Note 31.29 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The next section further analyses the balances with other Banco Santander group companies at 31 December 2014 and 2013 by type of financial instrument and country of the counterparty, including the additional mitigating impact of repo collateral arrangements which are accounted for off-balance sheet.

Spain

 

                                                                
  Banks Other financial Corporate Total 
   institutions     
  £bn £bn £bn £bn 

31 December 2014

Repurchase agreements

– Asset balance – reverse repo

            
                  

Net repurchase agreement position

            
                  

Derivatives

– Derivative assets

 2.1         2.1  

– Derivative liabilities

 (1.7       (1.7

Cash collateral in relation to derivatives:– placed

            

– held

 (1.4       (1.4
                  

Net derivatives position

 (1.0       (1.0
                  

Asset-backed securities

    0.1      0.1  
                  

Total assets, after the impact of collateral

 (1.0 0.1      (0.9
                  

Deposits by customers

    (0.5 (0.1 (0.6

Debt securities in issue

 (0.1       (0.1

Other liabilities

            

Subordinated liabilities

 (1.9       (1.9
                  

Total liabilities

 (2.0 (0.5 (0.1 (2.6
                  

Net balance

 (3.0 (0.4 (0.1 (3.5
                  

31 December 2013

Repurchase agreements

– Asset balance – reverse repo

 0.1         0.1  
                  

Net repurchase agreement position

 0.1         0.1  
                  

Derivatives

– Derivative assets

 2.0         2.0  

– Derivative liabilities

 (1.9       (1.9

Cash collateral in relation to derivatives: – placed

 0.1         0.1  

– held

 (0.8       (0.8
                  

Net derivatives position

 (0.6       (0.6
                  

Asset-backed securities

    0.1      0.1  
                  

Total assets, after the impact of collateral

 (0.5 0.1      (0.4
                  

Deposits by customers

    (0.6    (0.6

Debt securities in issue

 (0.1 (0.1    (0.2

Other liabilities

 (0.2 (0.1    (0.3

Subordinated liabilities

 (0.7       (0.7
                  

Total liabilities

 (1.0 (0.8    (1.8
                  

Net balance

 (1.5 (0.7    (2.2
                  

Annual Report 2015

Risk review

 

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160  Santander UK plc


Governance

Annual Report 2015

Governance

Board of Directors

Chair

 

142

Baroness Shriti Vadera

Chair since 30 March 2015, previously Independent Non-Executive Director and Deputy Chair from 1 January 2015.

Skills and experience

Shriti Vadera was an investment banker with SG Warburg / UBS from 1984 to 1999, on the Council of Economic Advisers, HM Treasury from 1999 to 2007, Minister in the UK Government from 2007 to 2009 (Cabinet Office, Business Department and International Development department), G20 Adviser from 2009 to 2010, and advised Governments, banks, and investors on the eurozone crisis, banking sector, debt restructuring and markets from 2010 to 2014.

Other principal appointments

Chair of Santander UK Group Holdings plc* since 30 March 2015.

Senior Independent Director of BHP Billiton plc since August 2015 and Non-Executive Director since 2011.

Non-Executive Director of AstraZeneca plc since 2011.

Board committee membership

Nomination Committee since 1 January 2015 and

Chair since 30 March 2015.

Independent Non-Executive Directors

Scott Wheway

Senior Independent Director and Chair of Board Remuneration Committee
Appointed Senior Independent Director on 18 May 2015 and Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 October 2013.

Skills and experience

Scott Wheway brings extensive retail and consumer knowledge to the Board, having formerly held various senior roles at Tesco plc, including Operations Director and CEO, Tesco Japan. Following this, he was CEO of Best Buy Europe and Managing Director and Retail Director of Boots Company plc (now known as The Boots Company Ltd) and Managing Director of Boots the Chemist at Alliance Boots plc. Scott also has experience of the financial services sector through his roles at Aviva plc and Aviva Insurance Limited.

Other principal appointments

Independent Non-Executive Director of Santander UK Group Holdings plc* since 2014.

Independent Non-Executive Director of Aviva plc since 2007.

Chairman of Aviva Insurance Limited since 13 April 2015.

Board committee membership

Audit Committee since 1 September 2015.

Remuneration Committee since 1 January 2014 and Chair since 1 September 2015.

Nomination Committee since 1 January 2014.

Risk Committee since 1 January 2014.

Ed Giera

Chair of Board Risk Committee
Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 19 August 2015.

Skills and experience

Ed Giera is an experienced Non-Executive Director, having held a number of Board roles since retiring from JP Morgan Securities, the investment banking affiliate of JP Morgan Chase & Co. He provided corporate finance advisory and fiduciary services as Principal of EJ Giera LLC and was formerly a Non-Executive Director for NovaTech LLC, the Life and Longevity Markets Association, and the Renshaw Bay Structured Finance Opportunity Fund. Ed was also a director of Pension Corporation Group Ltd from 2012 to 2015, and Pension Insurance Corporation Holdings Ltd from 2008 to 2012.

Other principal appointments

Independent Non-Executive Director of Santander UK Group Holdings plc* since 19 August 2015. Non-Executive Director of ICBC Standard Bank Plc since 5 October 2015.

Non-Executive Director of the Real Estate Finance Fund managed by GAM International Management Limited since 2012.

Non-Executive Director of Pension Insurance Corporation Group Limited since 8 December 2015.

Board committee membership

Audit Committee since 19 August 2015. Nomination Committee since 19 August 2015. Remuneration Committee since 19 August 2015. Risk Committee member since 19 August and Chair since 26 October 2015.

* Part of the Banco Santander group.

162  Santander UK plc


Risk

Top and

Credit risk

Market risk

Balance sheet

Other

Areas of focus

governance

emerging risks

management risk

important risks

and other items

CorporateDirectors’
         

Directors

  

Governance

Report

Remuneration

Report

Directors’ Report

   

Other countries

Balances with respect to Belgium at 31 December 2014 comprised debt securities in issue of £0.2bn (2013: £0.5bn). Balances with respect to the UK at 31 December 2014 comprised other assets of £0.8bn (2013: £0.9bn), deposits by customers of £0.1bn (2013: £0.3bn), other liabilities of £0.3bn (2013: £nil) and subordinated liabilities of £nil (2013: £1.6bn). Balances with respect to Italy at 31 December 2014 comprised debt securities in issue (purchased in the secondary market) of £0.1bn (2013: £0.2bn). Balances with respect to Germany at 31 December 2014 comprised deposits by customers of £0.1bn (2013: £0.1bn). Balances with respect to Chile at 31 December 2014 comprised derivative assets of £0.2bn (2013: £0.1bn) and derivative liabilities of £0.2bn (2013: £0.1bn). Balances with respect to Norway at 31 December 2014 comprised derivative assets of £0.1bn (2013: £nil) and derivative liabilities of £0.1bn (2013: £nil). Balances with respect to Uruguay at 31 December 2014 comprised deposits by banks of £0.1bn (2013: £nil).

Redenomination risk(unaudited)

Santander UK considers the total dissolution of the eurozone to be extremely unlikely and therefore believes widespread redenomination of its euro-denominated assets and liabilities to be highly improbable. However, for contingency planning purposes Santander UK has analysed the redenomination risk that might arise from an exit of a member state from the euro or a total dissolution of the euro and how that exit or dissolution would be implemented. It is not possible to predict what the total financial impact on Santander UK might be of a eurozone member state exit or the dissolution of the euro.

The determination of which assets and liabilities would be legally redenominated is complex and depends on a number of factors, including the precise exit scenario, as the consequences on external contracts of a disorderly exit or one sanctioned under EU law may be different. Santander UK has already identified and is monitoring these risks and has taken steps to mitigate them and/or reduce Santander UK’s overall exposure to losses that might arise in the event of a redenomination by reducing its balances and funding mismatches. As part of its objective of maintaining a diversified funding base, Santander UK raises funding in a number of currencies, including euro, and converts these back into sterling to fund its commercial assets which are largely sterling denominated.

Santander UK’s net asset position denominated in euro, reflecting assets and liabilities and associated swaps (which primarily comprise cross-currency derivatives entered into to swap funding raised in euro back into sterling for reasons set out above) arising in connection with contracts denominated in euro, amounted to net assets of £0.7bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: net assets of £0.1bn). This comprised debt securities (covered bonds and securitisations) of £20.0bn (2013: £22.0bn) issued by Santander UK as part of its MTF activities, net loans and advances of £nil (2013: £0.1bn) to other Banco Santander group companies, medium-term repo liabilities of £0.8bn (2013: £4.0bn), other deposit liabilities of £1.9bn (2013: £1.8bn), other deposits of £1.7bn (2013: £nil) by Banco Santander group companies, other loans and securities of £4.6bn (2013: £3.0bn), net trading repo liabilities of £2.8bn (2013: assets of £0.5bn) and related cross-currency swap assets of £23.3bn (2013: £24.3bn) which swap the resultant euro exposures back into sterling in order to ensure that assets and liabilities are currency matched in sterling.

Disclosures of Santander UK’s exposure to individual eurozone countries and total exposures to counterparties in those countries, including any euro-denominated contracts, are set out earlier in this section of the Risk Review.

Annual Report 2014143


Risk review

Areas of focus and other items

continued

2. ENHANCED DISCLOSURE TASK FORCE (‘EDTF’) RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to provide disclosures that help investors and other stakeholders understand Santander UK’s performance, financial position and changes thereto, the information provided in the Risk Review goes beyond the minimum levels required by accounting standards, statutory and regulatory requirements and listing rules. In particular, Santander UK provides additional disclosures having regard to the recommendations in the report ‘Enhancing the Risk Disclosures of Banks’ issued by the EDTF of the Financial Stability Board in October 2012. The report aims to help financial institutions identify areas that investors had highlighted needed better and more transparent information about banks’ risks, and how these risks relate to performance measurement and reporting. The recommendations for disclosure improvement focused on the principal risks faced by the banking industry, and included disclosures about risk governance, capital adequacy, liquidity, funding, credit risk, market risk and other risks.

 

   Type of risk

 

Recom-
mendation  

 

 

Disclosure

 

 

Page

 

General




 

 

1

 

The risks to which the business is exposed.

 

 

27

2Define risk terminology and measures and present day parameters. 26-34
3Top and emerging risks, and the changes during the reporting period. 36-38
4Discussion of future regulatory developments affecting our business model and profitability. 12, 106, 118, 131

 

Risk governance

and risk

management strategies/

business model

 

 

5

 

Risk Committees and their activities.

 

 

161-163

6Risk culture and risk governance and ownership. 26-30
7Diagram of risk exposure by business segment. 33
8Stress testing and the underlying assumptions. 34

 

Capital adequacy

and risk-weighted assets (‘RWAs’)








 

 

9

 

Pillar 1 capital requirements.

 

 

9-11, 14-17

10Reconciliation of the accounting balance sheet to the regulatory balance sheet. 124, ACRMD* 3
11Flow statement of the movements in regulatory capital during the reporting period. 121
12Discussion of targeted level of capital, and the plans on how to establish this. 10-13
13Analysis of RWAs by risk type and business segments. 123-124
14Analysis of the capital requirements for each Basel asset class, including major portfolios. 124, ACRMD 3, 4, 5, 9
15Analysis of credit risk for each Basel asset class. ACRMD 6-7
16Flow statements reconciling movements in RWAs for each RWA type. ACRMD 4, 9
17Discussion of Basel credit risk model performance. 93, ACRMD 8, 10

 

Liquidity

 

 

18

 

Description of how potential liquidity needs are managed and liquidity pool analysis.

 

 

107-109

 

Funding




 

 

19

 

Encumbered and unencumbered assets analysed by balance sheet category.

 

 

114-115

20Consolidated total assets, liabilities and off-balance sheet commitments analysed by remaining contractual maturity. 321
21Analysis of sources of funding and a description of our funding strategy. 110-113

 

Market risk





 

 

22

 

Relationship between the market risk measures for trading and non-trading portfolios and the balance sheet.

 

 

90-91

23Discussion of significant trading and non-trading market risk factors. 92-101
24Measurement model limitations, assumptions and validation. 92-93, 98
25Discussion of stress tests and additional risk measures. 93-94, 99

 

Credit risk









 

 

26

 

Analysis of aggregate credit risk exposures, including retail and corporate portfolios.

 

 

51-58

27Discussion of policies for identifying impaired loans defining impairments and renegotiated loans, and explaining loan forbearance. 39-50, 237-241
28Reconciliations of the opening and closing balances of non-performing loans and impairment allowances during the year. 56, 64, 75, 84, 88, 262-263
29Analysis of counterparty credit risk that arises from derivative transactions. 49, 81-82, 85-88, 257
30Discussion of credit risk mitigation, including collateral held for all sources of credit risk. 42, 46, 49, 50, 63, 69, 80, 82,87

 

Other risks

 

 

31

 

Discussion of the management of other risks.

 

 

125-143

32Discussion of publicly known risk events.125-143

* Refers to the page number in Santander UK’s ‘Additional Capital and Risk Management Disclosures’ available on www.aboutsantander.co.uk

144Santander UK plc


Governance

Governance

146

Directors

152

Corporate Governance report

152

Corporate Governance statement

159

Board Nomination Committee Chair’s report

161

Board Risk Committee Chair’s report

164

Board Audit Committee Chair’s report

170

Directors’ Remuneration report

170

Board Remuneration Oversight Committee Chair’s report

173

Remuneration report

178

Remuneration Implementation report

182

Directors’ report

Annual Report 2014145


Governance

 

Chris Jones

Chair of Board of Directors

Audit Committee
Chair
Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 30 March 2015.

LOGO

Lord Burns

Chair

Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director and Joint Deputy Chair on 1 December 2001 and Chair on 1 February 2002.

Skills and experience

Lord Burns (age 70) is an experienced economistChris Jones was a partner at PwC from 1989 to 2014. He focused on the financial services industry from the mid-1980s and has extensive board experience having held Non-Executive appointments atwas a rangeSenior Audit Partner specialising in the audit of institutions, including British Land plc (2000-2005), Pearson plc (1999-2010)banks and Legal & General Group plc (1991-2001) giving himother financial services companies. He also led PwC’s EMEA Financial Services practice and was a deep understandingmember of corporate governance. Hetheir Financial Services global leadership team.

Chris is a life peerpast president of the HouseAssociation of Lords and held a number of positions in the Civil Service, including Permanent Secretary to the Treasury (1991-1998) and Chair of the Parliamentary Financial Services and Markets Bill Joint Committee in 1999. Until the end of 2013, he served as a Non-Executive Director of Banco Santander, S.A *

Corporate Treasurers.

Other principal appointments

Independent Non-Executive Director of Santander UK Group Holdings plc* since 30 March 2015. Non-Executive Director of Redburn (Europe) Ltd since 2014.

Chairman of the Channel 4 Television Corporation

Non-Executive MemberAdvisory Board of the Office for Budget ResponsibilityAssociation of Corporate Treasurers since 2010.

MemberInvestment Trustee of the Whistleblowing CommissionCivil Service Benevolent Fund since 1 September 2015.

 

Board committee membership

Board Audit Committee since 30 March 2015 and Chair since 30 June 2015.

Nomination Committee (Chair)since 19 May 2015. Remuneration Committee since 1 September 2015.

Risk Committee since 30 March 2015.

Alain Dromer

Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 October 2013.
Deputy Chairs

Baroness Shriti Vadera

Joint Deputy Chair (1 January 2015)

LOGO

Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director and Joint Deputy Chair on 1 January 2015 and will succeed Lord Burns as Chair on 30 March 2015.

Skills and experience

Shriti Vadera (age 52) has been Non-Executive Director of BHP BillitonAlain Dromer is an experienced financial services executive director with 25 years’ experience in asset management and AstraZeneca since 2011. She was an investment banker with S G Warburg/UBS from 1984-1999, on the Council of Economic Advisers, HM Treasury from 1999 -2007, Trustee of Oxfam from 2005-2009, Ministercapital markets in the Cabinet UK and Europe, together with nearly 10 years’ experience with the French Treasury.

He was previously CEO of Aviva Investors; Global Head of Group Investment Business of HSBC Investments; Head of Asset Management at CCF Crédit Commercial de France and Head of Capital Markets of La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild Banque. Prior to that, Alain held various roles in the Government of France, French Treasury including Section Head, World Monetary Affairs and IMF, and Deputy Head/Office Business Department and International Development Department from 2007-2009, G20 Adviser 2009-2010, and advised governments, banks, and investors on the eurozone crisis, banking sector, debt restructuring and markets from 2010-2014.of Financial Markets.

Other principal appointments

Independent Non-Executive Director of AstraZeneca plcSantander UK Group Holdings plc* since 2014.

Director of Moody’s Investors Service Ltd since 2013.

Director of Moody’s Investor Service EMEA Ltd since 2013.

Independent Member of the Board of Moody’s Deutschland GmbH since 2013.

Independent Member of the Board of Moody’s France SAS since 2013.

Non-Executive Director of BHP BillitonMajid Al Futtaim Trust LLC since 2013.

Non-Executive Director of Henderson European Focus Trust plc since 2014.

 

Board committee membership

BoardAudit Committee since 1 January 2014. Nomination Committee

( from 1 January 2015)2014 to 27 July 2015.

Remuneration Committee since 1 January 2014.

Risk Committee since 15 December 2015.

Annemarie Durbin

Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 13 January 2016.

LOGO

Juan Rodríguez Inciarte

Joint Deputy Chair

Appointed Non-Executive Director on 1 December 2004.

Skills and experience

Juan Rodríguez Inciarte (age 62) is currently Head of Strategy for Banco Santander, S.A Since joining Banco Santander, S.A.Over an executive career spanning 30 years, Annemarie Durbin gained broad international banking experience which culminated in 1985 he has held senior management positions across various areasbeing a member of the business, including Retail Banking, Wholesale, Commercial Banking, TreasuryExecutive Committee and MarketsCompany Secretary of Standard Chartered PLC. Prior to this Annemarie was CEO and Risk Management. JuanExecutive Director of Standard Chartered’s publicly listed entity in Thailand. Also she was: CEO in the Philippines; held various commercial, retail and institutional banking roles; and led several global support functions.

Annemarie has been deeply involved in Banco Santander’s global expansionstrong corporate governance, regulatory and legal credentials, and has an extensive financial services background providing strong UK banking knowledge, having been a track record of transforming complex businesses in a multinational and multicultural business environment.

From 2007 to 2013, Annemarie was a Non-Executive Director of The Royal Bank of Scotland plcFleming Family & Partners Limited, an asset management, corporate advisory and National Westminster Bank plc as part of a co-shareholding arrangement with the group.family office organisation.

Other principal appointments

Executive Director of Banco Santander, S.A.*

Director of SAM Investment Holdings Limited*

Independent Non-Executive Director of Santander Consumer Finance, S.A.*UK Group Holdings plc* since 13 January 2016.

Non-Executive Director of WH Smith PLC since 2012. Member of the Listing Advisory Panel since 1 January 2015

 

Board committee membership

Board NominationAudit Committee since 13 January 2016.

Remuneration Committee since 13 January 2016.

Risk Committee since 13 January 2016.

* Part of the Banco Santander group.

 

 

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Annual Report 2015

Governance

Corporate Governance

Directors’ Remuneration

Directors’

Report

Report

Report

 

 

Executive DirectorsGenevieve Shore

Nathan Bostock

Chief Executive Officer

LOGO

Appointed ExecutiveIndependent Non-Executive Director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer on 19 August 2014 and Chief Executive Officer on 29 September 2014.

Skills and experience

Nathan Bostock (age 54) was appointed CEO of Santander UK on 29 September 2014. Nathan joined from The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (‘RBS’), where he was an Executive Director and the Group Finance Director (October 2013 –18 May 2014), having joined RBS in 2009 as Head of Restructuring and Risk and Group Chief Risk Officer. Nathan previously spent eight years with Abbey National plc (now Santander UK plc) from 2001 to 2009 and served on the Board as an Executive Director from 2005 until his departure in 2009. Prior to this he held a number of other executive positions in the Banking sector.

Other principal appointments

Member of the PRA Practitioner Panel

2015.

Stephen Jones

Chief Financial Officer

LOGO

Appointed Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer on 6 March 2012.

Skills and experience

Stephen Jones (age 50) joinedGenevieve Shore brings digital, technology and commercial expertise to Santander UK from a career in 2011the media, publishing and technology sectors, most recently as HeadChief Product and Marketing Officer of Pearson plc and previously as Director of Digital Strategy, Corporate Development & Regulatory AffairsChief Information Officer and was subsequently appointed Chief FinancialProduct Officer. HeShe has extensive financial services experience focussed on senior roles in Financealso served as Global Digital Director of Penguin Books Ltd and Investor Relations that provide him with extensive knowledge across multiple disciplines. Previously he held a number of senior management positions at Barclays Bank plc including Head of Investor Relations, Head of Corporate Debt Capital Markets and Equity Capital Markets and Co-Head of Corporate Investment Banking, Barclays Capital EMEA.Random House.

Other principal appointments

MemberIndependent Non-Executive of the BoardDirector Santander UK Group Holdings plc* since 18 May 2015.

Non-Executive Director of the British Bankers AssociationMoneysupermarket.com Group plc since 2014.

ChairNon-Executive Director of the British Bankers Association’s Financial and Risk Policy CommitteeScottish Television (STV) Group plc since 2012.

Non-Executive Director Next Fifteen Communications Group plc since 1 February 2015.

Member of the FCA Practitioner PanelParliamentary Digital Advisory Board since 1 October 2015.

Member of the Advisory Council of TheCityUKBoard for LEGO Education since 1 October 2015.

Board committee membership

Audit Committee since 1 September 2015.

Remuneration Committee since 1 September 2015.

Risk Committee since 1 September 2015.

 

Banco Santander nominated Non-Executive Directors

Ana BotínAppointed Non-Executive Director on 29 September 2014.

LOGO

Steve Pateman

Head of UK Banking

Appointed Executive Director on 1 June 2011.

Skills and experience

Steve Pateman (age 51) is responsible for UK Banking and has extensive financial services experience having operated across a number of functions and roles. Steve joined the Company in June 2008 as Head of UK Corporate and Commercial Banking and an Executive Committee member. Previously he worked at National Westminster Bank plc and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc where he had responsibility for Business Banking, Commercial Banking and Corporate Banking. Steve also worked on financing, restructurings, capital market and equity issues during his time in NatWest Markets, where he specialised in the leisure and retail sectors.

Other principal appointments

Member of the Chartered Banker Professional Standards Board

Chair of the British Bankers Association’s Retail Committee

Annual Report 2014147


Governance

Board of Directors

continued

Non-Executive DirectorsAna Botín

LOGO

Appointed Chief Executive Officer until 29 September 2014 at which point she assumed the role of Non-Executive Director

Skills and experience

Ana Botín (age 54) joined the Banco Santander group in 1988 and currently serves aswas appointed Executive ChairmanChair of Banco Santander S.A SheSA in September 2014. Ana has been a member of Banco Santander S.A.’s,SA’s Board and Executive Committee since 1989 and has previously served as CEOChief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Santander UK plc (Decemberfrom December 2010 to September 2014). Ana2014. She has extensive financial services experience having ledexperience. She directed Banco Santander S.A.’sSA’s Latin American expansion in the 1990s1990’s and was responsible for the Latin American Corporate Banking, Asset Management and Treasury divisions. Ana is also

Other principal appointments

Non-Executive Director of Santander UK Group Holdings plc* since 2014.

Executive Chair of Banco Santander SA* since 2014 and Director since 1989.

Non-Executive Director of The Coca-Cola Company since 2013.

Founder and Vice-Chair of the Empresa y

Crecimiento Foundation which finances small and medium companies in Latin America.

Other principal appointmentssince 2000.

Executive Chairman of Banco Santander, S.A.*

Non-Executive Director of The Coca-Cola Company

TrusteeMember of the Mayor’s FundUK Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Board since 27 July 2015.

Member of the MIT’s CEO Advisory Board since 26 August 2015.

Vice-Chair of the World Business Council for London

José María Carballo

LOGO

Appointed Non-Executive Director on 1 December 2004.

Skills and experience

José María Carballo (age 70) has extensive financial services and board experience. He was Executive Vice President of Banco Santander, S.A.* (1989-2001), CEO of Banco Santander de Negocios* (1989-1993) and Star Capital Partners Limited (2001-2005). Until 1989, he was Executive Vice President responsible for Europe at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya. He was also Executive Vice President of Banco de Bilbao in New York until 1983.

Other principal appointments

Director of Santander Banif Inmobiliario, F.I.I.*

Chairman Santander Private Real Estate Advisory, S.A.*

Chairman of Vista Desarrollo, S.A. S.C.R.*

Director of Vista Capital de Expansión, S.A. S.G.E.C.R.*Sustainable Development since 11 January 2016.

 

Board committee membership

Board RiskNomination Committee since 27 July 2015.

 

Antonio Escámez

LOGO

Appointed Non-Executive Director on 1 October 2012.

Skills and experience

Antonio Escámez (age 63) has extensive board-level experience with a strong financial services background having worked in the sector since 1973. He has held a variety of Executive and Non-Executive Director-level roles across a number of international jurisdictions including Latin America, Europe and the US. Antonio was formerly a Non- Executive Director of Banco Santander, S.A.* and a member of the Group Risk Committee and Group Technology Committee.

Other principal appointments

Chairman of Arena Media Communications España, S.A.

Vice Chairman of Attijariwafa Bank Société Anonyme*

Member of the Banco Santander International Advisory Board*

Chairman of Fundación Banco Santander*

Vice Chairman of Grupo Konectanet, S.L.

Chairman of Openbank, S.A.*

Chairman of Santander Consumer Finance, S.A.*

Board committee membership

Board Risk Committee

* Part of the Banco Santander group.

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Bruce Carnegie-Brown
  

José María Fuster

LOGO

Appointed Non-Executive Director on 1 December 2004.

Skills and experience

José María Fuster (age 56) is the Banco Santander Group Innovation Managing Director and Executive Committee member. Prior to that, he was the Global Head of the Technology and Operations Division of Banco Santander, S.A.* He was appointed Chief Information Officer of Banco Santander, S.A.* in 2003, responsible for providing the technological and operational systems that support the Banco Santander group’s accounting and risk functions which provided him with a strong knowledge and focus on technology matters. He started his professional career with International Business Machines, S.A. and Arthur Andersen as a consultant and has also worked for Citibank España, S.A. and National Westminster Bank plc.

Other principal appointments

Director of Ingeniería de Software Bancario, S.L. (‘ISBAN’)*

Director of Santander Consumer Bank AG*

Director of Santander Consumer Holding GmbH*

Manuel Soto

��

LOGO

Appointed Non-Executive Director on 1 November 2013.

Skills and experience

Manuel Soto (age 74) has significant experience in financial services gained during a 38 year career both at Executive and Board level, providing him with a deep insight across a range disciplines. At Arthur Andersen he held various roles, including EMEIA Area Managing Partner and Chairman of the WorldwideBoard. Manuel has also held various Non-Executive roles including serving as a board member of Banco Santander, S.A.* for 14 years, where he was Chair of the Audit and Compliance Committee.

Other principal appointments

Member of the Advisory Board of Befesa Medio Ambiente, S.A.

Director of Cartera Industrial REA, S.A.

Member of the Advisory Board of Grupo Barceló

Director of Santander Bank, N.A.*

Board committee membership

Board Audit Committee

Mike Amato

LOGO

Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 August 2013.

Skills and experience

Mike Amato (age 58) is an experienced financial services executive. His core experience has been within retail banking where he has in excess of 30 years’ experience in the US, UK and other international locations, providing him with a strong understanding of retail matters. Prior to co-founding Cimarron, Inc. Mike was at Barclays Bank plc which he joined in 2006 and was appointed Global Chief Distribution and Product Management Director in 2010. Before joining Barclays, Mike was at Washington Mutual Bank in a number of senior positions, including Co-President of the retail bank in 2005.

Other principal appointments

President and CEO of Cimarron, Inc.

Board committee membership

Board Nomination Committee

Board Remuneration Oversight Committee

Board Risk Committee

* Part of the Banco Santander group.

Annual Report 2014149


Governance

Board of Directors

continued

Non-Executive Directorscontinued

Roy Brown

LOGO

Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 21 October 2008.

Skills and experience

Roy Brown (age 68) has extensive experience as a Non-Executive Director across various sectors. He was previously Chairman of GKN plc and a Non-Executive Director of Brambles Industries plc, the British United Provident Association Limited (‘BUPA’) and the Franchise Board of Lloyd’s of London. Formerly, he was an Executive Director of Unilever plc and Unilever NV where he held a variety of executive roles, managing businesses in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, which has provided him with a strong geo-political focus. Roy was previously a Non-Executive Director and Deputy Chairman (2007-2008) and subsequently acting Chairman (2008) of Alliance & Leicester plc, prior to its acquisition by the Banco Santander group.

Board committee membership

Board Nomination Committee

Board Remuneration Oversight Committee (Chair)

Board Risk Committee

Bruce Carnegie-Brown

LOGO

Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 October 2012. (Ceased to be classifiedOn appointment as independent with effect from 12 February 2015 due to his appointment tofirst
Vice Chairman and Lead Independent Director of the Board of Banco Santander S.A.)

SA on
12 February 2015, he was no longer considered an Independent Non-Executive Director.

Skills and experience

Bruce Carnegie-Brown (age 55) has performed a wide variety of risk-related roles withinin the financial services sector, primarily in insurance and investment banking, providing him with a breadth of experience and insight of financial services. He was Managing Director of JP Morgan (1985-2003), performing roles including Senior Credit Officer EMEA (1995- 1997), Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Securities Asia (1998-2000) and Head of European and Asian Debt Capital Markets (2000-2003).from 1985 to 2003. Following this, Bruce was CEO of Marsh UK Limited from 2003 to 2006, and President and CEO of Marsh Europe (2003-2006) and Managing Partner of 3i Group (2007-2009).

Other principal appointments

Chairmanserved as Chair of Aon UK Limited

Chairman of Moneysupermarket.com Group plc

Board committee membership

Board Audit Committee

Board Nomination Committee

Board Remuneration Oversight Committee

Board Risk Committee (Chair)

First Vice Chairman and Lead from 2012 to 2015. He was Senior Independent Director of Banco Santander, S.A.Catlin Group Limited from 12 February 2015

Alain Dromer

2010 to 2014 and Close Brothers Group plc from 2006 to 2014.

LOGO

Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 October 2013.

Skills and experience

Alain Dromer (age 60) has over 20 years’ experience in asset management following previous roles as CEO of Aviva Investors, when he was also Chair of the ABI’s Investment Committee, Global Head of Group Investment Business at HSBC Investments and Head of Asset Management at CCF Credit Commercial de France, providing him with extensive knowledge of the sector. Prior to that, Alain gained regulatory experience through holding various roles in the Government of France, French Treasury including Section Head, World Monetary Affairs & IMF and Deputy Head, Office of Financial Markets.

Other principal appointments

Non-Executive Director of Henderson European Focus Trust plcSantander UK Group Holdings plc* since 2014.

Vice Chair and Lead Independent Director of Banco Santander SA* since 12 February 2015.

Non-Executive Director of Majid Al Futtaim Trust LLCMoneysupermarket.com Group plc since 2010 and Chair since 2014.

Independent Member of the Board of Moody’s Deutschland GmbH

Independent Member of the Board of Moody’s France SA

Independent Member of the Board of Moody’s Investors Service Limited

Board committee membership

Board Audit Committee

Board Nomination Committee

Board Remuneration Oversight Committee

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Report

Rosemary Thorne

LOGO

Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 July 2006.

Skills and experience

Rosemary Thorne (age 63) brings extensive financial expertise to the Board and has considerable experience in the retail and financial services sector, having served as Group Finance Director of Ladbrokes plc, J Sainsbury plc and Bradford & Bingley plc, where she worked on the company’s demutualisation and flotation, resulting in a place in the FTSE 100 Index. Rosemary was also a member of the Financial Reporting Council and Financial Reporting Review Panel for nine years and a member of the Main Committee of The Hundred Group of Finance Directors for 15 years.

Other principal appointments

Non-ExecutiveHistoric Royal Palaces since 2014. Director of Smurfit Kappa Group plc

Non-Executive Director of Solvay SAShakespeare’s Globe Trust since 2006.

 

Board committee membership

Board Audit Committee (Chair)

Board Nomination Committee

Board Risk Committee

Scott Wheway

LOGO

Appointed Independent Non-Executive Director onfrom 1 October 2012 to 19 May 2015.

Nomination Committee since 19 March 2013. Remuneration Committee since 1 October 2012. Risk Committee since 1 October 2012 and Chair from 1 October 2012 to 26 October 2015.

 

Skills and experience

Scott Wheway (age 48) brings extensive retail and consumer knowledge to the Board. He has extensive experience in the retail sector, having formerly held various senior roles within Tesco plc, including Operations Director and CEO, Tesco Japan. Following this, he was CEO of Best Buy Europe and Managing Director of Boots Company plc (now known as The Boots Company Ltd) and Managing Director and Retail Director of Boots the Chemist at Alliance Boots plc. Scott also has experience of the financial services sector through his Non- Executive directorship of Aviva plc, where he was Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and is now Chair of the Governance Committee and a member of their Audit and Governance Committees.

Other principal appointments

Non-Executive Director of Aviva plc

Board committee membership

Board Nomination Committee

Board Remuneration Oversight Committee

Board Risk Committee

Annual Report 2014151


Governance* Part of the Banco Santander group.

 

 

Corporate Governance Report

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE STATEMENT164  

The narrative reporting in this Annual Report has been enhanced from prior years to bring its disclosures in line with those required of a premium listed company. Santander UK plc is a subsidiary of Santander UK Group Holdings Limited, which is a subsidiary of Banco Santander, S.A The Company’s ordinary shares are not listed on the London Stock Exchange (‘LSE’), however, it does have preference shares listed on the LSE and, as a result, the Company is subject to certain Listing Rules and the Disclosure & Transparency Rules. However, this means the Company is not required to make certain disclosures that are normally part of the continuing obligations of premium listed companies in the UK. Santander UK is committed to achieving high standards of corporate governance and, whilst not obliged to do so, it seeks to comply with the September 2012 UK Corporate Governance Code as issued by the Financial Reporting Council (the ‘Code’) in a manner appropriate to its ownership. The Code is publicly available at www.frc.gov.uk. For purposes of this section, certain terms used, such as ‘independent’ are defined according to the Code.

Statement of compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code

The Board confirms that, for the year ended 31 December 2014, Santander UK has applied those principles and provisions of the Code, as appropriate given its ownership structure.

Governance structure

The Board delegates certain responsibilities to Committees to assist in discharging its duties as set out below. The Committees play an essential role in supporting the Board to discharge its duties. More information on the work of the Committees can be found on pages 157 to 172.

Santander UK Group Holdings Limited Board

Santander UK plc Board

Board Audit

Board NominationBoard RemunerationBoard Risk

Committee

Committee

Oversight Committee

Committee

Oversight of financial reporting and internal control matters

Oversight of Board and Board Committee composition and effectiveness, and Board and Executive appointments and succession plans

Oversight of overarching principles and parameters of remuneration policyOversight and advice to Board on current and future risk exposures and management of overall risk appetite

The Board

At the year-end, the Board comprised the Chair, three Executive Directors, six Non-Executive Directors and six Independent Non-Executive Directors. Our Chair, Lord Burns, was deemed independent upon appointment. In addition, the Board determined that Mike Amato, Roy Brown, Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Alain Dromer, Rosemary Thorne and Scott Wheway met the independence criteria set out in the Code. Short biographies of each Director, which illustrate the diverse range of skills and experience that they bring to the Board, are set out on pages 146 to 151.

The Board considers that, at the current time, it is of an appropriate size to oversee Santander UK’s business, with a structure that ensures that no individual or group dominates the decision-making process. The Board is satisfied that the Chair and those Directors who have external directorships have sufficient time available to discharge their responsibilities and to be effective members of the Board.

The Company does not require the Directors to offer themselves for re-election every year or for new Directors appointed by the Board to offer themselves for election at the next Annual General Meeting.

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Board changes

Nathan Bostock was appointed to the Board as an Executive Director and Deputy CEO on 19 August 2014 and was subsequently appointed CEO on 29 September 2014. Ana Botín relinquished her office of CEO on 29 September 2014 following her appointment as Executive Chairman of Banco Santander, S.A. and remained on the Board as a Non-Executive Director. José María Nus, who had served as Chief Risk Officer and Executive Director, resigned from the Board on 1 April 2014 and returned to a senior role at Banco Santander, S.A..

Since the year-end, Shriti Vadera joined the Board as Joint Deputy Chair on 1 January 2015 and will succeed Lord Burns as Non-Executive Chair on 30 March 2015. The Board have determined that for the purpose of the Code, Shriti Vadera was independent upon appointment. In addition, Bruce Carnegie-Brown ceased to be deemed independent on the Board of the Company upon his appointment to the Board of Banco Santander, S.A. on 12 February 2015.

Roles and responsibilities of the Board

The key responsibilities of the Board are set out on page 157. There is a clear division of responsibility between the Chair and CEO; the Chair is responsible for the leadership of the Board, and the CEO leads the management of the business. The division of responsibilities between the Chair and CEO is set out in writing and agreed by the Board. There is a formal schedule of matters reserved to the Board and a schedule of matters delegated to the CEO in place. Details of the roles of the Board and Company Secretary are set out below.

   Chair

CEO

   Overall responsibility for leading the Board.

    Maintains, develops and leads an effective Board.

    Plans and manages the Board’s business.

    Acts as its figurehead and promotes the highest standards of corporate governance.

    Sets the Board’s agenda and ensures the delivery of accurate, timely and clear information.

    Ensures the active and constructive engagement of the Directors.

  Provides leadership of Santander UK.

   Responsible for developing and delivering Santander UK’s strategy and financial results within the policies and values established by the Board.

   Strives consistently to optimise resources and achieve financial and operating objectives.

   Ensures the appropriate management of day-to-day business affairs.

   Executive Directors

Non-Executive Directors, including Independent Directors

   Assists with the development and delivery of Santander UK’s strategy and financial results.

    Provides the Board with specialist knowledge and experience.

    Makes and implements decisions on all matters affecting Santander UK’s operation, performance and strategy and for the successful leadership of Santander UK.

  Assists management with the development of strategy.

   Provides constructive oversight of the performance of management against agreed targets, goals and Risk Appetite.

   Actively participates in the decision-making process.

   Assists management with setting the overall culture of Santander UK.

Company Secretary

The Company Secretary works closely with the Board on constitutional and corporate governance issues. He provides direction and leadership to maintain and enhance sound standards of Corporate Governance and helps shape an appropriate schedule of topics for the year ahead, ensuring a good flow of information.

Access to advice and resources

All Directors have access to the advice and services of the Company Secretary and may take independent professional advice at the Company’s expense where necessary. The Company Secretary ensures that the Directors are provided with sufficient resources to undertake their duties.

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Governance

Corporate Governance Report

continued

Directors’ induction and ongoing professional development

The Directors receive a comprehensive induction programme tailored to their skills and experience. Responsibility for designing the individual inductions and for the ongoing professional development of all Directors resides with the Chair, assisted by the Company Secretary. The induction programme includes an introduction to the Board, the Company Secretary, key executives and business areas, including visits to Santander UK’s key sites, and covers a wide range of topics, including strategy, key risks and topical issues, and the legal and regulatory landscape. The Non-Executive Directors on the Board recommended for appointment by Banco Santander, S.A. provide the Directors with regular opportunities to interact with the Company’s ultimate shareholder.

The Directors also attend regular training and briefing sessions for ongoing professional development in order to update and refresh their skills and knowledge.

Board tenure of Directors

Board composition by skills

LOGOLOGO

Board attendance

The Board had 12 scheduled meetings during 2014, as well as a Board Strategy Day. The Directors’ attendance at these meetings is set out in the table below. Attendance at Board Committee meetings is shown within the relevant Board Committee reports below.

DirectorMeetings Meetings 
 eligible attended 
  to attend    

Chair

Lord Burns

 13   13  

Executive

Nathan Bostock (appointed 19 August 2014)

 5   5  

Stephen Jones

 13   13  

Steve Pateman

 13   12  

José María Nus (resigned 1 April 2014)

 3   3  

Non-Executive

Ana Botín (Executive until 29 September 2014)

 13   12  

José María Carballo

 13   13  

Antonio Escámez

 13   13  

José María Fuster

 13   13  

Juan Rodríguez Inciarte

 13   13  

Manuel Soto

 13   13  

Independent Non-Executive

Mike Amato

 13   12  

Roy Brown

 13   13  

Bruce Carnegie-Brown

 13   13  

Alain Dromer

 13   12  

Rosemary Thorne

 13   13  

Scott Wheway

 13   12  
           

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Overview of 2014 activities

The Chair, together with the CEO and Company Secretary, ensure that the Board has an appropriate forward-looking schedule, so that its time is focused on matters of strategic importance. This remains subject to continuous review and is amended during the year to provide the Board flexibility to consider an appropriate breadth of matters.

Each regular monthly Board meeting receives for its consideration the following updates:

Management update – led by the CEO and Executive Directors covering key strategic priorities and projects (as well as associated opportunities) together with business plans and performance. It also covers industry-wide developments critical to Santander UK’s strategic objectives;

Enterprise-wide risk report – covering the key enterprise-wide risk developments, indicators and associated actions taken to ensure that Santander UK operates within Risk Appetite; and

Company Secretary’s report – covering key statutory and governance matters including external developments and likely associated impacts.

In addition to the monthly reporting above, the Board considers and discusses in-depth quarterly presentations from the Chief Internal Auditor on key areas to ensure robust internal controls and progress of business areas against previous audit recommendations. The Executive Director, Head of UK Banking also provides quarterly updates on Santander UK’s customer experience, examining whether the right customer outcomes are delivering against our customer-related strategies. The Board also receives frequent reports from the Chairs of the Board Committees on their work and significant developments within their remit that require further consideration by the Board.

In addition to these recurring items, in 2014 the Board’s attention was particularly focused on key matters and strategic activities, certain of which are shown below:

   Matters considered throughout the year

Market context– Analysis of market context, strategic opportunities and challenges for Santander UK.

Strategy– Deep-dive into our mortgage strategy and key strategic developments.

Innovation– focus on Santander UK’s innovation agenda and forward-looking strategy.

Risk Framework– A detailed review of the Risk Framework and Risk Appetite.

Regulatory environment– Consideration of the external regulatory environment and anticipated developments as well as a focus on Santander UK’s Regulatory and Conduct Strategy Programme.

Regulatory– Presentations from the PRA and FCA.

Products and campaigns– Consideration of our products and marketing campaigns (both current and forward-looking) as well as a focus on our digital initiatives.

Critical infrastructure and technology resilience– Consideration of Santander UK’s infrastructure and technology resilience and associated risk mitigation.

Culture– Examination of the desired culture that defines Santander UK and progress made.

Recovery and Resolution Plan– Consideration of the Recovery and Resolution Plan as well as how Santander UK is preparing for the impacts of the Banking Reform legislation.

Banking Reform– Detailed consideration of Banking Reform planning and associated updates.

Capital adequacy– Consideration and approval of the Individual Capital Adequacy Assessment Plan (‘ICAAP’).

Liquidity adequacy– Consideration and approval of the Individual Liquidity Adequacy Assessment (‘ILAA’).

In May 2014, in addition to the usual monthly meeting, the Board held a Strategy Day to discuss and debate Santander UK’s current and future challenges and ensure alignment of thinking on those critical matters. This day was devoted to an in-depth analysis of Santander UK’s strategic priorities, by looking at its expected future performance as well as examining domestic and global trends in the financial services markets and the implications for Santander UK. The day will remain a critical part of the Board’s calendar in 2015 and beyond.

Annual Report 2014155


Governance

Corporate Governance Report

continued

Planned activities in 2015

The Board will continue to review, approve and guide corporate strategy, major plans of action, Risk Appetite and policies, annual budgets and business plans. Banking reform will be a particular area of focus for the Board over the coming year as we further develop our legal and operating structure. This will require detailed consideration to ensure not only the future viability of Santander UK’s business model, but also a smooth journey and good outcome for its customers.

The Board will continue to devote time to ensuring that it has a deep understanding of core business areas through a rolling programme of ‘deep-dives’. In addition, it will ensure that it has an effective appreciation of developments, innovation and the competitive environment within the banking sector, so that Santander UK is well placed to pre-empt and meet the changing demands of its customers.

As in previous years, the Board will hold a Strategy Day which will enable a focussed review of those issues which it considers to be most important to the sustained success of the business. This will also provide an opportunity for the Board to consider how the business is giving life to its core values and behaviours in the implementation of its business strategy.

The Board will also maintain its close scrutiny of the internal operating environment, and the effectiveness of risk management and a strong risk culture across the business. This will provide the Board with appropriate assurance that Santander UK is managed prudently and in a way which is consistent with fair outcomes for its stakeholders.

Board effectiveness and evaluation

The Board composition and the skills, experience and knowledge of the Directors contribute greatly to the overall effectiveness of the Board. In order to maintain its effectiveness, the composition of the Board and its Committees, together with succession planning arrangements, are kept under continuous review.

The Board remains committed to continuous improvement and ongoing implementation of the actions identified as part of the external Board Effectiveness review conducted during 2013 by Bvalco Limited. A legal firm engaged by Santander UK from time to time holds a 20% shareholding in Bvalco Limited.

Since the external effectiveness review, the Board agenda has been reshaped to ensure that there is an appropriate balance of forward-looking and strategically-focussed matters for discussion. A dedicated Board Strategy Day is now held each year and the form of the agenda has been realigned to allow the Board to focus on the most pertinent matters at each meeting. In addition, Board learning and development remains a key area of focus with a more tailored approach planned for 2015.

Directors’ conflicts of interest

The Companies Act 2006 provides that a Director must avoid situations where he/she can have a direct or indirect interest that conflicts or might conflict with the interests of the Company (‘Situational Conflicts’). The Company’s Articles of Association contain provisions that allow the Board to consider and, if it sees fit, to authorise Situational Conflicts. The Board confirms that such powers have been operated effectively and that a formal system for Directors to declare their interests and for the non-conflicted Directors to authorise Situational Conflicts continues to be in place. Any authorisations given are recorded by the Secretariat Department.

Service contracts and letters of appointment

All Executive Directors have a service contract and all Non-Executive Directors have a letter of appointment.

156Santander UK plc


Directors

Corporate Governance

Directors’ Remuneration

Directors’

Report

Report

Report

Board Committees

The Board Committees play an essential role in supporting the Board to discharge its duties, as well as implement its vision and strategy and provide focussed oversight of key aspects of the business.

The role and responsibilities of each Board Committee are set out in formal Terms of Reference, which are reviewed at least annually and are summarised below. The Board Committees make recommendations to the Board as they see fit, as contemplated by their Terms of Reference. The Chair of each Committee reports to the Board after each meeting on the matters discussed and the minutes of each meeting, other than the Board Nomination Committee, are provided to the Board for information. Each Committee has a formal schedule of topics that set out the matters to be discussed during the year. The schedules are reviewed and updated regularly which allows the inclusion of matters as they arise and require attention.

The activities undertaken by each of the Committees, together with planned activities for 2015 are set out in the Board Committee Chairs’ reports on pages 159 to 172. The full Terms of Reference for each Committee are available on Santander UK’s website www.aboutsantander.co.uk and from the Company Secretary upon request.

Board and Board Committee responsibilities

   Committee

Key responsibilities

Board

Review, approve and guide corporate strategy, major plans of action, Risk Appetite and policies, annual budgets and business plans; set performance objectives; monitor implementation and corporate performance; and oversee major capital expenditures, acquisitions and disposals;
Monitor the effectiveness of Santander UK’s governance practices and make changes as needed to ensure alignment with current best practices;
Oversee the process of external disclosure and communications;
Set the vision for Santander UK’s values and standards and oversee management’s implementation of this; and

All other matters of such importance as to be of significance to Santander UK as a whole because of their strategic, financial or reputational implications or consequences.

Board Nomination
Committee (‘BNC’)

Lead the process for Board appointments, including the identification, nomination and recommendation of candidates for appointment to the Board;
Review regularly the structure, size, composition and skills mix of the Board and its Committees;
Consider succession planning for Directors and other senior executives together with associated methodology;
Review the results of any Board effectiveness review conducted during the year;
Review annually the time commitment required from Non-Executive Directors; and

Keep up to date and fully informed about strategic issues, regulatory developments and commercial changes affecting the Santander UK group and the market in which it operates.

Board Audit

Committee (‘BAC’)

Monitor and review the integrity of the financial reporting and internal financial controls by ensuring the appropriate resolution of significant financial reporting or control issues and the clarity of disclosures in the narrative reporting;
Monitor and review the effectiveness of the Internal Audit function;
Monitor and review the External Auditors’ performance and their engagement for non-audit services, and ensure objectivity and independence is safeguarded in relation to non-audit services; and

Ensure the adequacy of Santander UK’s Whistleblowing arrangements.

Board Risk

Committee (‘BRC’)

Review the Risk Framework and recommend it to the Board for approval;
Advise the Board on Santander UK’s overall Risk Appetite, tolerance and strategy;
Oversee and advise the Board on Santander UK’s current risk exposures and future risk strategy; and
Review the effectiveness of the risk management systems and internal controls.

Board Remuneration    

Oversight

Committee (‘BROC’)

Oversee and supervise the implementation of policies and frameworks covering remuneration and reward;
Provide governance and strategic input into executive and employee remuneration and reward activities; and

Ensure the UK remuneration and reward strategy attracts and retains talent, motivates performance and ensures compliance with regulatory remuneration requirements, whilst encouraging the demonstration of appropriate behaviours.

Annual Report 2014157


Governance

Corporate Governance Report

continued

Board Committee composition

The Board and Board Nomination Committee consider the composition of each Committee to ensure that an appropriate balance of skills, experience, and independence is in place to enable them to discharge their respective duties and responsibilities effectively. The Committees’ chairmanship and membership are kept under review and are refreshed as appropriate to ensure that undue reliance is not placed upon particular individuals.

To ensure there is an opportunity for an ongoing exchange of information between the Board Committees there is an overlap of membership of Non-Executive and Independent Directors across the Committees. Given the overlap in internal controls and risk management responsibilities between the Board Audit Committee and Board Risk Committee, the respective Chairs of each of these Committees also serve as members on each Committee. This common membership ensures co-ordination and cohesion between both Committees.

The reports of the Board Committee Chairs are set out on pages 159 to 172 and provide an overview of the key activities of the Committees during 2014 and planned activities for 2015.

Committee membership at 31 December 2014

DirectorSantander UKBoard AuditBoard RiskBoardBoard
BoardCommitteeCommitteeNominationRemuneration
CommitteeOversight

Lord Burns

 n   n  CorporateDirectors’  
         

Directors

Governance

Report

Remuneration

Report

Directors’ Report

   

José María FusterAppointed Non-Executive Director on 1 December 2004.
   

Skills and experience

José María Fuster joined Banco Español de Credito SA in 1998 and was appointed as Chief Information Officer of Banco Santander SA in 2003.

José María started his professional career with International Business Machines SA before becoming a consultant at Arthur Andersen. He has also worked for Citibank España SA and National Westminster Bank plc.

Other principal appointments

Non-Executive Director of Santander UK Group Holdings plc* since 2014.

Executive Vice President, Corporate Head of Innovation of Banco Santander SA* since 16 January 2015.

Director of Ingeniería de Software Bancario SL* since 2002.

Director of Santander Consumer Holdings GmbH* since 2012.

Director of Sistema 4B SL* since 2013.

Director of Santander Consumer Bank AG* since 2009.

Director of Portal Universia SA since 2010.

Juan Rodríguez Inciarte

Appointed Non-Executive Director on 1 December 2004.

Deputy Chair

   

Skills and experience

Juan Rodríguez Inciarte joined Banco Santander SA in 1985. After holding various positions, he was appointed to the Board of Directors in 1991, holding this office until 1999.

Juan has also held directorships at the Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS) and National Westminster Bank plc from 1998 to 2004, ABN Amro, First Fidelity Bancorp, and at First Union Corporation (now part of Wells Fargo).

Other principal appointments

Non-Executive Director of Santander UK Group Holdings plc* since 2014.

Executive Director Banco Santander SA* since 2008.

Director Santander Consumer Finance SA* since 2007.

Director Vista Capital de Expansion SA since 2007.

Chairman Saarema Inversiones SA since 2005.

Board committee membership

Nomination Committee from 27 September 2011 to 27 July 2015.

Risk Committee since 1 September 2015.

Manuel Soto

Appointed Non-Executive Director on 1 November 2013.
   

Skills and experience

Manuel Soto was formerly a Board member of Banco Santander SA from 1999 to April 2013, and during that period was Chair of the Banco Santander SA Audit and Compliance Committee.

Manuel has significant experience in financial services, having undertaken a variety of Executive and Director level roles, including a 38 year career at Arthur Andersen, where he discharged, among other responsibilities, EMEIA Area Managing Partner from 1980 to 1998, and Chairman of the Worldwide Board from 1987 to 1989.

He also served on the Board as Vice Chairman of Indra Sistemas SA from 1999 to 2011 and on the Board of Corporación Financiera Alba from 1999 to 2010.

  

Other principal appointments

Non-Executive Director of Santander UK Group Holdings plc* since 2014.

Director of Cartera Industrial REA SA since 2008. Member of advisory board of Grupo Barceló since 2012.

Member of advisory board of Befesa Medio Ambiente SA since 2013.

Board committee membership

Audit Committee since 1 January 2014.

* Part of the Banco Santander group.

Annual Report 2015

Governance

Executive Director

Nathan Bostock

Chief Executive Officer

Appointed Executive Director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer on 19 August 2014 and Chief Executive Officer on 29 September 2014.

Skills and experience

Nathan Bostock joined Santander UK from RBS, where he was an Executive Director and Group Finance Director. He joined RBS in 2009 as Head of Restructuring and Risk and Group Chief Risk Officer.

Nathan previously spent eight years with Abbey National plc (now Santander UK plc) from 2001 to 2009 and served on the Board as an Executive Director from 2005. During his time with Abbey National plc, he held various senior positions including Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director. Nathan was also previously at RBS from 1991 to 2001 in a number of senior positions and spent seven years before that with Chase Manhattan Bank.

Other principal appointments

Chief Executive Officer of Santander UK Group Holdings plc* since 2014.

Director of Santander Fintech Limited* since 10 July 2015.

Member of the PRA Practitioner Panel since 2014.

Member of the Financial Services Trade and Investment Board (FSTIB) since 20 July 2015.

Non-Board Executive

Antonio Roman

Appointed Chief Financial Officer on 30 October 2015.

Skills and experience

Antonio Roman has extensive financial services experience across a wide range of areas including Finance, Investor Relations and Retail Banking. He was appointed Treasurer of Santander UK plc in 2014, with responsibility for the management of interest risk, liquidity, funding, economics and investor relations. Prior to that Antonio joined Banco Español de Credito SA* in 2011 as Head of Financial Management and in 2013 joined Santander UK plc as a Deputy Treasurer.

Antonio also worked for Grupo Caja Madrid where he served as Financial Controller from 2007 to 2010.

Other principal appointments

Director of Abbey National Treasury Services plc* since 2014.

Management Board Member of Abbey Covered Bonds LLP* since 2014.

Member of the British Bankers Association’s Financial and Risk Policy Committee since 1 November 2015.

* Part of the Banco Santander group.

166  Santander UK plc


Mike Amato

nnnn

Nathan Bostock

 n   CorporateDirectors’  
         

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Remuneration

Report

Directors’ Report

   

Chair’s report on corporate governance

My report describes the roles, responsibilities and activities

of the Board and its Committees.

“Our ambition is to be the best governed bank
in the UK that supports Santander UK’s aspiration
to become the best retail and commercial bank.”

LOGO

  

This year we have appointed new INED Chairs to the Board Committees and all have a sizeable majority of INEDs as set out on page 190. We have also reviewed the membership of each Committee so that all INEDs are members of the Board Audit, Board Risk and Board Remuneration Committees in order to provide efficient working and effective oversight.

The activities undertaken by each of the Committees is set out in the Board Committee Chairs’ reports on pages 171 to 185. The full Terms of Reference for each Committee are available on Santander UK’s website www.santander.co.uk and from the Company Secretary upon request.

Interaction with our parent

In 2015, we have defined clearly our responsibilities and relationship with Banco Santander, our sole shareholder, through the UK Group Framework agreed by Santander UK and Banco Santander. Our UK Group Framework is described in detail on page 2.

Board fees

We reviewed all Board and Board Committee fees with no changes made except to remove the payment of fees for Board Nomination Committee members which is increasingly the market norm, and increase the fees of Board Remuneration Committee members to bring them into line with the Board Audit and Board Risk Committees, reflecting better its enhanced role and time commitment. Board fees are set out on page 192 in the Directors’ Remuneration Report.

Conflicts of interest

The Company’s Articles of Association contain provisions that allow the Board to consider and, if it sees fit, to authorise situational conflicts. The Board confirms that such powers have been operated effectively and that a formal system for Directors to clear their interests and for the non-conflicted Directors to authorise situational conflicts continues to be in place. Any authorisations given are recorded by the Company Secretary.

As referenced above and on page 2, the UK Group Framework defines clearly our responsibilities and relationship with Banco Santander. This includes the definition of independence which, in recognition of our ownership, is a Director who has no current or recent relationship with the Banco Santander group and Santander UK other than through the UK Board role.

Shriti Vadera

Chair

24 February 2016

LOGO   For Board membership, tenure and
attendance see page 190

LOGO   For Board responsibilities see page 170

  

Board membership

This has been a year of significant transformation of our governance, and changes to our Board composition. I have detailed the changes to our membership, including new appointments, in my Chair’s statement on page 1. In addition, details of Board membership, tenure and attendance can be found on page 190. The Board is satisfied that the Chair and those Directors who have external directorships have sufficient time available to discharge their responsibilities and to be effective members of the Board.

Given our 100% ownership by Banco Santander and the appointment process for Directors set out in the UK Group Framework, the Company does not require the Directors to offer themselves for re-election every year or for new Directors appointed by the Board to offer themselves for election at the next Annual General Meeting.

Board committees

The Board delegates certain responsibilities to Committees to assist in discharging its duties, as set out on page 170. The Committees play an essential role in supporting the Board in these duties, providing focused oversight of key areas and aspects of the business.

The role and responsibilities of the Board and each Board Committee are set out in formal Terms of Reference. These are reviewed at least annually, in accordance with best practice. In particular we have significantly enhanced the Terms of Reference of the Board Remuneration Committee, as described on page 184. The Board Committees make recommendations to the Board in accordance with their Terms of Reference. The Chair of each Committee reports to the Board each meeting on the matters discussed and significant developments within their remit that warrant further consideration by the Board. The minutes of each meeting, except for the Board Nomination Committee, are provided to the Board for information.

Annual Report 2015

Governance

Board activities

The Chair, together with the CEO and Company Secretary, ensure that the Board has an appropriate forward looking schedule, so that its time is focused on matters of strategic importance to the business and appropriate monitoring of risks. This is subject to continuous review and has enabled us to improve our approach to setting the agenda, the information we receive and the debates we have. As a result, for 2016 we will reduce the number of scheduled Board meetings held from 11 to 9 per year in line with the market norm for the sector. This remains subject to continuous review and will provide the Board flexibility to consider an appropriate breadth of matters.

In July 2015, in addition to the usual monthly meeting, the Board held a Strategy Day, details of which are set out on page 3.

The Board has increased its level of contact with the bank’s senior leadership by regularly inviting relevant business and function heads to present on current developments.

We have provided tailored induction programmes for our new Directors, which form the basis of on-going development plans. This ensures that they have the necessary understanding of the bank and its key activities. The Company Secretary supports the Chair in designing individual inductions for all Directors, which include site visits and cover topics such as strategy, key risks and current issues including the legal and regulatory landscape. We have also instituted regular workshops for all Directors to deepen and refresh our understanding of key business issues.

A summary of the Board’s activities in 2015 is set out on the following page.

  LOGO

168  Santander UK plc


Ana Botín

n
   CorporateDirectors’  
         

Directors

  

Governance

Report

  

Remuneration

Report

  

Directors’ Report

   

Summary of Board activities in 2015

    Activity

Actions taken by the Board and outcomes

Business and customer

–    Reviewed, challenged and approved the 3-year business plan 2016-2018 and the Budget for 2016, including associated risk assessments

–    Received detailed insight of, and provided input into, the Company’s Digital Strategy, both during Board meetings and at our dedicated Board Strategy Day. The Board further endorsed the Digital Strategy proposed by management, as well as the Company’s early adoption of Apple Pay

–    Reviewed, challenged and remained appraised of developments with customer experience and complaints

–    Reviewed, challenged and monitored the performance and strategy of the Retail Banking Division. This included its holistic strategy, as well as a specific focus on the customer journey, the digital proposition, customer segmentation, Wealth Management, Private Banking and customer liabilities. The Board also approved the Mortgage Strategy, the changes to the 1l2l3 World proposition and continued to monitor their development

–    Reviewed, challenged and remained appraised of the performance and strategy of Santander Global Corporate Banking, including its capabilities from a client perspective

–    Reviewed, challenged and remained appraised of the performance and strategy of Santander Corporate and Commercial Banking

–    Reviewed, challenged and approved Santander Consumer UK’s cooperation with Banque PSA Finance SA

–    Remained appraised of the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme, including management actions to mitigate pension risk

–    Reviewed the Company’s sustainability activity and report

Regulation and capital

–    Remained fully appraised of the regulatory dialogue regarding the application of ring-fencing requirements and management proposals for the implementation of the resultant structural change. This included the approval for the operating model to create a Retail and a separate Corporate Bank and the associated regulatory submissions

–    Considered and approved the ICAAP, ILAAP and Santander UK’s Recovery and Resolution Plan

–    Challenged and approved the adequacy and effectiveness of stress-testing and capital management

–    Reviewed, challenged and approved the Company’s wholesale funding programme arrangements

–    Reviewed and approved the payment of interim dividends

–    Remained appraised of regulatory developments – including competition and market reviews – ensured compliance with regulatory requirements and fully considered all regulatory feedback from the PRA and FCA

–    Approved the Company’s Annual Report and Accounts

People

–    Received regular updates and provided challenge to management on a range of people issues including HR strategy, talent management, succession planning and diversity

–    Gave particular focus to initiatives to embed the right culture and behaviours across the Company

Governance

–    Agreed a framework defining our relationship and responsibilities with Banco Santander

–    Agreed a set of strategic priorities for the Board to guide it in discharging its responsibilities

–    Reviewed enterprise wide governance arrangements to ensure that governance and controls in the UK are robust

–    Undertook an internal review of Board effectiveness and agreed a plan for continuous improvement.

–    Approved new appointments to the Board as recommended by the Board Nomination Committee

–    Reviewed the Terms of Reference for the Board and Board Committees

Risk and control

–    Received regular enterprise wide risk updates from the Chief Risk Officer

–    Reviewed, challenged and approved updated risk appetites and monitored performance against them across all risk types

–    Reviewed and challenged the Company’s Conduct Strategy Programme

–    Considered specific issues, including remediation of crystallised conduct risks and Santander Global Corporate Banking risk and control environment

–    Remained appraised of the strategy to mitigate operational risk in critical infrastructure and banking processes

–    Remained appraised of management actions and regulatory dialogue concerning cyber risk and resilience

–    Remained appraised of Corporate Affairs and Marketing activity to ensure protections are in place for Santander UK brand and reputation

Annual Report 2015

Governance

Roy Brown

n nnn

Board and Board Committee responsibilities

       

Key responsibilities

    
Board

–    Review, approve and monitor performance in respect of corporate strategy, major plans of action, Risk Appetite and policies, annual budgets and business plans.

–    Monitor the effectiveness of the Company’s governance arrangements.

–    Ensure that appointments to the Board or its Committees are effected in accordance with the appropriate governance process.

–    Monitor and manage potential conflicts of interest of management, Board members, shareholders, external advisers and other service providers.

LOGO

For Chair’s report see page 171

Board Nomination

Committee

–    Regularly review the structure, size and composition of the Board, including skills, knowledge, experience and diversity.

–    Consider succession planning for Directors and senior executives.

–    Identify and nominate candidates to fill Board vacancies as and when they arise.

–    Regularly assess the performance of the Board.

–    Review annually whether Non-Executive Directors have dedicated sufficient time to their duties to have been effective in their role.

–    Oversee the Company’s governance arrangements.

LOGO

For Chair’s report see page 173

Board

Risk Committee

–    Assess the Risk Framework and recommend it to the Board for approval.

–    Advise the Board on our overall Risk Appetite, tolerance and strategy.

–    Oversee our exposure to risk and our future strategy and advise the Board on both.

–    Review the effectiveness of our of risk management systems and internal controls.

LOGO

For Chair’s report see page 178

Board Audit Committee

–    Monitor and review the integrity of the financial statements of the Company.

–    Keep under review the adequacy and effectiveness of the Company’s internal financial controls.

–    Review the adequacy and security of the Company’s Whistleblowing arrangements for its employees and contractors to raise concerns.

–    Monitor and review the effectiveness of the Company’s Internal Audit function.

–    Assess the performance of the External Auditors and oversight of their independence.

LOGO

For Chair’s report see page 184

Board Remuneration Committee

–    Consider, agree and recommend to the Board the principles and parameters of the Company’s remuneration and reward policies and frameworks.

–    Consider and approve specific remuneration packages for executive directors and other senior management.

–    Oversee the implementation of remuneration policies, ensuring they promote sound and effective risk management.

–    Determine and oversee the remuneration governance framework.

–    Review and approve regulatory submissions in relation to remuneration.

170  Santander UK plc


José María Carballo

nn
 CorporateDirectors’
         

Directors

  

Governance

Report

  

Remuneration

Report

  

Directors’ Report

   

Board Nomination Committee Chair’s report

We ensure that the Board composition and overall governance arrangements

of the bank are fit for purpose and aligned to our operating model.

“We have focused on ensuring that the Board has
the necessary skills and experience to discharge its
responsibilities in a fast-changing environment.”

We recommended the appointment of Chris Jones as our designated financial expert and Chair of Board Audit Committee. Chris brings significant financial services experience gained at PwC where he was a Senior Audit Partner and leader of its EMEA Financial Services practice.

In recognition of the increasing importance of the digital agenda to the bank’s strategy, the Committee recommended the appointment of Genevieve Shore, enabling the Board to benefit from her wealth of experience in digital and business innovation.

The appointment of Bruce Carnegie-Brown to the Board of Banco Santander created a vacancy in the Chair of Board Risk Committee role, as he was no longer deemed Independent in the UK. Following an open selection process, we recommended the appointment of Ed Giera, as Chair of the Board Risk Committee. He brings significant depth of risk and markets experience to the Committee and the Board. Ed assumed the Chairmanship of Board Risk Committee in October 2015. Bruce remains a Banco Santander nominated Non-Executive Director and member of the Board Risk and Remuneration Committees.

Most recently, we recommended the appointment of Annemarie Durbin who has broad international banking and governance experience and joined as an INED in January 2016.

Through these appointments we have maintained 50% INED membership, in line with the UK Group Framework that we formalised this year and which is defined on page 2.

In addition to completion of recruitment to the Board, we have also assessed the impact of the resignations of Stephen Jones, as Chief Financial Officer and Steve Pateman, as Head of UK Banking and satisfied ourselves that arrangements were in place to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities.

Skills and experience

The Committee continued to monitor Board members’ skills and experience through the year. This has informed the selection process during the recruitment of new INEDs and enabled us to assess their on-going development and training needs. The new Directors have spent significant time on their induction, including visits to corporate sites and branches, and we have instituted regular workshops for all Directors to deepen and refresh our understanding of key business issues.

LOGO

Shriti Vadera

Board Nomination Committee Chair

24 February 2016

LOGO For Committee membership, tenure and
            attendance see page 190

LOGO For the responsibilities of the
            Committee see page 170

Overview of the year

The Committee has overseen a significant change in the membership of the Board, with a number of Directors stepping down, as set out in my statement on page 1 and four new Directors joining. We have focused on the ongoing improvement of our overall effectiveness and in particular on the arrangements to support this, and readiness for implementation of ring-fencing.

Board and Committee membership

During the course of the year there have been a number of changes to the composition of the Board. The Committee has been actively engaged in the process of identifying, assessing and recommending new INEDs, guided by the principles of ensuring at least 50% Independent membership (as defined on page 2), appropriate breadth and depth of skills and experience, and seeking to improve gender diversity. In replacing members who have stepped down, we looked at the Board and Committee composition on a holistic basis in order to ensure that we had the right skill sets to support the bank’s future strategy.

We restructured the membership of the Committee, which previously had eight members, to comprise the Senior Independent Director, Chairs of the Board Committees and two Banco Santander nominated Non-Executive Directors, in line with the UK Group Framework. The current membership of the Nomination Committee is therefore Scott Wheway, Ed Giera, Chris Jones, Ana Botín and Bruce Carnegie-Brown.

In addition to my own appointment as Chairman and Chair of the Nomination Committee, Scott Wheway was appointed Senior Independent Director, as defined in the FRC’s UK Corporate Governance Code, and Chair of the Board Remuneration Committee. Four new INEDs have been appointed since the end of 2014, new INED Chairs have been appointed for each of the Board Committees and all Committees have a sizeable majority of INEDs. We also reviewed Board Committee membership resulting in all INEDs being members of the Board Audit, Board Risk and Board Remuneration Committees to provide efficient working and effective oversight.

Annual Report 2015

Governance

Diversity

The Committee has maintained its commitment to ensuring appropriate gender diversity on the Board. We currently have 31% women on the Board, increased from 13% during 2014. Having exceeded our current target of at least 25% women on the Board, we have reset our aspirational target to 33% by 2020 in line with the target set in Lord Davies’ Report, ‘Women on boards: 5 year summary’. We will continue to ensure that gender diversity remains front of mind in our succession planning. Furthermore, ensuring the right mix of skills and experience on the Board as a whole will enable the diversity of thinking that underpins the Board’s ability to provide effective challenge and oversight.

Banking Reform

The Committee spent time assessing the impact of ‘ring-fencing’ our business into a Retail and a separate Corporate Bank on our Board and Executive governance structures. We have submitted our proposed corporate governance model to the regulators along with our proposed business operating model. As we progress with implementation of a new operating model, our priority will be to deliver effective corporate governance while ensuring we meet the objectives of ring-fencing.

Internal review of Effectiveness

The Committee has overseen an internal Board Effectiveness Review conducted by the Company Secretary. This took the form of a confidential online survey completed by each board member and supplemented with individual interviews with our Company Secretary. Responses to the survey and feedback from the interviews were collated and a summary of findings presented to the Board for review. The internal review helped us develop our plans for continuous improvement for the year ahead.

Priorities for 2016

Our priorities for 2016 will include focus on ensuring continuous improvement of board effectiveness. This will be supported by an external review. We will also develop our operating structure resulting from ring-fencing requirements in 2019.

Bruce Carnegie-Brown

 n

Female Board members

     n

Independent Board members

December 2014  January 2016December 2014January 2016
13%(2/16)  n31%(4/13)   n38%(6/16)  n54%(7/13)

172  Santander UK plc


Alain Dromer

nnnn

Antonio Escámez

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Directors

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Report

Remuneration

Report

Directors’ Report

   

Board Risk Committee Chair’s report

The Committee supports the Board in ensuring that the business

operates within agreed Risk Appetite while taking account of emerging risks.

In 2015 we have seen further strong progress
in embedding an effective risk culture
and framework across Santander UK.”

Membership

Bruce Carnegie-Brown, who chaired the Committee for just over three years stepped down on 26 October 2015. I became a member of the Committee on 19 August 2015 and succeeded Bruce Carnegie-Brown as Chair on 26 October 2015. Bruce remains a member of the Committee as a Banco Santander nominated Non-Executive Director, following his appointment to the board of Banco Santander on 12 February 2015.

Rosemary Thorne, who was a member of the Board Risk Committee and Chair of the Board Audit Committee for nine years, stepped down on 30 June 2015. Chris Jones joined the Committee on 30 March 2015, and since 30 June 2015 has also been the Chair of the Board Audit Committee.

José María Carballo stepped down from the Committee on 31 March 2015, and Mike Amato, Roy Brown and Antonio Escámez stepped down on 31 December 2015. I thank them all for their valuable service.

Genevieve Shore and Juan Rodríguez Inciarte, joined the Committee on 1 September 2015. Alain Dromer joined us on 15 December 2015 and Annemarie Durbin joined us on 13 January 2016.

The Terms of Reference require the majority of the members to be Independent Non-Executive Directors. This criterion was met throughout the year.

LOGO

LOGO

Ed Giera

Board Risk Committee Chair

24 February 2016

LOGOFor Board membership, tenure and
            attendance see page 190

LOGOFor the responsibilities of the
            Committee see page 170

Overview of the year

During 2015, we continued to scrutinise our performance in the context of the main risks to which we are exposed, in particular credit, conduct and operational risk. We have also sought assurance that we are operating an effective enterprise wide Risk Framework and that an appropriate risk culture and attitude is embedded at all levels across the business.

Regular business updates have enabled us to assess the impact of a range of different risk factors on our business and customers. These have included: the macro-economic environment; management of simultaneous transformation projects including regulatory initiatives and improving our customer experience; ensuring effective embedding of the right culture and behaviour; the competitive landscape; future regulatory requirements; and the reslience of IT systems to cyber risk.

Annual Report 2015

Governance

Meeting our key responsibilities in 2015

How we addressed our key responsibilities relating to Risk Appetite and the Risk Framework, together with our work on stress testing and individually significant matters, is shown below. For information on our responsibilities relating to risk management and internal controls see page 177.

Significant areas of focus

    Area of focus

Action taken by the Board Risk Committee

Outcome

  
Risk Appetite

–    We have further embedded the alignment of Risk Appetite with our strategy. We performed a forward-looking annual review of Risk Appetite and set appropriate KPIs against which we can monitor performance.

–    The annual review of Risk Appetite and increasing accountability for performance as part of our reward programme is more firmly embedded in our business culture.

LOGO  For more on Risk Appetite see page 48.

  
Risk Framework

–    We reviewed and updated the Risk Framework, reflecting recent business and organisational developments, and associated changes to our risk profile. This included: the separate identification of financial crime risk; managing legal risk as part of operational risk; and separate identification of the individual elements of what we have previously described as balance sheet management risk, in particular banking market risk, liquidity risk, capital risk and pension risk.

–    Our Risk Framework continues to evolve in response to changes in our business. This ensures that the way we look at risk remains relevant to our business and the economic environment in which we operate.

LOGO  For more on Risk Framework see pages 41 to 47.

  
Stress testing  

–    Stress testing remains a key tool to highlight and manage the impact on capital and profit and loss in stress scenarios. Methodology, governance arrangements and outputs remain subject to close monitoring by the Committee. We participated fully in the 2015 PRA concurrent stress testing exercise and were engaged throughout the process, examining the significant drivers while challenging outputs and assumptions.

–    Stress test exercises informed our view on Risk Appetite and specific areas of further enquiry, such as pension risk. We recommended that the Board approve the stress testing submission to the PRA.

LOGO  For more on stress testing see page 49.

Macro-economic environment

–    We have considered the impact of the sustained period of low interest rates on our business and in particular our margins. We have closely monitored the effectiveness of asset and liability management and have also considered various aspects of the pricing dynamic of our 1l2l3 World proposition under a comprehensive range of scenarios.

–    We communicated the conclusions of our discussions to the Board who took the decision in September to increase the monthly fee on the 1l2l3 World products with effect from 11 January 2016. We continue to monitor asset and liability management and keep the performance of current accounts and credit card accounts under review.

Banking Reform

–    We engaged in wide ranging discussions on various matters, relating to Banking Reform, the risks associated with our business model and costs.

–    We continue to monitor developments relating to Banking Reform.

LOGO  For more on Banking Reform see page 37.

Global Corporate Banking model

–    We engaged Ernst & Young (EY) to support development of a conduct risk framework, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to review the controls and strategic operating model of our Global Corporate Banking business segment. PwC’s review also assessed Global Corporate Banking’s ability to support current and future business plans in the context of a more rigorous regulatory environment, Banking Reform, and ongoing improvements in standard industry practice.

–    We considered the detailed observations with management and advised the Board on the reviews.

–    We approved a governance framework to monitor and review management’s proposed action plans to address the recommendations over the short and medium term.

LOGO  For more on Global Corporate Banking see page 89.

UK referendum on EU membership

–    We have assessed the potential consequences for our business of the UK leaving the EU (Brexit), as well as the potential impact of market instability in the lead up to the referendum and in any implementation period following a potential ‘leave’ vote.

–    We are monitoring closely political developments as they progress.

174  Santander UK plc


José María Fuster

n
   CorporateDirectors’  
         

Juan Rodríguez Inciarte

nn

Stephen Jones

n

Steve Pateman

n

Manuel Soto

nn

Rosemary Thorne

nnnn

Scott Wheway

nnnn

n – Chair

n – MemberDirectors

 

  

Governance

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BOARD NOMINATION COMMITTEE CHAIR’S REPORT

  

 

 
LOGO 

Members

During 2014

Meetings
eligible
to attend
 Meetings 
attended 
 
  

 

 
  Lord Burns (Chair)   7       
  Mike Amato   7       
  Ana Botín(until 25 February 2014)   2       
  Roy Brown   7       
  Bruce Carnegie-Brown   7       
  Alain Dromer   7       
  Juan Rodríguez Inciarte   7       
  Rosemary Thorne   7       
  

Scott Wheway

 

   

 

7

 

  

 

   

 

 

  

 

  

 

 
      
      
      
      
      

Membership, attendanceOversight and skills

During 2014, we held seven meetings. The members of the Committee and attendance at meetings held in the year are shown in the table above. With effect from 1 January 2014, the membership of the Committee was expandedadvice to include Mike Amato, Alain Dromer and Scott Wheway. This enabled all Independent Non-Executive Directors to contribute to the important business covered by the Committee. As a result of Bruce Carnegie-Brown’s appointment to the Board of Banco Santander, S.A. on 12 February 2015 he ceased to be deemed independent on the Board of the Company. The Code recommends that a majority of members of the Board Nomination Committee are independent. As a result of the membership changes referred to above, the Committee satisfies this membership criterion.

In addition, Ana Botín relinquished her membership of the Committee on 25 February 2014 resulting in the membership comprising solely Non-Executive Directors. With effect from 1 January 2015, Shriti Vadera was appointed a member of the Board Nomination Committee and will assume the role of Chair of the Committee with effect from 30 March 2015, aligned to the date that she assumes the role of Chair of the Board of Directors.

Key responsibilities

The key responsibilities delegated to the Board Nomination Committee are set out on page 157.

Overview of 2014 activities

Throughout the year, we remained focussed on the continuous improvement of the Board and Board Committees. This included the ongoing review of the Board’s structure, size and composition. In particular, significant time was committed to the search for my successor as Chair and the appointment of Nathan Bostock as Deputy CEO and ultimately CEO. We were supported with the search for the Chair position by Russell Reynolds Associates. In addition, we considered the ongoing importance of the balance of membership of the Board and Board Committees, diversity of skills and experience, and succession planning arrangements in place at both a Board and senior management level. As part of our activities throughout the year, diversity remained a key consideration and important area of focus, supported by the publication of a Board Diversity Policy to complement the already established Santander UK Diversity & Inclusion Policy. An overview of key activities for the year is shown below.

Chair’s succession

One of the key responsibilities of the Board Nomination Committee is to lead the process for any appointments to the Board. This includes a formal, rigorous and transparent procedure for the appointment of new directors, with candidates identified and selected on merit against objective criteria with due regard to the benefits of diversity on the Board.

In particular, the Board Nomination Committee started to plan for my successor as Chair in the first quarter of 2014, following the announcement of my intention to step down as Chair of the Board by the year-end. This process was led by Scott Wheway, one of the Company’s Independent Non-Executive Directors, utilising his extensive experience in this area. With the support of Russell Reynolds Associates, a comprehensive search was conducted, having due regard to objective criteria as well as the diversity agenda. This comprehensive search resulted in the appointment of Shriti Vadera as my successor. Shriti Vadera brings a wealth of experience in the UK and global economies, as well as extensive banking experience, and is committed to building on our record as a scale challenger in UK banking and our work to help people and businesses prosper. Shriti Vadera assumed the role of Joint Deputy Chair with effect from 1 January 2015 to ensure an orderly transition and will formally succeed me as Chair on 30 March 2015, at which point I will relinquish my position on the Board.

CEO appointment

Following the death of the then Banco Santander Group Chairman, Emilio Botín, Ana Botín assumed the role of Banco Santander Group Executive Chairman with effect from 10 September 2014. As a result, she relinquished the office of CEO of Santander UK plc on 29 September 2014 but remains on our Board as a Non-Executive Director. The appointment of Nathan Bostock as Deputy CEO on 19 August 2014 represented a key step in ensuring that Santander UK was well positioned for succession. As a result, we recommended, and the Board approved, the appointment of Nathan Bostock as CEO of Santander UK with effect from 29 September 2014. Nathan Bostock brings a wealth of experience and an excellent track record in banking, operating at executive levels in the banking sector for over 22 years.

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Succession planning

An important role of the Committee is to ensure that robust succession plans are in place for the Board and senior management team. We spent a great deal of time throughout 2014 reviewing succession plans and ensuring that the succession pipeline and methodology being followed remained robust. Given the work conducted by the Committee in 2014, we are comfortable that succession plans remain in place and continue to evolve which will enable us to continue to take a forward-looking and proactive approach to future Board and senior management appointments aligned to the needs of Santander UK. This position is further evidenced by the appointment of a number of senior level positions from talent within Santander UK. As a result of José María Nus relinquishing his position on the Board with effect from 1 April 2014 to return to a senior role at Banco Santander, S.A., we considered the appointment of a replacement Chief Risk Officer. We were delighted to recommend the appointment of Keiran Foad as Chief Risk Officer (previously Deputy Chief Risk Officer) as successor to José María Nus in that capacity. In addition, following Karen Fortunato’s retirement from Santander UK, we appointed Shaun Coles as her successor as Company Secretary (previously Deputy Company Secretary).

Board member skills and experience

During 2014, the Committee kept the overall mix of Board member skills and experience under review in order to ensure that the Board remained well placed to meet the future challenges facing Santander UK. In particular, the Committee takes a proactive approach to planning for future appointments ensuring that any recruitment adds to the collective skill set of the Board. Furthermore, the Committee undertakes an annual review of Director time commitment and tenure. Rosemary Thorne, as Independent Non-Executive Director and Santander UK’s designated financial expert, completes nine years in office on 30 June 2015. The Committee has this position under review, together with the need to identify a successor to Bruce Carnegie-Brown as Chair of Board Risk Committee.

Diversity

During the year, the Committee reviewed the Board’s published Diversity Policy, which reflected the new CRD IV regulations which came into force on 1 January 2014. Following review, the Committee recommended the Board Diversity Policy to the Board, which is available on Santander UK’s website www.aboutsantander.co.uk. The Board continues to make progress in broadening the diversity of the Board and of senior management. In 2015, the Board intends to make further progress against the policy to ensure that it continues to drive the benefits of a diverse Board and colleagues across the business.

At 31 December 2014, 12% of the Board was female and, following the appointment of Shriti Vadera, female representation increased to 18%. Gender diversity statistics for Santander UK can be found on page 22. Although we are pleased with the progress achieved, we believe that diversity should be considered in its broadest sense, encompassing experience and background. We remain committed to maintaining a diverse Board as well as moving further towards our aim to have 25% female representation on the Board by 2017. However, all Board appointments will continue to be based on merit, with the prime consideration being to maintain and enhance the Board’s overall effectiveness.

Corporate governance

The Committee oversaw the Board’s governance arrangements to ensure that they reflected best practice and remained fit for purpose. In 2014, the Committee received regular corporate governance updates from the Company Secretary. The reports detailed the impact of emerging regulation would have on the Board and its corporate governance practices. The Committee also examines the proposed corporate governance disclosures in Santander UK’s Annual Report.

Board effectiveness

Throughout 2014, the Committee remained mindful of the actions identified and recommended by Bvalco Ltd as part of the external Board effectiveness review conducted during 2013. Such actions were aligned to the Board’s commitment to continuous improvement, which remains a key area of focus.

Planned activities for 2015

For 2015, we will maintain our support for the Board’s commitment to continuous improvement. We will undertake a further effectiveness review in 2015 in preparation for a future externally facilitated review. The composition of the Board and Board Committees will remain under constant review in order to ensure that we remain well placed for the future challenges ahead. In particular, we will continue to monitor and enhance the skills and experience requirements of Santander UK to ensure that we are best placed to deliver against our strategic objectives. Ensuring that robust succession plans are in place and kept under regular review will continue to be an important part of our work for 2015. We remain fully aware of the emerging developments in Corporate Governance arrangements applicable to banking institutions and will continue to take these into account throughout 2015 and beyond.

We will continue to consider Board and senior management diversity, including further progressing our aims under Santander UK’s Board Diversity Policy. Future Board appointments will continue to be made on merit, having due regard for the benefits of diversity, including gender. We will also continue to develop measurable objectives to implement the Board Diversity Policy which will be aligned with our ambitions in this important area.

Lord Burns

Chair of Board Nomination Committee

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BOARD RISK COMMITTEE CHAIR’S REPORT

  

 

 
LOGO 

Members

During 2014

Meetings
eligible
to attend
 Meetings 
attended 
 
  

 

 
  Bruce Carnegie-Brown   12     12   
  (Chair)    
  Mike Amato   12     11   
  Roy Brown   12     12   
  José María Carballo   12     12   
  Antonio Escámez   12       
  Rosemary Thorne   12     12   
  

Scott Wheway

 

   

 

12

 

  

 

   

 

11 

 

  

 

  

 

 
      
      
      
      
      
      

Membership, attendance and skills

During 2014, we held 12 meetings and established a sub-committee for the purpose of approving Santander UK’s stress test results as detailed below. The members of the Committee and attendance at meetings held in 2014 are shown in the table above. On 1 January 2014, the membership of the Committee was expanded to include Scott Wheway. The Terms of Reference require the majority of the members to be Independent Non-Executive Directors. With the exception of Antonio Escámez and José María Carballo, all members are Independent Non-Executive Directors therefore satisfying this membership criterion. As a result of my appointment to the Board of Banco Santander, S.A. on 12 February 2015, I ceased to be deemed independent on the Board of the Company. As a result, I will step down as Chair of the Committee as soon as a successor is appointed.

Key responsibilities

The key responsibilities delegated to the Board Risk Committee are set out on page 157.

Overview of 2014 activities

Throughout the year, the Committee received comprehensive Enterprise-Wide Risk Management reports from the Risk Division and Executive to enable it to oversee the performance of Santander UK against the approved Risk Appetite, including a focus on top and emerging risks, which are outlined on pages 36 to 38 and set out in detail in the Risk Review on pages 25 to 144. These reports were supplemented by more detailed reviews of particular aspects of our risk profile on a periodic basis, together with deep dives into specific matters requested by the Committee, further detail on which is set out below. We also reviewed the Risk Appetite and Risk Framework as set out below.

Consistent with last year, credit risk, operational risk and conduct risk continue to be our main areas of focus. Other matters reviewed included the capital and liquidity position, including stress scenarios, significant internal control matters, and other specific risks such as IT and pensions. The Committee also reviewed in detail Santander UK’s ICAAP, its Recovery and Resolution Plan, and its ILAA, making recommendations in respect of each to the Board.

The Committee met its key responsibilities as follows:

Advise the Board on the overall Risk Appetite, tolerance and strategy

The reports from the Risk Division enabled us to oversee Santander UK’s performance against the 2014 Risk Appetite, which was approved by the Santander UK Board in 2013. We reviewed and challenged the risk management information provided to us, seeking further reports, analysis and explanations from the Risk Division and other units responsible for the control of risk and business functions, as appropriate, to ensure a full understanding of the risks facing Santander UK. This was then used to assess and challenge proposals from the Executive in respect of Risk Appetite throughout the year, with the Committee reviewing management’s recommendations regarding specific limits in the business. At our meeting in December, we reviewed and challenged the proposed Risk Appetite for 2015 in detail and recommended this to the Board for approval.

Review the effectiveness of the risk management systems and internal controls

We received regular reports on the implementation of the risk control self assessment programme during the course of the year and considered the results of this programme at our meeting in December. In recognition of the importance of risk culture in the effective delivery of risk management and internal controls, we also monitored the implementation and embedding of Santander UK’s Risk Culture programme, including its alignment to the Santander Way and ‘Simple, Personal, Fair’.

Review the risk management framework and recommend it to the Board for approval

Following the approval by the Board of a revised Risk Framework, as recommended by the Committee we approved individual frameworks for each risk type and worked to ensure that the Risk Framework was being embedded consistently across Santander UK during the year. In the second half of 2014, we conducted our annual review of Santander UK’s Risk Appetite to ensure that it remained appropriate for the business and that Santander UK’s strategy was consistent with its Risk Appetite.

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Oversee and advise the Board on Santander UK’s current risk exposuresexposure and future risk strategy

During 2014,2015, we reviewed Santander UK’s exposure to the risks outlined below and also analysed emerging themes, including regulatory, macroeconomicmacro-economic and global risks, which could affect Santander UK’s ability to achieve its strategic goals.

 

 

Risk

 

Action taken by the Board Risk Committee review

 

Outcome

 
Credit risk – retailThe Committee considered

–    Considered monthly reports on the overall credit quality of Santander UK’s loan portfolios. Specific areas of focus included:

Retail Banking – forbearance,portfolios, particularly the standard variable rateStandard Variable Rate (SVR) and interest-only mortgage portfolio,portfolios, as well as the Buy-to-let mortgage affordability, and the development of risk systems.

Commercial Banking – higher risk elements of the portfolio, principally corporate real estate.

Corporate & Institutional Banking – large exposures and country risk.

Market risk

The Committee considered a detailed presentation on market risk and also reviewed the use of trader prices and Santander UK’s systemic exposure to LCH Clearnet (‘the London Clearing House’).

Balance sheet management risks    

The Committee reviewed Santander UK’s ILAA and ICAAP regulatory submissions, which we then recommended to the Board for approval. The review of the stress scenarios helped us to satisfy ourselves that balance sheet management risks were being effectively mitigated by management.portfolio.

 

During–    Reviewed the yearincrease in new business and systems and controls in the Committee also considered proposed changes to Santander UK’s defined benefit pension scheme (the ‘Scheme’) and the proposed Scheme Deficit Repair Plan.

Operational risk

A significant amount of the Committee’s time during 2014 was devoted to the consideration of operational risk matters, ranging from the monitoring of the delivery of the overall Operational Risk Transformation Programme and embedding of risk policies, through to consideration of specific areas of operational risk such as document retention, the management of supplier risk and fraud prevention.Buy-to-let business.

 

During the year, a series of operational–    Considered strategic solutions for interest-only residential mortgage customers to mitigate associated credit, conduct and other risk key risk indicators was developed, which we reviewed, challenged and approved. Operational risk remains an area of significant regulatory focus for Santander UK with the PRA conducting a detailed review during the autumn, the results of which we considered.exposures.

Conduct risk

We oversaw the implementation within Santander UK of the changes required in respect of the MMR and the transfer of regulation of consumer credit business from the Office of Fair Trading to the FCA. Conduct risk has been a lens through which we have reviewed various business change initiatives such as the creation of a retail branch in Jersey and further product simplification.

The Committee monitored customer satisfaction feedback and complaints, and oversaw the results of mystery shopping exercises undertaken by Santander UK to assure itself about the embedding of cultural change across the business and to drive improvement in customers’ experience in dealing with Santander UK.

The Committee also considered conduct risks associated with interest-only mortgages.

Regulatory risk

Throughout the year the Committee monitored the volume of regulatory change emanating from the UK, Europe and the US, considering the ramifications for Santander UK and providing feedback to management in respect of related consultation exercises.

On the conduct of business, the volume of demands from regulators with respect to stress testing, multiple Asset Quality Review, market reviews and general information requests place an extraordinary burden on Santander UK and on the resources of the Risk Division in particular.

Legal risk

The Committee considered progress with embedding legal risk awareness within Santander UK, leading to more effective controls and decreased legal risk.

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–    Growth in retail portfolios and earnings have been achieved within approved Risk Appetite.

–    Recommended to the Board that additional new business could be written in line with Risk Appetite.

–    Agreed a governance path for future updates to the Committee.

LOGO For more see page 62.

  
Credit risk – corporate and commercial  

–    Considered regular reports on credit quality of SME and commercial real estate lending.

–    Reviewed Global Corporate Banking concentration levels, and sector and geographic risk exposures.

–    Growth in corporate and commercial portfolios and earnings has been achieved within approved Risk Appetite.

–    Agreed an update on combined exposure to the resources sector.

LOGO For more see pages 77 and 89.

Market risk

–    Reviewed monthly analysis providing detailed VaR reports and stress testing results for a range of macro-economic scenarios to assess traded market risk exposure.

–    Exposures have been maintained well within Risk Appetite.

–    Committee has gained assurance of adequacy of VaR reporting and stress testing.

LOGO For more see page 102.

Liquidity risk

–    Reviewed and brought appropriate oversight to the ILAAP.

–    Reviewed and approved proposals for a diversification in the assets held for liquidity purposes.

–    Recommended adoption by the Board.

LOGO For more see page 111.

Capital risk

–    Reviewed and brought appropriate oversight to Santander UK’s related risks associated with the ICAAP, and its RRP. Considered a report on the potential impacts of forthcoming regulation on the firm’s capital forecasts, including leverage.

–    Recommendations for approval made in respect of ICAAP and RRP to the Board.

–    Production of more specific and regular updates on capital going forward.

LOGO For more see page 129.

Pension risk

–    Considered a detailed report on the impact on the balance sheet, funding for pension liabilities, and earnings of Santander UK in the event of the current low interest rate environment persisting.

–    Review of pension fund positioning and IAS 19 presentation.

–    Continued to monitor the impact of sustained low interest rates and the effectiveness of asset and liability management.

–    Requested an holistic update on pension risk and governance of investment proposals.

LOGO For more see page 139.

 

 

Other significant areas of focus included:

Annual Report 2015

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Area of focus    Risk

 

Action taken by the Board Risk Committee review

 

Outcome

 
Stress testingOperational risk

As part–    A significant area of the new Bank of England Concurrent Stress Test, the Committee (and subsequently a sub-committee consisting of myself, Rosemary Thornefocus in 2015, with particular emphasis on cyber security, IT resilience and Scott Wheway established to devote additional time and focus) provided review and challenge of both the stress testing approaches and results.Risk Data Aggregation.

 

–    We monitoredreceived regular updates on our Operational Risk Transformation Programme and the developmentcontinued progress being made to embed the operational risk framework.

–    Monitored on an ongoing basis an enhanced set of the PRA’s requirements; reviewed the stress scenarios and constraints; monitored the process and governance by which the stress testing was conducted; considered management’s interpretation of the scenarios, together with the significant assumptions made, providing advice and recommendations. The sub-committee gave final recommendation to the Committee and Board to formally approve the stress test results.key operational risk indicators.

 

–    Continued to monitor the impact of sustained low interest rates and the effectiveness of asset and liability management.

–    Committee requested an holistic update on pension risk and governance of investment proposals.

LOGO For more see page 142.

 
Information Technology (‘IT’)         Conduct risk

During–    Received reports on the year,progress of risk culture initiatives across the Committeebusiness including the relevant behaviours that underpin Simple, Personal and Fair. We assessed the wide reaching Conduct Strategy Programme. This included a review of conduct risk in our strategy as well as the risk management framework and governance of conduct risk throughout the product cycle. We reviewed a rangeimprovements to documentation and management information and had oversight of IT risk-related matters including cyber security, legacy systemsthe introduction of new mandatory training.

–    Training for our people on vulnerable customers has been rolled out through the re-launch of the I AM Risk learning programme initiated in 2012.

–    Maintained oversight of proper management for the customer of crystallised risks, for example wealth management.

–    We have reviewed conduct in light of PPI and the programme for Santander UK’s new Data Centre.

Givenuncertainties relating to provisions including an update on the issues experienced by some other banks, we also reviewed Santander UK’s IT resilience, including new key risk indicators, and approved a new IT Risk Appetite statement.High Court case relating to Plevin.

 

–    The conduct risk framework was developed and implemented in line with regulatory commitments, with full roll out planned for 2016.

–    Development and implementation of a monitoring programme of conduct risk exposures and embedding of behaviours.

LOGO For more see page 146.

LOGO For more on how we have been supporting vulnerable

      customers see page 148.

 
Change programmesOther key risks

We assessed–    Financial crime risk – Reviewed regular updates on financial crime including a Transformation Programme which includes significant developments in fraud prevention involving identification techniques and challengedsocial engineering.

–    Regulatory risk – Reviewed the regulatory agenda and associated impact on our business including the risk aspectsassociated with simultaneously managing multiple projects.

–    Model risk – Received and considered plans to extend further model risk management disciplines, including the development of an inventory of the most material models. Reviewed and approved a rangeframework for the management and control of change programmes duringmodel risk.

–    We continue to support the I AM Risk culture which was introduced in 2012 to reinforce the Risk Framework and highlight that everyone is responsible for managing risk. We have overseen the re-launch of the I AM Risk learning programme this year which has supported learning on cyber crime, conduct risk and reported to the Board on our findings.speaking up (Whistleblowing).

 

Scottish independence

As part–    Maintained Board level oversight and reinforced accountability for execution of its monitoring of emerging risks during the year, the Committee considered a detailed report setting out the potential risk to both Santander UK and the economy generally of a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum which took place in September 2014.Financial Crime Transformation Programme customer confidence.

 

Wholesale banking risk

During 2014, we reviewed a programmeLOGO For more see page 150.

–    Regular and substantive interaction on aspects of the regulatory agenda.

LOGO For more see page 153.

–    Supported the implementation of new practices and procedures.

LOGO For more see page 153.

–    Support of the I AM Risk culture which enables us to improvekeep the management of risk front of mind, with increased use of the I AM Risk portal on our intranet and controls around our wholesale business, in light of our strategic plans for growth in this area.new mandatory training modules.

 

LOGO For more see page 37.

Planned activities for 2015

Priorities for 2015 will remain similar to those in 2014. Enterprise-Wide Risk Management and the progression of embedding the Risk Framework will be a continued priority along with the Risk Culture programme. Credit risk, together with operational risk and conduct risk will be our prime focus in respect of risk types. The changing regulatory environment and its implications continue to be significant agenda items as will emerging macro economic factors (such as the slowdown in economic growth in the eurozone) and emerging social and political developments (including the UK General Election).

In order to ensure that the risk management arrangements deliver outcomes that are consistent with our focus on financial resilience and improving our customer experience, we will: closely monitor financial and non-financial risk performance against Risk Appetite; challenge management on risk-related issues; and keep a focus on emerging risks including the UK political, economic and regulatory environment, and IT developments. This will enable us to develop a better radar screen of forward-looking risk, improving our ability to anticipate risks to the successful execution of Santander UK’s strategy.

Bruce Carnegie-Brown

Chair of Board Risk Committee

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BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE CHAIR’S REPORT176  Santander UK plc

  

 

 
LOGO 

Members

During 2014

Meetings
eligible
to attend
 Meetings 
attended 
 
  

 

 
  Rosemary Thorne (Chair)   15     15   
  Bruce Carnegie-Brown   15     15   
  Alain Dromer   15     15   
  

Manuel Soto

 

   

 

15

 

  

 

   

 

15 

 

  

 

  

 

 
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      

Membership, attendance and skills

During 2014, we held 15 meetings. The members of the Committee and attendance at meetings held during 2014 are shown in the table above. On 1 January 2014, Roy Brown and José María Carballo stepped down and Alain Dromer and Manuel Soto were appointed to the Committee. The new members bring considerable financial experience to the Committee.

The Code recommends that at least three members of the Board Audit Committee are independent and the Committee satisfied this requirement throughout the year. As a result of Bruce Carnegie-Brown’s appointment to the Board of Banco Santander, S.A. on 12 February 2015 he ceased to be deemed independent on the Board of the Company. Notwithstanding his loss of independence, he will continue to serve as a member of the Committee. However, the composition of the Committee remains under review.

Financial expert

The Board has determined that I have the necessary qualifications and experience to qualify as a Board Audit Committee financial expert. This determination is based in part on my 15 years’ experience as a Finance Director of a number of FTSE 350 Index companies, and my membership on the Financial Reporting Review Panel and the Hundred Group of Finance Directors Main Committee.

Key responsibilities

The key responsibilities delegated to the Board Audit Committee are set out on page 157.

Overview of 2014 activities

We received regular reports throughout the year from Finance, the External Auditors, Internal Audit, Compliance and Legal & Secretariat and also regularly meet with the Executive and senior management. In my capacity as Board Audit Committee Chair, I meet in private session with key members of the management team and the External Auditors ahead of each meeting. I also attend meetings with the PRA, the FCA, the Financial Reporting Council (‘FRC’), and the British Bankers’ Association (‘BBA’) both on an individual basis and together with the Chairs of Audit Committees of other major UK banks and financial services institutions. I also attend technical briefings for financial services firms at major professional services firms.

Financial reporting and policy

Our main area of activity in 2014 continued to surround Santander UK’s financial reporting cycle, primarily the Annual Report, the Half-Yearly Financial Report, and the Quarterly Management Statements. As part of this, we considered all material changes to accounting treatment and areas of significant management judgement to ensure that they were appropriate.

A comprehensive report setting out the details of the management judgements and accounting policies used for the preparation of the financial statements was presented by management as part of each reporting cycle. Detailed reports were also presented by the External Auditors. This allowed a robust challenge of management’s proposals and we were therefore able to satisfy ourselves that both the judgements themselves and any disclosure thereof were appropriate and transparent.

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Effectiveness of risk management system and internal controls

We received regular reports on the implementation of the Risk Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) programme during the course of the year and considered the results of this programme at our meeting in January 2016.

We also received regular reports on the implementation of key risk control programmes during the course of the year and considered measures and action plans to address exposures related to systems and controls. In addition to those programmes already noted, we reviewed and monitored the progress and implementation of the cyber security IT systems plan, model risk framework, and other actions to strengthen internal controls. We also continued to monitor the implementation and embedding of Santander UK’s Risk Culture programme, including its alignment to The Santander Way and Simple, Personal and Fair.

Oversight was maintained of controls relating to transactions and payments from Santander UK to the wider Banco Santander group.

Effectiveness of the Committee

Committee membership has changed during the year, though total membership numbers has remained stable. These changes have resulted in a greater diversity of members and has, in particular, strengthened our skills and knowledge of IT, cyber and other digital-related risks.

Full terms of reference can be found on our website at www.santander.co.uk and a summary is given on page 170.

We receive regular reports on enterprise wide risk, we have called risk owners to our meetings to account for their progress (a practice also established by Board Audit Committee this year), and we have called upon the resources of leading external organisations in the field of cyber security. These actions are examples of how we have looked to inform our debate and decision-making during the course of the year and contribute to our effectiveness as a Committee.

Priorities for 2016

From an operational perspective, conduct risk and cyber security will remain high on our agenda. As we move towards Banking Reform, capital stress testing and assessment of our capital adequacy will be closely monitored, alongside implementation costs. Meanwhile, credit risk, both retail and corporate and commercial, remains central to our business and will be the focus of our continued attention.

Annual Report 2015

Governance

Board Audit Committee Chair’s report

Our responsibilities include oversight of the integrity of financial reporting and

controls, the effectiveness of our internal audit function, the relationship with

the external auditor and the adequacy of our whistleblowing arrangements

“A year of audit tender, oversight of a new retail
credit risk model and further conduct provisions.”

Overview of the year

Key areas of focus for the Committee during 2015 have included:

–    Implementing changes in Committee membership and chairmanship

–    Providing a recommendation to Banco Santander on an external audit tender

–    Refining our policy on the approval of non-audit services

–    Oversight of the internal audit function, including an independent assessment of effectiveness

–    Providing oversight on the effectiveness of financial controls and reporting

–    Further enhancing our whistleblowing arrangements.

We have also addressed the other responsibilities delegated to the Committee by the Board.

Membership

I would like to thank Rosemary Thorne, who chaired the Committee for nine years and who stepped down at the end of June. After a three month transition I took over Chairmanship at the end of June. Other changes were a result of the appointment of Ed Giera, on 19 August 2015, our new Board Risk Committee Chair, who also sits on the Committee, and the addition of Scott Wheway and Genevieve Shore on 1 September 2015.

The UK Corporate Governance Code recommends that at least three members of the Committee should be independent, a threshold which we met except for a short transition period of seven weeks. At 31 December 2015, five out of six members of the Committee were Independent Non-Executive Directors.

LOGO

LOGO

Chris Jones

Board Audit Committee Chair

24 February 2016

LOGOFor Committee membership, tenure and
            attendance see page 190

LOGOFor the responsibilities of the
            Committee see page 170

 

 

During 2014,178  Santander UK plc


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Directors’ Report

Significant financial reporting issues and judgements

The use of assumptions or estimates and the application of management judgement is an essential part of financial reporting. In 2015, we focused on the following significant financial reporting matters in relation to the financial statementsaccounting and disclosures:

 

Key financial    Financial reporting

issues/judgements    issue or judgement

 

Action taken by the Board Audit Committee

  

Outcome

 

Board Audit Committee review and conclusions

  

Conduct provisions

The provision for conduct remediation activities for PPI and other retail products is highly judgemental and requires significant assumptions including complaint volumes, uphold rates and redress costs.

Conduct remediation provisions, principally those in connection with PPI and other retail products including wealth and investments, continued to be an area of focus in 2014.

We continued–    Continued to scrutinise the level and adequacy of conduct remediation provisions particularlyand challenged the reasonableness of management’s assumptions.

–    In November 2015, the FCA published a consultation paper on the introduction of a deadline for customer PPI in lightcomplaints. It also proposed rules and guidance on the application of the Supreme Court judgment in Plevin v Paragon Personal Finance Limited. Following our review of the consultation paper and its potential impact, we made a conduct remediation charge of £450m in the fourth quarter of 2015. This charge represents our best estimate of redress and costs, notwithstanding the ongoing nature of the consultation. We considered management’s assessment of the estimates of future remediation and operational costs, bearing in mind the considerable uncertainty aroundsurrounding complaint volumes, uphold rates and redress costs. In particular, we noted that PPI provisioning amongst the other UK banks had continued to evolve and claim volumes remained unpredictable. Based on unutilised provisions, estimates for future provision utilisation and likely future costs, management increased the PPI provision by £95m in 2014. Ahead of approving the 2014 Annual Report, we challenged management on the appropriateness of their assumptions and reviewed the available data including the monthly trend of remediation payments. We also reviewed the level of disclosure in the 2014 Annual Report. We considered whether subsequent trends supported theassessed assumptions used for the 2014 Annual Report and assessed unutilised provisions against key assumptions forincluding future claims experience, referrals to the FOS, and remediation costs.

 

In respect–    Challenged the adequacy of other retail products in 2014, management increased the provision in respect of mis-selling offor conduct remediation relating to wealth and investment products by £45m following the outcome of customer contact exercises. We challenged management as to the adequacy of the additional provision and reviewed the key assumptions. Conduct remediation issues

–    Challenged the basis of provisioning for claims relating to interest rate derivativespotential breaches of consumer credit law and CPP card protection were largely completed in 2014.related regulations.

 

Taking all of the above matters into account, we agreed–    Satisfied ourselves with management’s judgement on the level of conduct remediation provisions including PPI and wealth and investment products, and the approach to conduct remediation disclosures. Details

–    We will continue to review our provision levels for customer PPI complaints in light of conduct remediation provisions can be foundongoing claims experience and trends arising from the impact of the proposed two-year deadline.

LOGO   See ‘Critical accounting policies’ in Note 351 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

  

CreditRetail credit provisions

Determining the appropriateness of retail credit provisions, especially for those relating to the mortgage portfolio, remains one of the most significant areas of management judgement.

During–    Reviewed detailed reports prepared by management throughout the year detailed reports were prepared for us by management, including a comprehensive paperfocusing our discussions on the assumptions applied in determining the provisions in relation to those potentially higher risk areas of the portfolio, including interest only mortgages.

–    Noted that the level of retail credit provisions had fallen during the year. This was due to an overall improvement in the macro-economic conditions with strong house price growth leading to lower levels of repossessions and associated costs.

–    Considered reports on the implementation of a new mortgage provision methodology. Wecollective risk provisioning model. As part of this process we reviewed the key assumptions of the underlying model understanding the sensitivity of the underlying riskmodel outputs to these assumptions, noted the sensitivity of the model to changesthe variation in house prices, considered its compliance with the required accounting standards, ensured its effective operation through a parallel run process and reviewed and considered the needgranularity and effectiveness of the controls attaching to the model and its application.

–    Concluded that retail credit provisions were robust and key assumptions made by management were appropriate.

–    Concurred with a release during the year of £125m from the retail credit provision.

–    Noted that, while retail credit provisions are supported by model outputs, they will remain an area of significant focus in 2016.

LOGO   See page 65 for case study on our mortgage provision models.

LOGO   See ‘Critical accounting policies’ in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

LOGO   For more, see Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Corporate credit provisions

Determining the appropriateness of corporate credit provisions is highly judgemental requiring management to make an adjustmenta number of assumptions.

–    Received detailed reports from management on credit provisions relating to reflectcorporate lending portfolios throughout the higher probability of some loans going into arrears.year.

 

Our discussions also focused on–    Discussed the potentially higher risk areas of the portfolios, suchincluding commercial real estate. We noted that there were improvements in the quality of the lending portfolios during the year as interest-only loans,a result of improvements in market conditions, as well as exits of historical problem cases, predominantly pertaining to the commercial real estate in the corporate sector and forbearance across all portfolios. We supported management’s decision to expand disclosures on interest-only mortgage loans, and also addressed market interest in potential overheating of the residential property market by overseeing the expansion of disclosures on larger loans and loans in Greater London.book.

 

These discussions allowed us to satisfy–    Satisfied ourselves ofas to the robustness of the processes in place and the key assumptions made by management.

 

Impairment of goodwill

A significant level of goodwill from past acquisitions is held on the balance sheet and the determination of its recoverable amount requires significant management judgement, particularly around growth and discount rates.

As part of our general update on management judgements at our December meeting, we challenged management’s overall proposal–    Concluded that no impairment of goodwill was required. Detailed discussion of this proposal satisfied us that management’s approach remainedcorporate credit provisions were appropriate.

 

Disclosures relating to goodwill can be foundLOGO   See ‘Critical accounting policies’ in Note 241 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Revenue recognition

The recognition of revenue, particularly net interest income, is an area of focus.

In the light of market developments and an increased regulatory focus, we took the opportunity to review revenue recognition in greater detail. When considering interest income on mortgages, recognised using the ‘effective interest rate’ method, we reviewed management’s assumptions concerning the expected lives of the products and the treatment of product-related fees and charges, and we challenged management on the appropriate presentation of revenue in the financial statements. Following challenge, we were satisfied with management’s approach.

 

Disclosures of net interest income, net fee and commission income, and net trading and other income can be found in Notes 3, 4 and 5LOGO   For more, see Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Annual Report 2015

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Key financial    Financial reporting
    issue or judgement

issues/judgements

 

Action taken by the Board Audit Committee

  

Outcome

 

Board Audit Committee review and conclusions

  

Retirement benefitPension obligations

Because

Actuaries are engaged to assess pension obligations because of the complexitycomplex nature of the calculations, of the value of retirement benefit obligations and the underlying actuarial assumptions, retirement benefit obligations is an area of considerable management judgement.but outcomes remain inherently uncertain.

  

Management reported–    Received reports throughout the year on their key assumptions used to calculate the value of the retirement benefit obligations and regular reports were received on the matter generally.pension obligations. We noted that the calculations continue to be prepared with the assistance of actuarial advisers. When assessing the retirement benefit obligation,our pension obligations we recognised that, although some of the assumptions were based on observable market data, there remained others that require significant management judgement such as mortality, discount rates, inflation rates and pension and salary increases. As

–    Received a result,review of the rate used to discount the retirement benefit obligation, which reflects the duration of the liabilities and represents the market yield of high quality corporate bonds adjusted to match the terms of the scheme liabilities. We discussed and agreed with management’s proposal to revise, with effect from 30 June, the risk premium adjustment to the Bank of England projected inflation rates over the duration of the scheme liabilities to reflect market distortions in the pricing of gilts to bring it in line with similar adjustments being made by other institutions in the industry.

–    Received, discussed and agreed management’s assessment of actuarial assumptions relating to mortality and their alignment to the most recently published life expectancy data.

–    Challenged the presentation and disclosure of these were an areachanges to assumptions.

–    Requested and received a presentation by the Head of considerable focus forPensions on this year’s changes and their impact.

–    Satisfied ourselves with management’s approach to the Committee as they can have aactuarial assumptions applied and the presentation and disclosures made, including changes made to assumptions during the year.

–    Noted that, in view of the significant impact which actuarial assumptions have on the pension assets and liabilities recognised in the balance sheet. We also challengedsheet and the presentation and disclosure of the gain arising from the pensionable salary cap, andongoing changes in actuarial assumptions.

Following challenge, we were satisfied with management’s approach.

The disclosures in connection withdemographic and financial factors, retirement benefit obligations can be foundwill remain a key area of focus in 2016.

LOGO   See ‘Critical accounting policies’ in Note 351 to the Consolidated Financial Statements; the disclosure of the gain arising from the pensionable salary cap can be found inStatements.

LOGO   For more, see Note 634 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Vacant property

Due to the branch de- duplication programme, the provision for the costs associated with these properties prior to their final disposal or lease termination is an area of focus.

We reviewed the adequacy and appropriateness of provisions made by management and their expected utilisation. We also challenged management about the judgements made as to when it was appropriate to recognise vacant property provisions. We also reviewed the disclosures made in respect of branch de-duplication (see ‘Disclosures in the Annual Report’ section below).

Following challenge, we were satisfied with management’s approach.

The disclosures in connection with vacant property can be found in Note 35 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Software impairment

During 2014, as part of management’s regular review of intangible fixed assets, software relating to redundant systems was written off due to changes in product and digital strategies.

We reviewed the software relating to redundant systems and challenged management on the appropriateness of the write-offs including the sufficiency of data and supporting documentation. We also reviewed the disclosures made in respect of software impairment (refer to ‘Disclosures in the Annual Report’ section below).

Following challenge, we were satisfied with management’s approach.

The disclosures in connection with software impairment can be found in Note 24 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

In addition, during the 2014 year-end process we focused on the following financial policy matters:

Valuation of financial instruments

The valuation of financial instruments held at fair value is a complex area and significant judgement is required with respect to those financial instruments where there was no observable market data.

We noted that the volume of financial instruments held at fair value where there was no observable market data remained small. We remained satisfied with management’s valuation approach and the relevant disclosures. We also considered management’s approach towards the disclosure of the fair value of financial instruments carried at amortised cost, particularly as there was often little or no observable market data on which to base their fair values, and were satisfied with management’s approach.

Disclosures in connection with the valuation of financial instruments can be found in Note 44 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Hedge accounting policies

Due to the complexity of the application of these policies and their potential impact on the financial results, hedge accounting policies remain a significant area of focus.

We reviewed management’s approach and satisfied ourselves that it was in compliance with IFRS. The Committee discussed with management the different types of hedges used by Santander UK and how these were in accordance with Santander UK’s hedge accounting policies, properly documented and tested for hedge effectiveness. We noted that management had placed Base Rate tracker mortgages into fair value hedge relationships for the first time in 2014.

Disclosures in connection with hedge accounting can be found in Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The Committee’s focus has been on areas of significant judgement, being those which pose the greatest risk of a material misstatement to the financial statements. In addition to the areas of significant judgement set out above, the Committee also considers other higher risk items. During 2015 these included the valuation of financial instruments (including fair value adjustments), hedge accounting, transactions with related parties and the identification and assessment of risks of material misstatement including fraud risks.

Valuation of financial instruments and hedge accounting policies, which were identified as specific areas of focus in previous years, were not considered to be significant in 2015. For financial instruments held at fair value, valuation techniques have remained constant and there would need to be a significant change in the input to fair value adjustments to cause a material misstatement. For hedge accounting policies, there were few changes in the types of hedges undertaken in comparison with previous years.

In prior years, the Committee also focused on goodwill impairment as a significant judgement area. This is no longer considered to be a significant judgement or a higher risk item as management expects the underlying businesses to which goodwill relates to remain profitable and does not believe that the effect of changes in assumptions to those that are reasonably possible would have a material impact on the financial statements.

 

 

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CorporateDirectors’
      

Other significant areas of focus particularly relating to the Annual Report included:

Area of focusDirectors

 

Board Audit Committee review and conclusionsGovernance

Report

  
Disclosures in the Annual Report    

We reviewed reports from management on the level of disclosure in the Annual Report and the Half Yearly Financial Report covering matters such as requirements arising from the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, benchmarking against peer banks, and ‘hot topics’ and other areas of regulatory focus relevant to the banking industry. The reports also covered disclosure recommendations of the Enhanced Disclosure Task Force (‘EDTF’), and those made by the British Bankers’ Association Disclosure Working Group (with input from the PRA), in accordance with the principles of the Code for Financial Reporting Disclosure. Our work included oversight of the enhancement of the Annual Report to improve clarity of disclosures.Remuneration

We also received reports from the Disclosure Committee, a committee chaired by the Chief Financial Officer and with a membership of senior executives from across Santander UK and responsible for ensuring the completeness and accuracy of disclosure by the Company in its external reporting.

We evaluated the judgements which impacted the results for 2014 and the related disclosures including the pension net gain, software write-offs, and provisions for conduct remediation and branch de-duplication. We also evaluated the judgements made regarding the presentation of these items in the Half Yearly Financial Report and the Annual Report.

Related party transactions

We considered the internal controls over transactions conducted with other entities in the Banco Santander group. Santander UK is subject to PRA limits on exposures to, and on liquidity provided to, other members of the Banco Santander group. In this regard, we noted the Internal Audit report over these arrangements and that no significant control issues arose. We also noted that these arrangements, including significant transactions, are also considered on a regular basis by the Board Risk Committee and where appropriate, the Board.

On this basis we were able to satisfy ourselves, as part of our review of the Annual Report, on the appropriateness of related party disclosures.

The Directors’ going concern
disclosures

As part of our ongoing review of the Company’s financial performance, we satisfied ourselves that there are sufficient financial resources available to continue the operations of the Company. We also considered the Company’s resilience in the face of stress and adaptability in the face of changing circumstances.

As part of our review of the financial statements, we also considered the going concern statement and were satisfied with the level of disclosure.

Fair, balanced and
understandable opinion

In addition to the process established by management to provide assurance that the business review is fair, balanced and understandable, we reviewed the contents of the review and advised the Board that, in our view, the report met this requirement and provided the information necessary for Santander UK’s performance, business model and strategy to be assessed.

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continued

Internal Control

Robust systems of internal control are essential for a bank operating in a complex and changing business environment. We receive reports from management, Internal Audit and the External Auditors and review the effectiveness of both audit functions.

Function

Board Audit Committee review and conclusions

Internal Audit

We oversaw the Internal Audit function and its activities to ensure its independence and effectiveness in the context of Santander UK’s overall risk management framework including, in particular, internal control. We discharged our responsibilities by reviewing and challenging the Internal Audit Plan and Audit Reports provided to us.

The Committee oversaw the appointment of the new UK Head of Internal Audit as proposed by Banco Santander, S.A., following the onward rotation of the incumbent (to elsewhere in the Banco Santander group). The candidate was subject to a rigorous interview and, on completion of the process, the Committee was pleased to recommend the candidate’s appointment in light of his credentials for the role and skills and experience.

We oversaw the ongoing implementation of the Internal Audit continuous improvement plan. The plan was initially developed to respond to actions identified by the independent review of the effectiveness of the Internal Audit function and to respond to changes required by the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors’ Code on Effective Internal Audit in the Financial Services Sector. It evolved to include matters identified as part of Internal Audit’s ongoing effectiveness review. We received regular reports on progress and have supported Internal Audit with its growth plans. In particular, we have supported the recruitment of additional functional expertise which we believe will further strengthen the team and provide an even more integrated partnership with the business. As part of their induction programme, four new function heads of Internal Audit were invited to attend a Committee meeting to provide the wider context to their work and facilitate open dialogue with the Committee members.

The Committee continued to oversee the implementation of outstanding audit recommendations. This included receiving regular reports which focused on the most significant audits and the progress made on issues identified. Where deemed appropriate, it was agreed the responsible executive would attend to provide an update on progress. The number of outstanding audit recommendations saw a good evolution during the year and reduced. The Committee continues to ask management to identify and focus on themes identified in the audit recommendations to ensure matters can be addressed appropriately.

Management’s reporting on
internal control

In addition to receiving regular reports from Internal Audit and the External Auditors on internal control matters and ensuring that appropriate action was being taken by management, we receive regular reports from Compliance on such matters as internal fraud and key conduct and non-financial regulatory risks. We receive reports from Finance on internal controls over financial reporting and review the level of deficiencies identified in management’s testing.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires management to report on the adequacy of Santander UK’s internal controls with regard to financial reporting. Santander UK adopts the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (‘COSO’) framework in this regard. In 2014, Santander UK adopted the 2013 Internal Control – Integrated Framework (the ‘2013 Framework’), which was issued by COSO in 2013 to replace the existing framework with effect from 15 December 2014. The revised framework is designed to recognise the many changes in business and operating environments since the issuance of the original framework and is intended to broaden and enhance the application of internal controls.

Management kept the Committee updated on the scope and progress of the project plan to meet the new requirements ahead of implementation. The updated and enhanced controls were independently tested and certified as part of the Year-End Control Self-Assessment process and the Committee was satisfied with the results.

During the year, we received a report from executives responsible for IT and ensured that appropriate action was being taken by management on matters identified requiring action. In addition, the Legal & Secretariat Division provided reports on any material litigation cases and their progress.

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External auditors

Audit tender

During the year, Banco Santander took the decision to re-tender the global external audit. As part of this global process, the Committee performed its own UK review of the three firms selected by the Banco Santander group, EY, KPMG and PwC.

This review included:

UK-specific proposal documents and presentations from each firm, which addressed their proposed team, experience of our sector, audit approach, IT capability, approach to audit quality and transition experience
The spread of audit appointments amongst our peers to assess potential constraints on capacity

Function

Board Audit CommitteeA review and conclusions

Whistleblowing

The Legal & Secretariat Division provides reports on Whistleblowing. During the year, we oversaw the implementation of the enhanced Whistleblowing Policy, including the confidential Whistleblowing Line provided through an external service provider. The new line continues to be a great success in that it has continued to raise the profile of the Whistleblowing Policy across the business. The Committee sees Santander UK’s Whistleblowing Policy as playing an essential role in embedding Santander UK’s culture and values at all levels of Santander UK and provides an indication of Santander UK’s success in doing this.

In the second half of the year, the Committee held a more focussed discussion on trends, root causes and peer analysis and as a result requested enhanced information for future reporting to deepen its understanding further.

External Auditors

We oversaw the work and re-appointment of the Company’s External Auditors, Deloitte LLP, who have been the External Auditors since 1999. We reviewed the External Auditors’ effectiveness and were satisfied with the rigour of the audit and service. This was done through a detailed assessment covering all areas of the external audit process. We were satisfied it was appropriate to continue to support their re-appointment as auditors.

During 2014,Inspection reports published by the FRC conducted a thematic review ofin May 2015, which gave insights into the quality of audits of banksprovided by these firms

The extent and building societies and the audit worknature of Santander UK was reviewed as part of this process. We were satisfied by the actions proposed by our auditors in response to the findings of the FRC’s review of the Santander UK 2013 audit and are encouraged by the overall improvement by audit firms noted in the thematic report. Santander UK remains committed to ensuring our External Auditors are able to achieve consistently high quality audit standards.

We pre-approved the payment of fees for all audit-related work. We ensured the independence of the External Auditors through maintaining and keeping under review a robust non-audit services policyprovided by each firm, as well as any existing commercial arrangements, to limitdetermine the scopeimpact of services they may provide. In addition, we satisfy ourselves there is no potential for a conflictchange.

On the conclusion of this process the incumbent Chair, Rosemary Thorne, advised Banco Santander and the Santander UK Board of her recommendation and, following recommendations from each of the key subsidiaries across the group, Banco Santander SA and the Santander UK Board confirmed that PwC will become our external auditors for the accounting period from 1 January 2016, subject to approval at our 2016 AGM.

Oversight of the relationship with our external auditors

As part of our review of our relationship with our external auditors, Deloitte LLP, our activities included:

Consideration of interest when considering their suitability for non-audit work.

We consider the audit planwork and receive regular written and verbal reports from the External Auditors as part of the financial reporting cycle. Their work relatedopinion relating to management judgements is set out above. We reviewed

Review of the summary of misstatements not corrected by management and satisfied ourselves that they were not quantitatively andor qualitatively immaterial,material, both individually and in aggregate. We also discussedthe aggregate
Discussion with the External Auditorsexternal auditors regarding the level of disclosuresdisclosure in the Annual Report and Half Yearly Financial Report to satisfy ourselves that it was appropriate. We regularly discussis appropriate
Discussion regarding developments in financial reporting including changes to accounting standards, statute and best practice.

Wepractice

A review of reports received reports from the External AuditorsDeloitte on weaknesses and recommendations on internal control and financial reporting matters identified as partduring the course of their audit and ensured that management were taking appropriate action with respect to their recommendations.

I meet with the External Auditors aheadview of management’s progress in resolving them

Interactions, including meetings in private session during each Committee meeting, and at other times where appropriate. We met as a Committee in private session frequently throughout the year to allow the External Auditors to raise any matters without management being present.

year.

Planned activitiesBased on the above inputs, which were captured in a formalised assessment, we satisfied ourselves as to the rigour and quality of Deloitte’s audit process.

Deloitte’s reports in the past two years

During the two years ended 31 December 2015 and 2014, Deloitte did not issue any reports on the financial statements of Santander UK that contained an adverse opinion, or a disclaimer of opinion, nor were the auditors’ reports of Deloitte qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope, or accounting principles. There has not been any disagreement (as that term is defined in Item 16F(a)(1)(iv) of Form 20-F) over any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedures which, if not resolved to Deloitte’s satisfaction, would have caused it to make reference to the subject matter of the disagreement in connection with its auditors’ reports, or any ‘reportable event’ as described in Item 16F(a)(1)(v) of Form 20-F.

Non-Audit fees

We monitored the independence of PwC, as a result of their appointment as future auditors.

During the year we updated our policy on non-audit services provided by our auditors in the context of the consultation paper issued by the FRC on implementing the changes to auditor independence requirements resulting from the new European Directive on Auditor Independence. We reviewed all proposed non-audit services to determine whether they were permitted by reference to their nature, to assess the potential threats and safeguards to auditor independence as well as the overall ratio of audit to non-audit fees. All individual assignments over a monetary threshold require advance approval by the full Committee. This process is in addition to the requirement for all such fees to be approved by the Banco Santander Audit Committee.

A specific focus of the Committee was to assess and approve the UK review work performed by Deloitte with respect to our preparation for the Market in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) with particular reference to ensuring their continued independence.

Oversight of the relationship with PwC

In the years ended 31 December 2015 and 2014 neither we nor someone on our behalf has consulted with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) regarding either:

The application of accounting principles to a specified transaction, either completed or proposed, or the type of audit opinion that might be rendered with respect to the consolidated financial statements of Santander UK, or
Any matter that was either the subject of a disagreement (as that term is defined in Item 16F(a)(1)(iv) of Form 20-F) and the related instructions to such Item 16F, or a ‘reportable event’ as described in Item 16F(a)(1)(v) of Form 20-F.

Annual Report 2015

ForGovernance

Internal control

The Board Risk Committee has overall responsibility for the effectiveness of the internal control systems. However, due to the nature of internal control matters there is a natural overlap in responsibilities with those of this Committee. We recognise that a robust framework of internal control is essential for a complex and changing business environment. We had a comprehensive internal control framework in place and during the course of the year we have received and considered regular reports regarding the operation of and continued enhancement to this framework. This included reports from Internal and External Audit and related actions being taken by management, from Compliance on matters such as key conduct and non-financial regulatory risks, and Finance on internal controls over financial reporting. Regular reports have also been provided by Legal & Secretariat considering all material litigation cases and their progress.

Internal controls over financial reporting

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires management to report on the adequacy of its internal controls with regard to financial reporting. Following the adoption in December 2014 of a new framework in this regard (the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) Framework), further enhancements have been made during 2015 to embed the framework.

We have received regular reports on the progress of this, and the actions taken by management with regard to any control deficiencies identified through the assessment of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting.

We also noted improvements in the financial control environment during the year, and the Committee was satisfied that internal controls over financial reporting were appropriately designed and operating effectively.

Internal audit

In 2015, we will continue to focusreviewed the conclusions and recommendations of an external benchmarking assessment against industry leading practice. This included discussing the report with the partner responsible for the assignment, and receiving progress reports on ensuring the robustnessimplementation of the financial reporting process. We will consideractions identified. The findings confirmed that the impactchanges made as part of new accounting requirements,our continuous improvement programme have further strengthened the regulatory environmentfunction, and general industry conditions. We will also continue to assistthat the internal audit function has increased its engagement and influence in the risk agenda within Santander UK. As a result of the review, the Internal Audit function withhas already improved aspects of its audit methodology and is enhancing the implementationeffectiveness of its existing audit software and data analytics capability.

The internal audit plan, based on a comprehensive risk assessment, was presented for challenge and approval by the Committee and has been updated at regular intervals throughout the year, in response to changes identifiedin the business and requests from the Committee.

We have received regular reports from our Head of Internal Audit and monitored findings as part of our oversight. We have considered the aggregate number of recommendations, the rationale for any recommendations becoming past due, and broader root cause analyses.

This year we have introduced more regular presentations by management to the Committee to account for their progress on implementing internal audit’s recommendations.

Whistleblowing

The Company Secretary provides reports to us on whistleblowing events including those from our confidential whistleblowing external service provider. The reporting includes investigation progress reports and outcomes, as well as root cause analysis and information, on identifiable trends, hot spots and any observable risks. The Committee considers that the Whistleblowing Policy and reporting framework plays a key role in supporting our culture and behaviours at all levels in the business. During the year I have also been appointed by the Board as the Whistleblowers’ Champion. The purpose of this role is to oversee the independence and effectiveness of the policies and procedures on this area. The direct engagement of an independent Non-Executive Board Committee Chair in this oversight role should further enhance confidence in the integrity of our whistleblowing arrangements.

Disclosure in Annual Report

We received regular reports from the Disclosure Committee, a senior executive committee chaired by the Chief Financial Officer. Its remit is to advise the Committee on the completeness and accuracy of disclosures made by Santander UK in its continuous improvement plan.external reporting. This, together with other reports received during the year, and a review of best practice and the approach of our peers, enabled us to conclude that we were satisfied with the level of disclosure made in this 2015 Annual Report. Management also engaged the Board and Committee early on the approach to the report which enabled it to provide input into the overall tone and messaging in a timely manner.

Rosemary ThorneThe Disclosure Committee also reports on whether the Annual Report is fair, balanced, and understandable and whether it provides the information necessary for readers to assess Santander UK’s position and performance, business model and strategy.

Chair of Board Audit Committee

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Directors’ Remuneration Report

 

 

Directors’ Remuneration Report

BOARD REMUNERATION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIR’S REPORT182  

  

 

 
LOGO 

Members

During 2014

Meetings
eligible
to attend
 Meetings 
attended 
 
  

 

 
  Roy Brown (Chair)   9       
  Mike Amato   9       
  Bruce Carnegie-Brown   9       
  Alain Dromer   9       
  

Scott Wheway

 

   

 

9

 

  

 

   

 

 

  

 

  

 

 
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      

Membership, attendance and skills

During 2014, we held nine scheduled meetings. The members of the Committee and attendance at meetings held in 2014 are shown in the table above. With effect from 1 January 2014, Mike Amato, Alain Dromer and Scott Wheway joined the Committee and José María Carballo and Rosemary Thorne stepped down as Committee members. Collectively, the members of the Committee have a wealth of experience and bring extensive knowledge, insight and perspective from their involvement with other organisations.

Throughout the year all the members of the Committee were considered by Santander UK to be independent, as defined in the Code, and free from any business or other relationship that could materially affect the independence of their judgement. None of the Committee members have any personal financial interest in the Company (other than as shareholders of Banco Santander, S.A.), conflicts of interests arising from cross-directorships or day-to-day involvement in running the business.plc

Key responsibilities

The key responsibilities delegated to the Committee are set out on page 157.

Introduction and Chair’s summary statement

In 2014, Santander UK delivered a strong performance against its strategic priorities. We increased significantly the numbers of loyal and satisfied customers. Against becoming the ‘bank of choice for UK companies’, we continued to deliver improvements to our services for SMEs as well as large corporates. We also saw profit before tax increase 26% to £1,399m and our capital position further improved, in respect of our objective of delivering consistent profitability and a strong balance sheet. Santander UK’s approach to remuneration should be set against that performance as well as a thorough assessment of the enterprise risks faced by it. Against this background, I would like to share with you the remuneration practices and policies for the Executive Directors, including the payments made to them in respect of performance during 2014.

This Remuneration Report is divided into three parts; the Board Remuneration Oversight Committee Chair’s Report; the Remuneration Report which summarises our policies and practices in the compensation arena; and the Remuneration Implementation Report which shows how the remuneration policy has been applied. Although the remuneration policy disclosures primarily focus on the remuneration of our Executive Directors, the broad policy principles will continue to inform the way in which all our senior management personnel are remunerated.

You will also see in the Remuneration Report several mechanisms that are intended to create alignment of interest between stakeholders and Executive Directors. For example, 50% of any annual bonus payment is converted into shares in Banco Santander, S.A., with vesting deferred for three years. The performance measures under-pinning our longer-term variable remuneration plans are structured to support and incentivise performance in line with Santander UK’s strategic objectives, encourage prudent risk management and should drive the right behaviours in line with our desired culture and values.

170Santander UK plc


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CorporateDirectors’
         

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In this context, the Disclosure Committee considers and advises us whether:

Key messages remain consistent throughout the document, relating both to financial performance and progress against strategic objectives
All key judgements and significant issues are reported and explained clearly and adequately
There is a clear framework to the document with good signposting and a complete picture of performance and events.

Once again we have looked to improve our external reporting to align more closely with the other UK peers and the disclosures of a premium-listed company. We have also had due regard to best practice and our relationship with our ultimate parent company, and the requirements of our public debt issuance. We have included new disclosures in line with the updated UK Corporate Governance Code, new EU legislation and industry-wide guidance on matters of corporate governance. These include the Enhanced Disclosure Task Force’s proposals for the inclusion of narrative disclosures regarding the impact of the adoption of IFRS 9 (Financial Instruments).

In addition to the above review process the Committee’s assessment of fair, balanced and understandable is underpinned by the understanding it gains through the reporting of management judgements, internal controls matters, internal audit activities and the reports of the External Auditor made to the Committee throughout the year. It also considers the robustness and outcomes of the assurance, review and verification processes conducted by management and considers whether the key risks reflected those that were of a concern to the Committee and were consistent with those reported by management.

Following our assessment we concluded that the 2015 Annual Report is fair, balanced and understandable.

Going concern

We satisfied ourselves that it is appropriate to use the going concern basis of accounting in line with a presentation made to the Committee by senior finance management. As part of the assessment we considered whether there are sufficient financial resources, including liquidity and capital, available to continue the operations of the company. We considered the Company’s resilience in the face of stress and known future challenges.

Effectiveness

The Board has determined that I have the necessary qualifications and skills to qualify as a Board Audit Committee financial expert based on my recent professional background as a senior audit partner at PwC. In my capacity as Committee Chair, consistent with the approach of my predecessor, I meet in private session with key members of the management team and the external auditors ahead of each meeting. I also attend meetings with the PRA, the FCA, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), and the BBA both on an individual basis and together with the Chairs of Audit Committees of other major UK banks and financial institutions.

Planned activities for 2016

The key areas of focus for the Committee for 2016 will be to monitor and keep under review the transition to our new External Auditor, progress on the implementation of IFRS 9, the level and adequacy of conduct remediation provisions, and the financial control and reporting implications of Banking Reform.

Annual Report 2015

Governance

Board Remuneration Committee Chair’s report

The Committee reviews remuneration policies and their implementation

for the long-term success of Santander UK.

“We have designed remuneration and incentive plans
that focus on sustainable performance.”

Based on the principles of Simple, Personal and Fair, we focused on delivering a reward framework that is simple to understand, tailored to individual roles and provided a clear link to the Santander UK’s strategic objectives. We seek to drive performance to the highest standards and looked to offer remuneration that both rewards performance and values behaviours. We also strived to deliver fairness by offering competitive remuneration to attract, retain and motivate employees of the highest calibre.

We strengthened our Terms of Reference this year to better reflect the Committee’s role in the areas of governance and control. (Full Terms of Reference are available at www.santander.co.uk.) At the same time, we strengthened our membership by including all INEDs as members of the Committee. This reflects the enhanced responsibilities that the Committee now carries, and is consistent with the change in membership of the Board Risk and Audit Committees this year.

We also continued to ensure that performance-related pay is deferred appropriately and remains ‘at risk’ over time. In response to new regulatory requirements, we introduced provisions which allow Santander UK to clawback variable pay awards for up to seven years after they are awarded.

LOGO

Scott Wheway

Board Remuneration Committee Chair

24 February 2016

Overview of the year

This report has three parts:

–    My report as Chair of the Committee

–    The Remuneration Report, which summarises our remuneration policies

–    The Remuneration Implementation Report, which shows how these policies have been applied during 2015.

We are not subject to the remuneration disclosures that apply to a FTSE-listed company, but we have provided a report which we consider appropriate to our ownership structure. We have aimed to make its content transparent and include information that shows how our directors are remunerated, and how this reflects the performance of our business.

In 2015, we continued to ensure that our remuneration policies were consistent with our strategic objectives, and were designed with the long-term success of Santander UK in mind. In doing so, ensuring sound and effective risk management continued to be to the fore. This was particularly so when considering how our remuneration schemes can drive outcomes and behaviours in line with our chosen objectives.

LOGOFor Board membership, tenure and
            attendance see page 190

LOGOFor the responsibilities of the
            Committee see page 170

LOGO

 

 

Overview of 2014 activities

During 2014, the Committee continued to focus on ensuring that Santander UK’s remuneration policies were consistent with prudent risk management as well as remaining compliant with applicable regulation, aligned to best-practice and competitive with our peers. The Committee remained mindful of the regulatory environment and the context in which 184  Santander UK conducts its business. We continued to support remuneration practices that promote financial stability, strong risk management processes and the behaviours we wish to see in Santander UK’s culture.plc

The management and control of conduct risk was a key focus for the Committee, where our remuneration policies and practices can really have a material impact in driving both the desired behaviours in our employees and the right outcomes for our customers. As a result, throughout 2014, the Committee gave significant attention to seeking improvements in the remuneration structures operating in the Retail Banking Division. The Committee worked with the Retail Banking and People & Talent teams to look again at the design of our own incentive schemes. These dovetailed well with changes elsewhere in Santander UK’s business to do things in a Simple, Personal and Fair manner, and in line with the Santander Way.

Board Remuneration Oversight Committee calendar in 2014


January 2014

February 2014

April 2014

   

   Update on risk adjustment events

    2013 aggregate bonus pool approvals

    Update on Anti-Money Laundering (‘AML’) programme

    Review of senior management remuneration arrangements for the year ahead

   Approval of Retail Banking incentive schemes

    Approval of 2013 remuneration disclosures for the Annual Report

    Review of senior management remuneration arrangements for the year ahead

    Approval of the 2014 Sharesave Scheme

   Quarterly remuneration risk adjustment review

    Update on 2014 bonus framework

   Review of performance rating principles

    Update on pensions

   Update on Retail Banking incentive schemes

    Update on market allowances policy

June 2014

July 2014

September 2014

      

   Changes to senior management remuneration arrangements

   Bonus scheme rules review, including remuneration framework review

   Santander UK reward overview

    Update on 2013 long-term incentives and review of proposals for 2014

    Update on pensions

Directors’

   Quarterly remuneration risk adjustment review

    Review of 2014 Material Risk Takers/Code Staff

    2014 variable remuneration overview

   Update on 2014 Material Risk Takers/Code Staff

    Approval of Retail Banking incentive schemes

    Approval of 2014 long-term incentives

    Update on the 2014 Sharesave Scheme

October 2014

November 2014

December 2014

    

   Quarterly remuneration risk adjustment review

    Review of regulatory Remuneration Policy Statement

    Review of 2014 end-of-year pay and bonus timetable

    Review of clawback proposals

   Changes to Santander UK remuneration framework

   Approval of 2014 performance adjustment recommendations

    Further review of 2014 end-of-year pay and bonus timetable

    Annual review of scheme rules and remuneration framework documentation

    Approval of regulatory Remuneration Policy Statement

    Update to 2014 remuneration disclosures for the Annual Report

   Further review of 2014 end-of-year remuneration events

    Approval of Retail Banking and Commercial Banking incentive schemes

    Further update to 2014 remuneration disclosures for the Annual Report

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continued

In addition to the above topics, at every meeting, the Committee reviews its forward-looking agenda and considers the implications on remuneration of any new or on-going key risk events, a management update on topical regulatory activity relevant to Santander UK and the environment in which it operates. In addition, we receive an update from our independent adviser on significant developments that are relevant and of interest to the Committee’s work.

The Committee continued to scrutinise senior management remuneration in the context of both Santander UK and individual performance. Individual bonus awards and deferred remuneration were assessed against performance adjustment standards and in line with our regulators’ rules and expectations.

Our challenges

European regulatory requirements introduced a cap on the variable element of remuneration for Material Risk Takers in large banking organisations such as ours. With shareholder approval, variable pay is permitted to a maximum of 200% of fixed pay. The Committee strongly believes in the link between pay and performance and we would like Santander UK to have the flexibility to provide total remuneration packages that allow it to attract and retain the best talent available to deliver Santander UK’s strategy. We are also careful to ensure that fixed costs are properly managed. Therefore, we approved Santander UK’s proposal to allow it to award variable remuneration up to the maximum of 200% of fixed remuneration. This, in turn, was approved by our ultimate parent company, Banco Santander, S.A. and its shareholders.

Key changes to Executive Directors in 2014

Nathan Bostock was appointed to the Board as an Executive Director and Deputy CEO on 19 August 2014 and was subsequently appointed CEO on 29 September 2014. Ana Botín relinquished her office of CEO on 29 September 2014 following her appointment as Executive Chairman of Banco Santander, S.A. and remained on the Board as a Non-Executive Director. José María Nus, who had served as Chief Risk Officer and Executive Director, resigned from the Board on 1 April 2014 and returned to a senior role at the Banco Santander group.

Since the year-end, Shriti Vadera joined the Board as joint Deputy Chair on 1 January 2015 and will succeed Lord Burns as Non-Executive Chair on 30 March 2015. The Board have determined that for the purpose of the Code, Shriti Vadera was independent upon appointment. In addition, Bruce Carnegie-Brown ceased to be deemed independent upon his appointment to the Board of Banco Santander, S.A. on 12 February 2015.

Nathan Bostock’s remuneration package on appointment as Deputy CEO was approved, as was his remuneration on appointment as CEO. With effect from 1 March 2014, Stephen Jones’ basic salary increased from £525,000 to £550,000 and Steve Pateman’s basic salary increased from £625,000 to £640,000. 2014 also saw the introduction of a revised Banco Santander group LTIP which included awards to UK Code Staff including the Executive Directors.

Planned activities for 2015

2015 will see a continued focus on ensuring that Santander UK’s remuneration practices remain robust and fair in an ever-changing regulatory environment. In July 2014, the UK regulators proposed significant changes to the Remuneration Code that, subject to the outcome of their consultation exercise, are expected to see changes coming into force in 2015. The proposed changes are aimed at strengthening the alignment of risk and reward in organisations such as ours and will have wide-ranging impacts on our remuneration structures and practices. Allied to the changes we expect to see in the Remuneration Code, will be the associated impacts resulting from the introduction of new UK regulatory frameworks to replace the Approved Persons regime. A major part of those new frameworks, the Senior Managers’ Regime, will cover Executive Directors. The proposed changes to the Remuneration Code will likely impose different deferral requirements on those under the umbrella of the Senior Managers’ Regime.

We will also be expecting the EBA to issue revised guidance to national regulators that will likely also shape future remuneration structures for regulated firms in the UK like ours. The Committee will continue to devote appropriate time to ensuring that these regulations are met and that they have the relevant understanding of the business to ensure that this is done in a way that continues to support Santander UK’s objectives. Against that backdrop, the Committee will be engaged in 2015 in assisting the Executive with a total remuneration review for the senior management group, including Executive Directors, to ensure our reward propositions are fair, consistent, market-competitive and compliant with those expected regulatory changes. The Committee will also be assisting the Executive with the implementation of the changes necessary to its remuneration framework, policies and processes to implement the PRA’s requirements on major banks to introduce clawback on variable remuneration paid after 1 January 2015.

As in previous years, we believe that in delivering on our strategic priorities, our people will be proud to work for Santander UK, our customers will be loyal and satisfied, and we will deliver consistent profitability and a strong balance sheet, enabling us to help people and businesses prosper. That is why we will ensure that pay is aligned to performance against those strategic priorities.

I hope you will find this summary clear and informative.

Roy Brown

Chair of Board Remuneration Oversight Committee

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Key activities in 2015

Our remuneration packages reflect the Simple, Personal and Fair standards applied across Santander UK. In 2015 we spent time understanding the interaction of remuneration and culture and how our remuneration structures influence our chosen behaviours. We performed a comprehensive review of our executive remuneration offering in order to optimise the structure of our package and enhance our competitiveness. We engaged with our colleagues in Risk to design a revised basis of assessment of current and future risks, linked to our Risk Appetite, prior to any award of variable remuneration from our annual bonus and long-term incentive plans. In addition, we collaborated with our colleagues on the Banco Santander Remuneration Committee in looking at a future single variable pay scheme incentivising both annual and long-term performance.

Membership

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Roy Brown his contribution to the Committee over the years. Roy stepped down as Committee Chair at the end of August and retired from the Committee and the Board at the end of the year. Mike Amato also left the Committee and the Board at the end of December. I welcome Ed Giera who joined us in August, as well as Chris Jones and Genevieve Shore, who both became members in September. Annemarie Durbin also joined us on 13 January 2016. These individuals bring a wealth of financial services, risk, strategy, digital and customer-focus experience.

Priorities for 2016

At Santander UK we are undergoing a period of further transformation as we implement our plan to achieve the strategic objectives we have set for the next three years. We will drive our digital agenda and manage our cost base, as well as prepare for the regulatory changes of Banking Reform. As we manage our performance, we will continue to balance the needs of our people, our customers, our communities and our shareholders. We will recognise the increasing competition for talent and the value our people bring to our business.

 

 

Annual Report 2015

Governance

REMUNERATION REPORTRemuneration report

Basis of preparation

This report has been prepared on behalf of the Board by the Board Remuneration Oversight Committee (‘the Committee’) in accordance with the LargeCommittee. We follow UK corporate governance regulations, guidelines and Medium-sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) (Amendment) Regulations 2013,codes to the extent practicable. Because the Company is not fully quoted (as defined by the Companies Act 2006), somethey are appropriate to our ownership structure. Accordingly, a number of the requirementsvoluntary disclosures relating to remuneration have no practical application for Santander UK and have not been included.presented in this report.

Remuneration policyExecutive remuneration policies and principles

Santander UK’s success depends upon the performance and commitment of talented employees. Our remuneration policies are designed to attract, retain and motivate high calibre individualswith the long-term success of the business in mind, to deliver our business strategy and reinforce our values in the context of a clearly articulated prudent Risk Appetite and a Santander UK-wide risk framework.values. We operate and apply a consistent approach to reward for all employees. In particular, our reward packages should support the delivery of our strategic priorities.

For the Executive Directors, base salaries are benchmarked to the median for our comparator group and an appropriate proportion of the total remuneration package is variable and linked to corporate, business unit and individual performance as well as Santander UK’s Risk Appetite. The Committee will ensure that individual remuneration packages are structured to align rewards with Santander UK’s performance. In this way, we balance the requirements of our major stakeholders.

The Committee reviews the performance targets in variable remuneration schemes regularly to ensure that they are both challenging and closely linked to Santander UK’s strategic priorities. Such schemes incorporate features to encourage sound risk management practices. These features include deferral of part of our annual bonus payments and the ability of the Committee to reduce or cancel the deferred element if it emerges that the original assessment of performance did not justify the award.

The performance of the Executive Directors for the purposes of any annual bonus award is assessed against a balanced scorecard incorporating financial and strategic measures. These focus on the following measures of the success of both Banco Santander, S.A. and Santander UK:

Customer satisfaction as measured by an independent third-party;
The level of achievement of net income and how well capital usage is managed as measured through Return on Risk Weighted Assets (‘RORWA’);
Risk adjustments including performance relative to competitors and quantitative and qualitative measures as regards risk, balance sheet and other quality standards; and
Risk adjustments required by the Committee including an assessment of all enterprise risks and performance against risk targets.

In reviewing Executive Director remuneration, the Committee takes into account the pay and employment conditionsreward of all our employees and we receive regular updateswhich upholds our prudent approach to Risk Appetite which is set as to such matters as salary increases for the general employee population, Company-wide benefit provisions and overall spend on annual incentives.part of a Santander UK-wide Risk Management Framework. No employee or Executive Director is involved in setting his/herdecisions about their own remuneration.

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continued

Elements of package

The key individual elements of the Executive Directors’Forward looking remuneration package are summarised below.

Fixed pay

Element

Purpose and link to strategy

Operation

Base salary    Base salary reflects the role of the individual taking account of responsibilities and experience, and pay in Santander UK as a whole. It helps to recruit and retain Executive Directors and forms the basis of a competitive remuneration package. The level of fixed pay aims to be sufficient so that inappropriate risk-taking is not encouraged.

Base salaries of the Executive Directors are reviewed annually, appropriately benchmarked against the FTSE 50 Index and with particular reference to the other major UK banks and reflect the role, job size and responsibility as well as performance and effectiveness of the individual. Pay awardspolicies for the Executive Directors take account of prevailing market and economic conditions, governance trends and the approach to employee pay throughout the organisation. The Committee considers the results of the annual reviews and make its recommendations in advance of any change in base salaries taking effect.

PensionProvides post-retirement benefits for participants in a cost-efficient manner.

Executive Directors receive a cash allowance in lieu of pension. Nathan Bostock is also a deferred member of Santander UK’s defined benefit pension scheme from previous service with Santander UK.

Other

benefits

Benefits are offered to Executive Directors as part of a competitive remuneration package.Executive Directors receive private medical insurance for them and their dependants, life assurance and health screening. Executive Directors are also eligible to participate in Santander UK’s all-employee share schemes on the same terms as all other employees.

Variable pay

Element

Purpose and link to strategy

Operation

Annual incentivesIncentivise and reward the achievement of Santander UK’s annual financial and strategic targets.

Executive Directors participate in Banco Santander, S.A.’s annual bonus scheme for the global management population. The bonus pool is determined by performance against targets for net income and capital usage, and adjusted based on key performance indicators for risk factors. Once the bonus pool has been agreed, individual awards are assessed against individual performance. Behaviour metrics are included in the assessment process to ensure that the individual is focused on both short and long term strategy.

Deferral levels are set at the time of award and in compliance with regulatory requirements (which currently require that at least 60% of bonus is deferred and at least 50% of bonus is paid in shares or other instruments). Deferred awards normally vest after three years (subject to continued employment) and, in the event of performance adjustment being required, the Committee may reduce the level of deferred award (including to zero), apply additional conditions to the vesting, or delay the vesting of deferred awards to a specified date or until conditions set.

Long-term incentive schemesIn 2014, Banco Santander, S.A. introduced a revised Long-Term Incentive Plan (‘LTIP’) for its senior executives and other nominated employees across the Banco Santander, S.A. group, including participants from Santander UK (including the Executive Directors). The LTIP reinforces the alignment of the Executive Directors in achieving the common objectives of the Banco Santander group and the creation of value over the long-term. The LTIP also acts as a retention tool.

Vested awards are made in the form of shares in Banco Santander, S.A.. The levels of conditional awards are set at the time of grant, in compliance with regulatory requirements, and may be subject to a discount in determining total variable remuneration under the rules set by the EBA.

The number of unconditional shares a participant actually receives depends on Banco Santander, S.A.’s performance against the performance criteria. For awards granted in 2014, performance will be measured against Banco Santander, S.A.’s Total Shareholder Return (‘TSR’) relative to companies in a peer comparator group in 2014. TSR is the aggregate of share price growth and dividends paid (assuming reinvestment of dividends in Banco Santander, S.A.’s shares) during the three-year performance period.

After vesting, awards are deferred for three years in three equal tranches. The ultimate number of shares to be delivered is determined by the position against target TSR in each of the three years of deferral.

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Further information on individual remuneration elements

Base salary

Base salaries were last increased with effect from March 2014. The table below sets out the base salaries for the Executive Directors at 31 December 2014

Our forward looking remuneration policies are outlined in the table below. The only change from 2015 being changes to annual and 2013.long-term incentive arrangements.

Base salary        2014
£000
         2013
£000
 

Ana Botín (until 29 September 2014)

    1,702  

Nathan Bostock (appointed 19 August 2014)

 1,450     

José María Nus (resigned 1 April 2014)

    650  

Stephen Jones

 550   525  

Steve Pateman

 640   625  
           

 

Variable pay

The Executive Directors participate in two variable pay plans: i) an annual bonus scheme, which rewards performance against challenging targets over the year; and ii) the Banco Santander group LTIP, as described in the ‘Elements of package’ section above.

 

   

Variable pay awarded for the year

2014

£000

 

2013

£000

 

Ana Botín (until 29 September 2014)

 1,782   1,878  

Nathan Bostock (appointed 19 August 2014)

 890     

José María Nus (resigned 1 April 2014)

    563  

Stephen Jones

 1,287   1,034  

Steve Pateman

 1,500   1,324  
           

Executive Directors’ remuneration onOn recruitment

Where we recruit an Executive Director (whether externally or internally), weWe aim to position the base salary of an Executive Director at an appropriate level, taking into consideration a range of factors including the individual’s previous remuneration, relevant experience, internal relativities, an assessment against relevant comparator groups and cost. Other elements of remuneration will be established in line with the Remuneration Policy set out in the executiveExecutive Directors’ remuneration structure table on page 174. Annual variablebelow.

Executive Directors’ remuneration structure

Fixed Pay

Principle and description

Policy

Base salary

–    Market competitive pay appropriate for the role.

–    Fixed pay is set at a level such that it discourages inappropriate risk taking.

–    Reflects the responsibilities and experience of each individual.

–    Salaries are set to reflect prevailing market and economic conditions and the approach to pay for all other employees.

–    The Committee considers the results of the annual pay review and, where appropriate, makes recommendations of changes in base salaries to the Board.

Pension arrangements

–    Post-retirement benefits for participants are offered in a cost-efficient manner.

–    All Executive Directors receive a cash allowance in lieu of pension.

Other benefits

–    Benefits are offered to Executive Directors as part of a competitive remuneration package.

–    Private medical insurance for Executive Directors and their dependants, life assurance and health screening.

–    Access to the Company’s all-employee share schemes on the same terms as all UK employees.

Variable pay for new appointees will comprise a maximum award of 200% of fixed pay.

If the Committee concludes that it is necessary and appropriate to secure an appointment, relocation

Purpose and link to strategy

Operation

Annual incentive arrangements

–    To motivate Executive Directors to achieve and exceed annual financial and strategic targets within the Company’s Risk Appetite and in alignment with our values.

–    Deferral of part of the annual bonus is applied in accordance with the requirements of the Remuneration Code.

–    Awards are discretionary and determined by reference to performance against a scorecard of financial and strategic goals.

–    Awards may be made in cash and shares, but with a minimum of 50% of the award made in shares.

–    Share-based awards are subject to a minimum twelve month retention period following the relevant vesting date.

–    Malus and clawback provisions apply to all elements of variable pay.

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Relocation support and international mobility benefits may also be provided depending on the circumstances. Any compensationprovided.

Compensation may be provided to an Executive DirectorDirectors recruited externally for the forfeiture of any award under variable pay arrangements entered into withfrom the previous employer is considered separately to the establishment ofemployer’s forward looking annualvariable remuneration arrangements. For such ‘buy-outs’, we seek to agree a reasonable level of award, on a like-for-like basis, taking into consideration the quantum of forfeited awards, their performance conditions and vesting timetable. The Committee retains discretion subject to the above, to make such compensation as it deems necessary and appropriate to secure the relevant Executive Director’s employment.

employment, and ensure any such payments align with the long-term interests of Santander UK.

Service agreements

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Executive Directors’ service agreements and terms

Executive Directors’ termsTerms and conditions of employment are set out in individual service agreements which include a notice period of six months.months from both the Executive Director and the Company. The agreements may be terminated immediately with paymentspayment of fixed pay in lieu of notice. In the event of termination for gross misconduct neither notice nor payment in lieu of notice is required and any deferred awards fall away.

Compensation for lossTermination payments

The impact of office inan Executive Directors’Director leaving the Company on remuneration under various scenarios reflects the service agreements is limited to the payment in lieu of notice. Payment of variable compensation is conditional onand the relevant planscheme rules, and the Committee’s policy in this area.

The Committee will determine whether an Executive Director is a ‘good leaver’ by virtue of their employment ending due to injury, ill-health, disability, redundancy, retirement, death, or is otherwise awardedany other reason at the Committee’s discretion. Typicallydiscretion (except for any circumstances justifying summary dismissal as determined by the amount is pro rata to the period of service during the year. The Committee has discretion to reduce the entitlement ofCommittee).

Other than a good leaverpayment in line with performance and the circumstances of the termination. In the event of a compromise or settlement agreement,redundancy for the Committee may make payments it considers reasonable in settlementCEO, none of potential legal claims. This may include an entitlement to compensation in respect of their statutory rights under employment protection legislation in the UK or other jurisdictions. The Committee may also include in such payments reasonable reimbursement of professional fees in connection with such arrangements.

The Executive Directors have servedservice contracts with Santander UK providing for benefits upon termination of employment. The CEO also remains a deferred member of Santander UK plc’s defined benefit pension scheme from previous service.

Risk and performance adjustment

All variable remuneration is subject to adjustments for all current and future risks as well as, on an individual basis, malus and clawback provisions. Performance adjustments may include, but are not limited to:

Reducing a bonus outcome for the current year
Reducing the amount of any unvested deferred variable remuneration (including LTIP awards)
Requiring repayment on demand (on a net basis) of any cash and share awards received at any time during the seven year period after the date of award
Requiring a bonus which has been awarded (but not yet paid) to be forfeited.

We will continue to ensure that the requirements of the Remuneration Code are met for our employees. We will prevent vesting of all or part of the amount of deferred remuneration in any of the following circumstances:

Evidence of employee misbehaviour or material error
Material downturn in the Company or relevant business unit’s performance
The Company or relevant business unit suffers a material failure of risk management
Significant changes in the Banco Santander SA group’s or the Santander UK’s economic or regulatory capital base and the qualitative assessment of risks
A material restatement of the Banco Santander group’s or Santander UK’s financial statements (except when required due to modification of the accounting rules).

In such circumstances, the Committee will have full discretion to determine the amount of deferred remuneration that will not vest or to extinguish an award altogether.

Annual Report 2015

Governance

Remuneration implementation report

Introduction

This report outlines how our Remuneration Policy was implemented in 2015.

The composition and total remuneration received by each Executive Director who held office during the year is shown in the table below.

Annual performance bonus

The 2015 annual performance bonus for Executive Directors was determined under four criteria (explained further below):

A quantitative element of financial performance and return on assets
A qualitative element of adjustment by reference to a range of factors
A UK-focused customer service element
A UK-focused, overall risk adjustment measured against the Company’s Risk Appetite.

Of the quantitative element, 55% of the bonus pool was based on Santander UK’s Net Operating Profit (NOP), 20% was based on Banco Santander’s NOP, 15% was based on Santander UK’s Return on Risk Weighted Assets (RoRWA) and 10% on Banco Santander’s RoRWA. In addition, the NOP element was subject to a further modifier whereby, if NOP for 2015 was 10% lower than the NOP for 2014, the bonus pool would be reduced by 5%. If NOP for 2015 was 10% higher than 2014, the bonus pool would be increased by 5%, with a sliding scale in between.

For the qualitative assessment, the bonus pool could be reduced or increased by up to 15% depending on an assessment of each of the following for Santander UK:

Business results versus other UK banks
Overall effectiveness of risk management and efficient use of capital
Customer satisfaction scores
Overall contribution to the Banco Santander group.

The UK-focused customer service element was based on Santander UK’s Financial Research Survey (FRS) results whereby the bonus pool could be reduced by up to 10% if Santander UK failed to reach its customer satisfaction targets.

Finally, an overall UK-focused risk adjustment linked to Santander UK’s Risk Appetite was applied. This provided both a formula-based assessment against Risk Appetite and an additional qualitative risk event assessment overlay that could only result in downward risk adjustment of up to 100% of the bonus pool or individual awards.

Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP)

LTIP performance has been measured against the growth in earnings per share (EPS), return on tangible equity (RoTE), employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty of Banco Santander.

Rewarding Executives appropriately

The Committee reviews pay and reward annually and takes account of the remuneration trends elsewhere, including the relationship between Executive Director remuneration and the remuneration of other Santander UK employees. The Committee is also responsible for approving the design of any material performance-related pay plans operated by Santander UK. As part of our monitoring of pay across the Company, the Committee regularly reviews:

Santander UK’s engagement with its recognised trade unions on matters relating to pay and benefits for all employees
Annual pay reviews for the general employee population
Santander UK group-wide benefit provisions
The design of, the monitoring of and the overall spend on annual incentive arrangements.

Stakeholder views

Santander UK consults with shareholders and key stakeholders, such as its main regulators, the PRA and the FCA. Employee opinion surveys are undertaken annually on employee engagement, and discussion on remuneration matters generally takes place with union representatives during the annual pay review cycle and on relevant employee reward matters.

Executive Directors’ remuneration(audited)

Total remuneration of each Executive Director for the years ended 31 December 2015 and 2014

Executive rewards  

Nathan

Bostock(1)(5)

   

Stephen

Jones(2) (3) (6)

   

Steve

Pateman (3) (7)

   

Ana

Botín(4)(8)

   José María
Nus (9)
   Total 
   2015   2014   2015   2014   2015   2014   2015   2014   2015   2014   2015   2014 
    £000   £000   £000   £000   £000   £000   £000   £000   £000   £000   £000   £000 
Salary   1,601     535     460     546     527     637          1,699          516     2,588     3,933  
Taxable benefits (cash and non-cash)   37     6     1     1     1     1          34          3     39     45  
Pension   560     187     161     191     181     223                         902     601  
Bonus (paid and deferred)   1,760     890     848     1,287          1,500          1,782               2,608     5,459  
Total   3,958     1,618     1,470     2,025     709     2,361          3,515          519     6,137     10,038  
LTIP realised                                                            
Total remuneration   3,958     1,618     1,470     2,025     709     2,361          3,515          519     6,137     10,038  
LTIP granted   240     150          165          165                         240     480  

(1)Remuneration for Nathan Bostock does not include £1,800,000 (2014: £nil) relating to a buy-out of deferred performance-related programmes in respect of his previous employment.
(2)Remuneration for Stephen Jones does not include £1,276,218 (2014: £1,451,589) relating to a buy-out of deferred performance-related programmes in respect of his previous employment.
(3)Amounts shown related to pay as an Executive Director. Pay received after stepping down as an Executive Director was classed as pay as Key Management Personnel as defined in Note 41 of the Consolidated Financial Statements.
(4)Additional benefit in kind of £11,000 paid in 2015 in respect of 2014 service.
(5)Nathan Bostock joined the Company on 19 August 2014.
(6)Stephen Jones stepped down as an Executive Director on 31 October 2015.
(7)Steve Pateman stepped down as an Executive Director on 2 October 2015.
(8)Ana Botín stepped down as an Executive Director on 29 September 2014.
(9)José María Nus stepped down as an Executive Director on 1 April 2014.

188  Santander UK plc


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Policy for all employees

Our performance, reward and benefits approach supports and drives our business strategy and reinforces our values in the context of a clearly articulated Risk Appetite. We apply a consistent approach to reward for all employees. Employees are entitled to a base salary and benefits, and have the opportunity to receive an element of performance-related compensation, subject to their role and reward band. The maximum opportunity of performance-related compensation available is based on the Boardseniority and responsibility of the role. In addition, a small minority of roles have benefited from a non-consolidated allowance. The operation of such allowances was reviewed in 2015 in light of regulatory developments.

Relative importance of spend on pay

The table below sets out the amounts and percentage change in profit and total employee costs for 2015 and 2014.

External consultants

In carrying out their responsibilities, the Committee seeks independent external advice as necessary. 2015 saw a change of independent advisers as a result of a recommendation to appoint PwC as Santander UK’s auditors for the periods shown belowaccounting period from 1 January 2016, subject to approval at our 2016 AGM. Therefore, the services of PwC to the Committee ceased on 31 October 2015. After that date, the Committee sought advice and assistance from Kepler, a brand of Mercer LLC, on all remaining matters pertaining to 2015. Fees (exclusive of VAT) for services provided during the financial year did not exceed £417,000 for PwC and £60,000 for Kepler.

Relative importance of spend on pay                     
     2015     2014     Change 
      £m     £m     % 

Prot before tax

     1,342       1,399       -4%  

Total employee costs

     1,118       1,091       2%  

Highest paid senior executives

The remuneration of the eight highest paid senior executives for the year ended 31 December 2014:2015 is detailed below. Senior executive officers are defined as members of the Executive Committee (excluding Executive Directors).

Individuals    

1

£000

     

2

£000

     

3

£000

     

4

£000

     

5

£000

     

6

£000

     

7

£000

     

8

£000

 

Fixed remuneration (including any

     732       799       825       703       609       637       564       595  

non-cash and taxable benefits)

                                

Buy-out award(1)

                                 24                       

Variable remuneration (cash – paid)

     205       120       103       94       121       93       110       95  

Variable remuneration (cash – deferred)

     307       181       155       141       182       140       165       142  

2015 remuneration

     1,244       1,100       1,083       938       936       870       839       832  

LTIP

     146       102       74       68       86       70       68       62  

Severance award

 

     _       _       _       _       _       _       _       _  

(1)Buy-out of deferred performance related payments in connection with previous employment.

Annual Report 2015

Governance

Board and Committee

membership, tenure, attendance and remuneration

           Board           Board Risk Committee    
                            
                      Unscheduled          Schedule        
           Meetings          meetings   Unscheduled      Meetings   Schedule    
     Appointed  Tenure to  eligible to      Meetings   eligible to   meetings   Membership  eligible to   Meetings    
Name     Age      (Resigned)  year end  attend       attended   attend   attended   tenure  attend   attended                       

Chair

Shriti Vadera(1)

 53   01.01.15   1y   11        11     2     

 

2

 

  

 

                

Lord Burns

 71   

 

01.12.01

(30.03.15

  

 13y 4m   3        3                            

Independent Non-Executive

Directors

Scott Wheway(2)

 49   01.10.13   2y 3m   11        11     2     2    LOGO 2y   12     

 

10

 

  

 

   

Ed Giera

 53   19.08.15   4m   4        4              LOGO 2m

LOGO 4m

   4     4     

Chris Jones(3)

 

 59   30.03.15   9m   8        8     2     2    LOGO 9m   9     

 

9

 

  

 

   

Alain Dromer

 61   01.10.13   2y 3m   11        11     2     1    LOGO 1m        

 

 

  

 

   

Annemarie Durbin

 52   

 

13.01.16

 

  

 

                           LOGO               

Genevieve Shore

 46   18.05.15   7m   7        6     1     1    LOGO 4m   4     

 

4

 

  

 

   

Mike Amato

 59   

 

01.08.13

(31.12.15

  

 2y 5m   11        9     2     2    LOGO  2y 3m   12     11     

Roy Brown(4)(5) (6)

 69   

 

21.10.08

(31.12.15

  

 7y 2m   11        11     2     1    LOGO  7y 2m   12     11     

Rosemary Thorne(3)

 63   

 

01.07.06

(30.06.15

  

 9y   6        5     2         LOGO  9y   6     6     

Banco Santander nominated

Non-Executive Directors

Ana Botín(7)

 55   01.12.10   5y 1m   11        11     

 

2

 

  

 

                     

Bruce Carnegie-Brown(8)

 56   01.10.12   3y 3m   11        11     2     2    LOGO  3y 1m

LOGO 3y 3m

   12     11     

José María Fuster

 57   01.12.04   11y 1m   11        10     

 

2

 

  

 

   2                  

Juan Rodríguez Inciarte(9)

 63   01.12.04   11y 1m   11        11     

 

2

 

  

 

   1    LOGO 4m   4     4     

Manuel Soto

 75   01.11.13   2y 2m   11        11     

 

2

 

  

 

   2                  

José María Carballo

 71   

 

01.12.04

(30.03.15

  

 10y 4m   3        3              LOGO  3y 3m   3     3     

Antonio Escámez

 64   

 

01.10.12

(31.12.15

  

 3y 3m   11        11     2     2    LOGO  2y 7m   12     10     

Executive Directors

Nathan Bostock

 55   

 

19.08.14

 

  

 

 1y 4m

 

   11        11     2     2                  

Stephen Jones(10)

 51   

 

06.03.12

(31.10.15

  

 3y 8m   9        8     2     2                  

Steve Pateman(11)

 52   

 

01.06.11

(02.10.15

  

 4y 4m   8        8     2     2                  

Total

 

                                                

(1)Appointed Chair on 30 March 2015.
(2)Senior Independent Director since 18 May 2015.
(3)Deemed financial expert.
(4)Previously a director of Alliance & Leicester plc since April 2007.
(5)Chair of Board Remuneration Committee to 1 September 2015 and member until 31 December 2015.
(6)Previously on Board Audit and Risk Committee since October 2008.
(7)Executive Director and CEO from 1 December 2010 to 29 September 2014.
(8)Resigned as Chair of Board Risk Committee on 26 October 2015 but remains a member.
(9)Deputy Chairman.
(10)Stepped down as CFO and Executive Director on 31 October 2015 and left Santander UK on 9 December 2015.
(11)Stepped down as an Executive Director on 2 October 2015 and left Santander UK on 31 December 2015.
(12)In addition to the above fees, Non-Executive Directors are reimbursed expenses that are incurred for business reasons. Any tax that arises on these reimbursed expenses is paid by Santander UK. Aggregate expenses, inclusive of tax paid by Santander UK, for 2015 were £115,382 (2014: £162,723).
(13)In addition to the above fees, Shriti Vadera is entitled to taxable benefits as follows: private medical cover of £413 (2014: £nil) and transportation of £21,544 (2014: £nil).
(14)In addition to the above fees, Lord Burns was entitled to taxable benefits as follows: transportation of £4,222 (2014: £23,694).

Unless otherwise stated, Non-Executive Directors do not receive any other remuneration from the Company.

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                                            Total Non-Executive 
  Board Audit Committee   Board Remuneration Committee   Board Nomination Committee   fees (audited) (12-14) 
                
     Meetings         Meetings          Meetings             
  Membership  eligible to   Meetings   Membership eligible to   Meetings   Membership  eligible to   Meetings   2015   2014 
                     tenure  attend   attended   tenure attend   attended   tenure  attend   attended   £000   £000 

    

  

                           LOGO  1y

 

   11     11     650       
                           LOGO  3y 6m

 

   3     3     158     600  

    

  

  LOGO  4m   4     4    LOGO  4m

LOGO  2y

  9     9    LOGO  2y   12     12     189     155  
  LOGO  4m   4     4    LOGO  4m  4     3    LOGO  4m

 

   4     4     

 

69

 

  

 

     
  LOGO  6m

LOGO  9m

 

   10     10    LOGO  4m  4     4    LOGO  7m   7     7     

 

137

 

  

 

     
  LOGO  2y   13     13    LOGO  2y  9     9    LOGO  1y 7m

 

   7     7     150     155  
  LOGO              LOGO                                  
  LOGO  4m   4     4    LOGO  4m  4     4                  81       
               LOGO  2y  9     6    LOGO  1y 7m

 

   7     7     149     155  
               LOGO  6y  9     8    LOGO  3y 10m

 

   7     7     160     175  
  LOGO  9y   6     6                LOGO  3y 9m

 

   6     5     98     195  

    

  

                           LOGO  5m

 

   5     4            
  LOGO  2y 8m   5     4    LOGO  3y 3m  9     7    LOGO  2y 9m

 

   12     12     36     215  
                                         

 

 

  

 

     
                           LOGO  3y 10m

 

   7     7            
  LOGO  2y   13     13                              

 

115

 

  

 

   115  
                                         

 

29

 

  

 

   115  
                                         

 

86

 

  

 

     

    

  

                                         

 

 

  

 

     
                                         

 

 

  

 

     
                                         

 

 

  

 

     
                                         

 

2,107

 

  

 

   1,880  

 

Name of DirectorDate of appointmentLength of Board service

Nathan Bostock

19 August 20140 years 4 months

Stephen Jones

6 March 20122 year 10 months

Steve Pateman

1 June 20113 years 7 months
    Directors at 31 December 2015
or appointed post year end
LOGO  Chair of Committee (y = years, m = months)
LOGO  Committee Member (y = years, m = months)
LOGO  

Appointed in 2016

Directors resigned during the year
LOGO  Chair of Committee (y = years, m = months)
LOGO  Committee Member (y = years, m = months)

Other directorships

None of the current Executive Directors hold any paid external directorships.

Former directors

Annual Report 2015

Ana Botín ceased to be an Executive Director on 29 September 2014, but has continued as a Non-Executive Director of the Company. José María Nus resigned as an Executive Director on 1 April 2014 on his appointment to a senior position with Banco Santander, S.A. in Spain.Governance

Shareholding requirements

There is no requirement on Executive Directors to build a shareholding in the shares of Banco Santander, S.A. as a result of their employment by Santander UK.

Chair and Non-Executive DirectorsDirectors’ remuneration

The Chair’s fee is reviewed and approved by the Committee. The fees paid to Non-Executive Directors are reviewed and approved by the Executive Directors and the Chair. Fees are reviewed annually taking into account information on fees paid in similar companies, as well as the time commitment for the role.

Non-Executive Directors are paid a base fee, with an additional supplement for serving on or chairing a Board Committee.

The fee policy is reviewed annually andannually. Non-Executive DirectorsDirectors’ fees were increasedrevised with effect from 1 January 2014.September 2015 resulting in removal of the fee for membership of the Board Nomination Committee, and an increase to the fees for Chair and members of the Board Remuneration Committee to £60,000 and £25,000 respectively (2014: £40,000 and £20,000). This reflects the heightened governance role of the Remuneration Committee. A market-competitive fee of £30,000 was agreed for the introduction in 2015 of the role of the Senior Independent Director. The 20142015 fee structure is shown in the table below.

Fees paidBoard Board Board Board Board 
   Audit Risk Remuneration Nomination 
   Committee Committee Oversight Committee 
       Committee   
  £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 

Chair (inclusive of membership fee)

 625(1)  60   60   40     

Member

 90   25   25   20   20  
                         

(1)With effect from 1 January 2015, the Chair’s fee has been increased to £650,000.

All Non-Executive Directors and the Chair serve under letters of appointment and either party can terminate on three months’ written notice, except in the case of the Chair and Shriti Vadera as Joint Deputy Chair where 12twelve months’ written notice is required. Neither the Chair nor the Non-Executive Directors have the right to compensation on the early termination of their appointment beyond payment in lieu of notice at the option of the Company. NeitherIn addition, neither the Chair nor the Non-Executive Directors are eligible for pension scheme membership, bonus or incentive arrangements.

Chair and Board Committee

member fees

  

Board

 

 

£000

   

Board

Risk

Committee

£000

   

Board

Audit

Committee

£000

   

Board

Remuneration

Committee

£000

   

Board

Nomination

Committee

£000

 

Chair (inclusive of membership fee)

 

   

 

650

 

  

 

   

 

60

 

  

 

   

 

60

 

  

 

   

 

60

 

  

 

   

 

 

  

 

Member

   90     25     25     25       

 

 

176Santander UK plc

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Disclosures

CorporateDirectors’
         

Directors

Chair and Non-Executive Directors’ fees

                                                                                                  
Fees paidBoard Board Board Board Board Total Total 
   Audit Risk Remuneration Nomination 2014 2013 
   Committee Committee Oversight Committee     
       Committee       
  £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 

Lord Burns

 625           625   600  

Ana Botín (from 29 September 2014)(1)

                     

Roy Brown

 90      25   40*   20   175   172  

José María Carballo

 90      25         115   150  

Antonio Escámez

                     

Bruce Carnegie-Brown

 90   25   60*   20   20   215   185  

José María Fuster

                     

Juan Rodríguez Inciarte

                     

Rosemary Thorne

 90   60*   25      20   195   185  

Mike Amato

 90      25   20   20   155   40  

Alain Dromer

 90   25      20   20   155   20  

Scott Wheway

 90      25   20   20   155   20  

Manuel Soto

 90   25            115   13  
                                  

 

*= Chair

Governance

Report

Remuneration

Report

Directors’ Report

 

(1)  Ana Botín’s salary as an Executive Director in 2014 is shown on page 175.

 

 

Annual Report 2014177


Governance

Directors’ Remuneration Report

continuedreport

 

REMUNERATION IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

Introduction

This Remuneration Implementation Report outlines how our Remuneration Policy was implemented in 2014 and how it is intended to operate in 2015.

Role of the Board Remuneration Oversight Committee

The Committee operates according to formal Terms of Reference which are reviewed regularly in light of best practice and legal, regulatory and corporate governance developments.

The Committee is primarily responsible for overseeing and supervising the Banco Santander group’s policies and frameworks covering remuneration and reward as applied in, or devolved to the UK. It provides governance and strategic input into Santander UK’s executive and employee remuneration and reward activities. Furthermore, it plays a key role in ensuring the UK framework and reward strategy attracts and retains talent, motivates performance and ensures compliance with regulatory remuneration requirements, whilst encouraging the demonstration of appropriate behaviours. The Committee’s full Terms of Reference are available on Santander UK’s website www.aboutsantander.co.uk.

External consultants

In carrying out their responsibilities, the Committee seeks independent external advice as necessary and continued to retain the services of PwC during the year. The Committee first appointed PwC as independent advisors in 2012, following a competitive tender process. PwC attended all Committee meetings during 2014, providing independent commentary on matters under consideration by the Committee, supporting the approach to compliance with remuneration regulations and providing updates on legislative requirements, best practice and market practice appropriate to the remit of the Committee. PwC charged fees based on a time and materials basis, applying a rate card, and fees for services provided during the financial year did not exceed £300,000 inclusive of VAT.

The Committee is comfortable that the PwC engagement partner and team provide objective and independent remuneration advice to the Committee and do not have any connections with the Company that may impair their independence. In addition to providing advice on executive remuneration, PwC has provided other consultancy advice to the Santander UK group in the financial year. However, the Committee was not involved in the recommendation of their appointment and is satisfied there is no conflict with their role as independent advisers to the Committee.

PwC is a founding member of the Remuneration Consultants Group and voluntarily operates under the code of conduct in relation to executive remuneration consulting in the UK. The code of conduct can be found at www.remunerationconsultinggroup.com.

In addition to the use of PwC as independent consultants, the Committee is also supported by the Chief People Officer & General Counsel, the Reward Director, the Chief Risk Officer, the Director of Compliance and the Company Secretary who provide support and advice to the Committee, as required.

Membership of the Board Remuneration Oversight Committee

During 2014, the Committee comprised Roy Brown (Chair), Bruce Carnegie–Brown, Mike Amato, Alain Dromer and Scott Wheway.

The Chair of the Board, the CEO, the Chief Financial Officer, the Financial Controller, the Chief Risk Officer, the Company Secretary and the Chief People Officer & General Counsel are able to attend meetings upon request, except in instances where their own remuneration and/or reward arrangements are discussed, or in other circumstances where their attendance would not be appropriate.

Policy considerations of employment conditions elsewhere in Santander UK

The Committee reviews annually and takes account of the remuneration trends elsewhere including the relationship between Executive Director remuneration and the remuneration of other Santander UK employees. The Committee is also responsible for approving the design of, and determining targets for, any material performance-related pay plans operated by Santander UK. The Committee is kept informed on a regular basis as to:

Santander UK’s engagement with its recognised trade unions on matters relating to pay and benefits for all employees;
Annual pay reviews for the general employee population;
Santander UK group-wide benefit provisions; and
The design of, the monitoring of and the overall spend on annual incentive arrangements.

Stakeholders’ views

Santander UK recognises the value of regular dialogue with stakeholders. Santander UK consults with investor representatives and key stakeholders, such as Santander UK’s main regulators, the FCA and the PRA. Formal consultation on the remuneration of Executive Directors is not undertaken with employees. However, employee opinion surveys are undertaken annually on employee engagement, and discussion on remuneration matters generally takes place with union representatives during the annual pay review cycle and on relevant employee reward matters.

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Disclosures

Differences in remuneration policy for all employees

Our performance, reward and benefits approach supports and drives our business strategy and reinforces our values in the context of a clearly articulated Risk Appetite. We apply a consistent approach to reward for all employees. All employees are entitled to base salary and benefits and have the opportunity to receive an element of performance-related compensation, subject to their role and reward band. The maximum opportunity of performance-related compensation available is based on the seniority and responsibility of the role. In addition, a small minority of roles have benefitted from a non-consolidated allowance where there has been upward developments in fixed remuneration in comparator roles outside Santander UK which may be a temporary change in market conditions. Such allowances give Santander UK a degree of flexibility in its fixed remuneration proposition. The operation of such allowances will be reviewed in 2015 in light of regulatory developments in 2014.

Relative importance of spend on pay

The amounts and percentage change in profit and total employee costs for the years ended 31 December 2014 and 2013 were:

                                                            
  2014
£000
 2013
£000
 Change
%
 

 

Profit before tax

 1,399   1,109   26  

Total employee costs

 1,091   978   12  
                

Aggregate Directors’ remuneration

The total remuneration of the Directors for the years ended 31 December 2014 and 2013 was:

                                        
  

2014

£

 

2013

£

 

 

Salaries and fees

 6,697,041   6,183,203  

Performance-related payments(1)

 5,459,000   4,800,051  

Other taxable benefits

      
           

 

Total remuneration excluding pension contributions

 12,156,041   10,983,254  

Pension contributions

      

Compensation for loss of office

      
           

 

 

 

12,156,041

 

  

 10,983,254  
           

(1) In line with the PRA Remuneration Code, a proportion of the performance-related payment was deferred. Further details can be found in Note 41 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Executive Directors’ remuneration(audited)

The total remuneration of each Executive Director for the years ended 31 December 2014 and 2013 was:

                                                                                                                                                                                                
  Salary and fees Other  benefits(1) Performance related
payments
(Paid and deferred) (2) (3)
 LTIP(3)    Pension allowance Total 
  2014
£000
 2013
£000
 2014
£000
 2013
£000
 2014
£000
 2013
£000
 2014
£000
 2013
£000
 2014
£000
 2013
£000
 2014
£000
 2013
£000
 

Ana Botín(4)

 1,699   1,978   34   52   1,782   1,878               3,515   3,908  

Nathan Bostock

 535      6      890            187      1,618     

José María Nus

 516   1,122   3   10      563               519   1,695  

Steve Pateman

 637   625   1   1   1,500   1,324         223   219   2,361   2,169  

Stephen Jones(5)

 546   525   1   1   1,287   1,034         191   184   2,025   1,744  
                                                             

 

Total

 3,933   4,250   45   64   5,459   4,799         601   403   10,038   9,516  
                                                             

(1)Other benefits comprise cash and non-cash benefits.
(2)In line with the PRA Remuneration Code, a proportion of the performance-related payment was deferred. Further details can be found in Note 41 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
(3)See the Remuneration Policy for details of how the Bonus and LTIP outcomes were determined.
(4)Ana Botín was an Executive Director for part of the year as described on page 153.
(5)The remuneration figure for Stephen Jones does not include £1,451,589 (2013: £1,333,842) related to a buy-out of deferred performance-related payments in respect of his previous employment as this is not in relation to his qualifying service as a director of the Company and has been excluded from the Executive Directors’ remuneration.

These totals exclude emoluments received by Executive Directors in respect of their primary duties as directors or officers of Banco Santander, S.A. in respect of which no apportionment has been made. No Executive Directors participate in Santander UK’s Defined Benefit pension scheme, although Nathan Bostock is a deferred member of that scheme from previous service with Santander UK.

Annual Report 2014179


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continued

Chair and Non-Executive Directors’ remuneration(audited)

The single total amounts of remuneration for each Non-Executive Director for the years ended 31 December 2014 and 2013 were:

                                        
  Total remuneration 
  2014
£000
 2013
£000
 

 

Chair

Lord Burns

 670   625  

Non-Executive Directors

Ana Botín (appointed 29 September 2014)(1)

      

Roy Brown

 189   183  

José María Carballo

 115   150  

Antonio Escámez

      

Bruce Carnegie-Brown

 215   190  

José María Fuster

      

Juan Rodríguez Inciarte

      

Rosemary Thorne

 200   190  

Mike Amato

 250   65  

Alain Dromer

 168   23  

Scott Wheway

 167   23  

Manuel Soto

 144   18  
           

 

Total

 2,118   1,467  
           

(1)Ana Botín’s salary as an Executive Director in 2014 is shown on page 175.

These totals exclude emoluments received by Directors in respect of their primary duties as directors or officers of Banco Santander, S.A. in respect of which no apportionment has been made.

Exit payments

Ana Botín left the Company’s service as an Executive Director during the year ended 31 December 2014, but remained as a Non-Executive Director from 29 September 2014. In addition, José María Nus left the Company’s service in the year and returned to a senior role in the Banco Santander group. No payments for compensation for loss of office were paid to, or receivable by, Ana Botín, José María Nus or any other Director. Certain past directors receive ex-gratia pensions as set out in Note 42 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Annual performance bonus

For each Executive Director, the 2014 bonus is assessed on performance against targets for net income and capital usage, and the aggregate bonus pool was adjusted based on a mix of key performance indicators.

Based on the financial and risk adjustment assessment, the Committee applies its judgement in determining the bonus outcomes. It takes into consideration any other factors, particularly in relation to legacy issues and conduct risk matters.

Long-Term Incentive Plan

In 2014, the Executive Directors were granted conditional awards under the revised Banco Santander, S.A. group LTIP. The following table shows those conditional awards under the LTIP. Further information on the LTIP can be found in note 42 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

                                        
  2014
£000
 2013
£000
 

 

Ana Botín

      

Nathan Bostock

 150     

Stephen Jones

 165     

Steve Pateman

 165     
           

Certain Key Management Personnel and other nominated individuals were granted conditional awards under the 2014 LTIP. Further details can be found in Note 42 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

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Directors’

Further Remuneration

Report

Report

Report

Disclosures

Other remuneration disclosures

The remuneration of the eight highest paid senior executive officers for the year ended 31 December 2014 is detailed below. Senior executive officers are defined as members of the Executive Committee (excluding Executive Directors).

                                                                                                                                
Individuals

1

£000

 

2

£000

 

3

£000

 

4

£000

 

5

£000

 

6

£000

 

7

£000

 

8

£000

 

 

Fixed remuneration (including any

 1,049   737   673   542   746   727   433   513  

non-cash and taxable benefits)

Buy-out award(1)

          120              

Variable remuneration (cash – paid)

 360   472   424   250   216   204   302   260  

Variable remuneration (cash – deferred)

 540   708   636   375   324   306   452   390  
                                         

 

2014 remuneration

 1,949   1,917   1,733   1,287   1,286   1,237   1,187   1,163  
                                         

LTIP

                        

Severance award

                        
                                         

(1)Buy-out of deferred performance related payments in connection with previous employment.

By Order of the Board Remuneration Oversight Committee

Roy Brown

24 February 2015

Annual Report 2014181


Directors’ Report

Introduction

The Directors have pleasure in submitting their report together with the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2014.2015. The information in the Directors’ Report is unaudited, except where marked as audited.marked.

CorporateHistory and corporate structure

Santander UK plc is a subsidiary of Banco Santander SA, a retail and commercial bank based in Spain. Santander UK Group Holdings Limited, which is a wholly owned subsidiarywas formed from the acquisition of Banco Santander, S.A..three former building societies Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester, and Bradford & Bingley. The ordinary shares of the Company are not traded on the London Stock Exchange. Note 23 to the Consolidated Financial Statements provides atraded. A list of the principal subsidiaries of the Company, the nature of each subsidiary’s business and details of branches.branches is provided in the Shareholder information section. Note 3836 to the Consolidated Financial Statements provides details of the Company’s share capital.

The structuralStructural relationship of Santander UK with the Banco Santander group – the ‘subsidiary model’

The Banco Santander group operates a ‘subsidiary model’. This model involves autonomous units, such as Santander UK, operating in core markets, with each unit being responsible for its own liquidity, funding and capital management on an on-going basis. The model is designed to minimise the risk to the Banco Santander group, and all its units, from problems arising elsewhere in the Banco Santander group. The subsidiary model means that Banco Santander S.A.SA has no obligation to provide any liquidity, funding or capital assistance, although it enables Banco Santander S.A. to take advantage selectively of opportunities. As a PRA regulated entity, Santander UK is expected to satisfy the PRA liquidity and capital requirements on a standalone basis.

Under the subsidiary model, Santander UK plc primarily generates funding and liquidity through UK retail and corporate deposits, as well as in the financial markets through its own debt programmes and facilities to support its business activities and liquidity requirements. It does this by relying on the strength of its own balance sheet and profitability, and its own network of investors. It does not rely on a guarantee from Banco Santander S.A.SA or any other member of the Banco Santander group, (otherother than certain of the Company’s own subsidiaries)subsidiaries and its immediate holding company, Santander UK Group Holdings plc to generate this funding or liquidity. Santander UK does not raise funds to finance other members of the Banco Santander group or guarantee the debts of other members of the Banco Santander group (other than certain of the Company’s own subsidiaries).and its immediate holding company, Santander UK Group Holdings plc.

Exposures to other Banco Santander group members are established and managed on an arm’s length commercial basis. All inter-groupintra-group transactions are monitored by the Santander UK Board Risk Committee and transactions which are not in the ordinary course of business must be pre-approved by the Santander UK Board. In addition, Santander UK is subject to PRA limits on exposures to, and on liquidity provided to, other members of the Banco Santander group.

The subsidiary model gives Santander UK considerable financial flexibility, yet enables it to continue to take advantage of the significant synergies and strengths that come from being part of the global Banco Santander group, in brand, products, systems, platforms, development capacity and management capability. In the subsidiary model, the Banco Santander group facilitates the sharing of best practice and provides common technology, operations and support services to all of its subsidiaries via independent operating entities, themselves established by the Banco Santander groupSA so as to be able to continue operating as viable standalone businesses.

Whilst the Company is a subsidiary of Banco Santander, S.A., the Company’s corporate governance model ensures that the Board and Executive make their own decisions on funding, capital and liquidity, having regard to what is appropriate for Santander UK’s business and strategy.

Business review

Details of Santander UK’s activities and business performance during 2014 are set out in the Strategic Report on pages 1 to 24 and the Financial Review on pages 189 to 218.

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Report

ProfitResult and dividends

The consolidated profit after tax for the year was £1,110m (2013: £890m)£964m (2014: £1,110m). The Directors do not recommend the payment of a final dividend for 2014 (2013:2015 (2014: £nil). TwoThree interim dividends were declared on the Company’s ordinary shares in issue during the year. The first dividend of £237m£0.6m was declared on 24 June 2014 and paid on 24 September 2014;March 2015, the second dividend of £250m£324m was declared on 23 June 2015 and paid on 28 September 2015. The third dividend of £102m was declared on 16 December 20142015 and is expected to be paid in March 2015.2016.

Details of Santander UK’s activities and business performance during 2015, together with an indication of future outlook are set out in the Strategic report on pages 1 to 4 and the Financial review on pages 5 to 34.

Events after the balance sheet date

On 3 February 2015, the Santander UK group through Santander Consumer (UK) plc (‘SCUK’) entered into an agreement with Banque PSA Finance, S.A. (‘BPF’), the auto finance unit of Group PSA Peugeot Citroën, to purchase 50% of the shares of PSA Finance UK Limited (‘PSA’). PSA, BPF and SCUKThere have set up a corporation to offer a range of consumer finance and insurance products and services for individuals, businesses and distribution networks in the automotive industry.

Share capital

Details of the Company’s share capital, including the rights and restrictions that apply to each class of shares, can be found in Note 38 to the Consolidated Financial Statements which are incorporated by reference into this report. The powers of the Directors in relation to share capital are set out in the Company’s Articles of Association and as determined by the UK Companies Act 2006.

Research and development

Santander UK has a comprehensive product approval process and policy and develops new products and services in each of its business divisions in the ordinary course of business. All new products, campaigns and business initiatives are reviewed and approved by Santander UK’s Product Approval and Oversight Committee.

Financial instruments

The financial risk management objectives and policies of Santander UK, the policy for hedging each major type of forecasted transaction for which hedge accounting is used, and the exposure of Santander UK to credit risk, market risk, and liquidity risk are outlined in the Risk Review.been no material post balance sheet events.

Directors

The names and biographical details of the current Directors are set outshown on pages 146162 to 151 and are incorporated into this report by reference. The details166.

Particulars of their remuneration are set outemoluments and interests in shares can be found in the notes as indicated below. Nathan Bostock was appointedDirectors’ Remuneration Report on pages 184 to 192.

Changes to the Board on 19 August 2014 and assumed the rolecomposition of CEO on 29 September 2014. Ana Botín relinquished her office as CEO on 29 September 2014 following her appointment as Executive Chairman at Banco Santander, S.A.. In addition, José María Nus resigned from the Board can be found on 1 April 2014pages 190 to return191, with further details, in the Chair’s report on Corporate Governance, on pages 167 to a senior role at Banco Santander, S.A.. Shriti Vadera joined170, and the Board as Joint Deputy ChairChair’s report on 1 January 2015each Committee on pages 171, 173, 178, and will succeed Lord Burns as Non-Executive Chair on 30 March 2015.184.

Appointment and retirement of Directors

All Directors are appointed and retired in accordance with the Company’s Articles of Association and the UK Companies Act 2006. The Company does not require the Directors to offer themselves for re-election every year, or that new Directors appointed by the Board offer themselves for election at the next Annual General Meeting. All Non-Executive Directors, including the Chair, serve under letters of appointment and either party can terminate on three months’ written notice, except in the case of the Chair and Shriti Vadera as Joint Deputy Chair where 12 months’ written notice is required. The appointments of Ana Botín, Juan Rodríguez Inciarte, José María Fuster,Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Antonio Escámez, José María Carballo, José María Nus, Antonio EscámezFuster, Juan Rodríguez Inciarte, and Manuel Soto were all proposed by Banco Santander, S.A.. The Company may paySantander. No Directors’ service contracts provide for benefits on termination, except in the case of redundancy of an Executive Director in lieu of notice instead of requiring them to serve their notice period. The details of their emoluments and interests can be found in the remuneration report on pages 173 to 181.

Directors’ remuneration, retirement benefits, interests and related party transactions (audited)

Details of aggregate remuneration received by the Directors of the Company in 2014 and 2013 are found in Note 42 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. The remuneration, excluding pension contributions, of the highest paid Director are contained in the Directors’ Remuneration Reportas stated on page 179 and Note 42 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Details of the fees paid to Non-Executive Directors in 2014 and 2013 are contained in the Directors’ Remuneration187.

Annual Report on page 180. Defined benefit pension schemes are provided to certain Santander UK employees. See Note 36 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of the schemes and the related costs and obligations and Note 42 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for retirement benefits accruing for any directors under a defined benefit scheme. For details of related party transactions, see Note 43 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.2015

Directors’ indemnitiesGovernance

Indemnities are provided to the Directors of the Company, its subsidiaries and associated companies by the Company against liabilities and associated costs which they could incur in the course of their duties to the Company. A copy of each of the indemnities is kept at the Company’s registered address shown in ‘Contact and Other Information’ in the ‘Shareholder Information’ section of this Annual Report.

 

 

Annual Report 2014LOGO

For aggregate Directors’

remuneration see Note 41

183LOGO

For highest paid Director details

see Note 41 to the Consolidated

Financial Statements

LOGO

For Executive remuneration see

pages 186 to 189

LOGO

For Non-Executive remuneration

see pages 190 to 192

LOGO

For pension scheme details see

Note 34 to the Consolidated

Financial Statements

LOGO

For related party transactions see

Note 42 to the Consolidated

Financial Statements

LOGO

For our Risk review see pages 35

to 160


Governance

Directors’ Reportindemnities

continued

Employees

Our goalIn addition to be the best bank for our customers is only achievable if we reach our aspirationDirectors and Officers liability insurance cover in place throughout 2015, individual deeds of indemnity were also in place to be the best bank for our people. An environment that provides excellent opportunities for career progression, and a culture that recognises individual needs and encourages accountability and teamwork are key to achieving this goal.

Employee involvement

Communication

Santander UK wants to involve and inform employees on matters that affect them. The intranet is a focal point for communications with daily updates on what is happening across Santander UK. ‘The Village’ is a social site for staff to share information, ideas and best practice. The ‘We are Santander’ site connects staff to all the information they need about working for Santander UK. Santander UK also uses face-to-face communication, such as team meetings, regional roadshows and annual staff conventions for strategic updates. All these channels are designed to keep employees fully informed of news and developments which may have an impact on them, and also to keep them up to date on financial, economic and other factors which affect Santander UK’s performance. Santander UK considers employees’ opinions and asks for their views on a range of issues through regular Company-wide surveys.

Consultation

Santander UK has a successful history of working in partnership with its recognised trade unions, Advance and the Communication Workers Union (‘CWU’). Both trade unions are affiliatedprovide cover to the Trades Union Congress. We consult AdvanceDirectors for liabilities to the maximum extent permitted by law. These remain in force for the duration of the Director’s period of office from the date of appointment. The Directors of the Company, including former Directors who resigned during the year, benefit from these deeds of indemnity. They constitute qualifying third party indemnity provisions for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006. Deeds for existing Directors are available for inspection at the Company’s registered office.

The Company has also granted an indemnity which constitutes ‘qualifying third party indemnity provisions’ to the Directors of its subsidiary and associated companies, including former Directors who resigned during the CWU on significant proposalsyear and change initiatives withinsince the business at both national and local levels.year-end.

Employee share ownership

Santander UK continues to operate two all-employee, HMRC-approved share schemes: a Save-As-You-Earn (‘Sharesave’) Scheme and a Share Incentive Plan (‘SIP’), the latter of which allows employees to purchase Banco Santander, S.A. shares from gross salary. Eligible senior management can participate in a Banco Santander group long-term incentive plan. In addition, for certain eligible employees, arrangements remain outstanding under the closed Alliance & Leicester SIP. Shares haveQualifying pension scheme indemnities were also been granted to eligible employees in receipt of vested deferred bonus awards. All the share options and awards relate to shares in Banco Santander, S.A. See Note 41 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of the plans and the related costs and obligations.

Pension schemes

Santander UK operates a number of defined contribution pension schemes. The Santander Retirement Plan, an occupational defined contribution scheme has been the principal pension scheme since 2009, which eligible employees are enrolled in automatically. The assetsTrustees of the Santander Retirement Plan are held in a separate trustee-administered fund.UK group’s pension schemes.

Santander UK also operates a number of defined benefit pension schemes, which are closed to new members. The principal pension scheme is the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme, which consists of seven separate actuarially-segregated sections and has a corporate trustee, Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme Trustees Limited. The assets of the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme are invested in the Santander (UK) Common Investment Fund which has a corporate trustee, Santander (CF Trustee) Limited. Asset management of the Santander (UK) Common Investment Fund is delegated to a number of fund managers and the trustees receive independent professional advice on the performance of the managers. Legal advice to the trustees is provided by external firms of solicitors. The audits of the pension schemes are separate from that of Santander UK. During the year, a number of changes were made to the benefits under the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme, as set out in Note 36 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Disability

Santander UK is committed to equality of access and quality of service for disabled people and embraces the spirit of the UK Equality Act 2010 throughout its business operations. Santander UK has processes in place to help train, develop, retain and promote employees with disabilities. It is committed to giving full and fair consideration to applications for employment made by disabled persons having regard to their particular aptitudes and abilities, and for continuing the employment of employees who have become disabled by arranging appropriate training and making reasonable adjustments within the workplace.

Ethical Code of Ethical Conduct

Santander UK is committed to maintaining high ethical standards – adhering to laws and regulations, conducting business in a responsible way and treating all stakeholders with honesty and integrity. These principles are further reflected in Santander UK’s Ethical Code of Ethical Conduct published in March 2014, which sets out the standards expected of all employees, and supports theThe Santander Way and Santander UK’s commitment to being Simple, Personal and Fair.

Under their terms and conditions of employment, staff are required to act at all times with the highest standards of business conduct in order to protect Santander UK’s reputation and ensure a company culture which is free from any risk of corruption, compromise or conflicts of interest. Staff are also required to comply with all Company policies, including the Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy.

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Directors’

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Report

Report

These terms and conditions require that employees must:

Abide by all relevant laws and regulations;regulations
Act with integrity in all their business actions on behalf of Santander UK’s behalf;UK
Not use their authority or office for personal gain;gain
Conduct business relationships in a transparent manner; andmanner
Reject all improper practices or dealings they may be exposed to.

The SEC requires companies to disclose whether they have a code of ethics that applies to the CEO and senior financial officers which promotes honest and ethical conduct, full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosures, compliance with applicable governmental laws, rules and regulations, prompt internal reporting of violations and accountability for adherence to such a code of ethics.

Santander UK meets these requirements through its Ethical Code of Ethical Conduct, the Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy, the Whistleblowing Policy, the FCA’s Principles for Business, and the FCA’s Principles and Code of Practice for Approved Persons, with which the CEO and senior financial officers must comply. These include requirements to manage conflicts of interest appropriately and to disclose any information the FCA may want to know about. Santander UK provides a copy of these documents to anyone, free of charge, on application to the address on page 347.321.

Consultation

Santander UK has a successful history of working in partnership with its recognised trade unions, Advance and the Communication Workers Union (CWU). Both trade unions are affiliated to the Trades Union Congress. We consult Advance and the CWU on significant proposals and change initiatives within the business at both national and local levels.

Political contributions

In 20142015 and 2013,2014, no contributions were made for political purposes and no political expenditure was incurred.

Corporate social responsibilityShare capital

Details about the structure of the Company’s capital, including the rights and obligations attaching to each class of share in the Company, can be found in Note 36 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Details of employee share schemes and how rights are exercisable can be found in Note 40 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The powers of the Directors in relation to share capital are set out in the Company’s Articles of Association as determined by the Companies Act 2006.

194  Santander UK plc


CorporateDirectors’

Directors

Governance

Report

Remuneration

Report

Directors’ Report

Subsidiaries and branches

The Santander UK group consists of a parent company, Santander UK plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom and a number of subsidiaries and associates held directly and indirectly by it. Santander UK holds directly or indirectly 100% of the issued ordinary share capital of its principal subsidiaries. All companies operate principally in their country of incorporation or registration. Abbey National Treasury Services plc, a subsidiary of Santander UK plc, also has a branch office in the US and the Cayman Islands. Santander UK plc has branches in the Isle of Man and in Jersey. For further details on Corporate Social Responsibility, including employee, carbon emissioninformation see Note 21 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Financial instruments

The financial risk management objectives and environmental matters see pages 22policies of Santander UK, the policy for hedging, and the exposure of Santander UK to 24 ofcredit risk, market risk, and liquidity risk are outlined in the Strategic Report. The carbon emissions disclosure as set out on page 24 is incorporatedRisk review.

Research and development

Santander UK has a comprehensive product approval process and policy. New products, campaigns and business initiatives are reviewed by reference into the Directors’ Report.Santander UK’s Product Approval and Oversight Committee.

Supervision and regulation

Under the terms of the Financial Services Act 2012, the FSA was replaced by two regulatory bodies, the PRA, which has responsibility for the prudential regulation of deposit takers and insurance companies, and the FCA, which supervises the conduct of business, and seeks to improve outcomes for consumers. Since the enactment of the changes, Santander UK is now authorised by the PRA and authorised and regulated by the FCA and is subject to UK financial services lawsthe PRA. Various of its subsidiaries and regulations. The key regulatory requirements as related to its material risk factors (including supervisionassociates are also authorised by the PRA or the FCA and regulatory risks and risks relating to taxation) are described inregulated by the Risk Factors section on pages 327 to 346.FCA and/or the PRA.

Further details on the impact of regulatory developments can be found in the Risk review on pages 118 and 131. While Santander UK operates primarily in the UK, it is also subject to the laws and regulations of the other jurisdictions in which it operates, such as the requirements of the SEC for its activities in the US.

The key regulatory requirements as related to its material risk factors (including supervision and regulatory risks and risks relating to taxation) are described in the Risk factors section on pages 299 to 320.

Internal controls

Risk management and internal controls

The Board and its Committees are responsible for reviewing and ensuring the effectiveness of management’s system of risk management and internal controls. Details

We have carried out a robust assessment of Santander UK’s risk framework and system of internal controls for risk management can be found inthe principal risks facing the Company, including those that would threaten its business model, future performance, solvency or liquidity.

For further details see the Risk Reviewreview on pages 2635 to 144.

Disclosure controls and procedures over financial reporting

Santander UK has evaluated, with the participation of its CEO and Chief Financial Officer, the effectiveness of Santander UK’s disclosure controls and procedures at 31 December 2014. There are inherent limitations to the effectiveness of any system of disclosure controls and procedures, including the possibility of human error and the circumvention or overriding of the controls and procedures. Accordingly, even effective disclosure controls and procedures can only provide reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives.

Based upon Santander UK’s evaluation, the CEO and the Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, at 31 December 2014, Santander UK disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by Santander UK in the reports that Santander UK files and submits under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is recorded, processed, summarised and reported within the time periods specified in the applicable rules and forms, and that it is accumulated and communicated to Santander UK’s management, including the CEO and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding disclosure.

Annual Report 2014185


Governance

Directors’ Report

continued

160.

Management’s report on internal control over financial reporting

Internal control over financial reporting is a component of an overall system of internal control. Santander UK’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting, and the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (‘IFRS’)(IFRS) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board and as endorsed by the European Union.

Santander UK’s internal control over financial reporting includes:

Policies and procedures that relate to the maintenance of records that fairly and accurately reflect the transactions and dispositiondispositions of assets.assets
Controls providing reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit the preparation of financial statements in accordance with IFRS, and that receipts and expenditures are being made only as authorised by management.management
Controls providing reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorised acquisition, use or disposition of assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. In addition, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or because the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over the financial reporting of Santander UK.

Management assessed the effectiveness of Santander UK’s internal control over financial reporting at 31 December 20142015 based on the criteria established in the Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (‘COSO’)(COSO) in May 2013 (the ‘2013 Framework’). The 2013 Framework superseded the original framework issued by COSO in 1992 on 15 December 2014.Framework). Santander UK adopted the 2013 Framework from 15 December 2014. Further details of the changes made are set out below.

Based on this assessment, management believes that, at 31 December 2014,2015, that Santander UK’s internal control over financial reporting was effective.

Disclosure controls and procedures over financial reporting

Santander UK has evaluated, with the participation of its CEO and CFO, the effectiveness of Santander UK’s disclosure controls and procedures at 31 December 2015. There are inherent limitations to the effectiveness of any system of disclosure controls and procedures, including the possibility of human error and the circumvention or overriding of the controls and procedures. Accordingly, even effective disclosure controls and procedures can only provide reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives.

Based upon Santander UK’s evaluation, the CEO and the CFO have concluded that, at 31 December 2015, Santander UK disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by Santander UK in the reports that Santander UK files and submits under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the applicable rules and forms, and that it is accumulated and communicated to Santander UK’s management, including the CEO and CFO, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding disclosure.

Changes toin internal control over financial reporting

As part ofThere were no changes to our internal control over financial reporting during the implementation of the 2013 Framework, management undertook a full review of the existingperiod covered by this report that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial control model to ensure compliance with the requirements of the 2013 Framework. As part of this review the existing financial control model was updated and enhanced to recognise the additional requirements of the new Framework. All controls have been tested and certified as part of the Year-End Control Self-Assessment process. Management believes these controls are effective.reporting.

Going concern

The going concern of Santander UK is reliant on preserving a sufficient level of capital and adequately funding the balance sheet. Santander UK’s business activities and financial position, together with the factors likely to affect its future development and performance, are set out in the Financial Review.review on pages 5 to 34. Santander UK’s objectives, policies and processes for managing the financial risks to which it is exposed, including capital, funding and liquidity, are described in the Risk Review.review. The risk factors which could materially affect Santander UK’s future performance are described in the Risk Factors section.factors section on pages 299 to 320.

Annual Report 2015

Governance

In assessing going concern, the Directors take account of all information of which they are aware about the future, which is at least, but is not limited to, 12 months from the date that the balance sheet is signed. This

The information considered by the Directors includes Santander UK’s results forecasts and projections, estimated capital, funding and liquidity requirements, contingent liabilities, and possible economic, market and product developments, taking account of reasonably possible changes in trading performance. For capital, funding and liquidity purposes, Santander UK operates on a stand-alone basis; however, in casebasis and is subject to regular and rigorous monitoring by external parties. The Directors review the outputs of stress conditions, it would consult with its ultimate parent company, Banco Santander, S.A. about financial support.testing as part of the approval processes for the ICAAP, the ILAAP, our Risk Appetite and regulatory stress tests. We exceeded the Bank of England’s 2015 stress test threshold requirement.

The Directors confirmconsider it appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Statement of Compliance

The UK Corporate Governance Code

The Board confirms that, they are satisfied thatfor the year ended 31 December 2015, Santander UK has sufficient resources to continue to operate for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.

Relevant audit information

Each of the Directors at the date of approval of this report confirms that:

So far as the Director is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which Santander UK’s auditor is unaware; and
The Director has taken all steps that he/she ought to have taken as a Director to make himself/herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that Santander UK’s auditor is aware of that information.

This confirmation is givenapplied those principles and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of Section 418 of the UK Companies Act 2006.

Corporate Governance Code 2014, as appropriate given its ownership structure.

186Santander UK plc


Directors

Corporate Governance

Directors’ Remuneration

Directors’

Report

Report

Report

British Bankers’ AssociationBBA Code for Financial Reporting Disclosure

Santander UK’s financial statements for the year ended 31 December 20142015 have been prepared in compliance with the principles of the British Bankers’ AssociationBBA Code for Financial Reporting Disclosure.

Directors’ responsibilities

The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report including the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. The Directors are required by the International Accounting Standards (‘IAS’)(IAS) Regulation to prepare the group financial statements under IFRS, as adopted by the EU, and have also elected to prepare the parent company financial statements in accordance with IFRS, as adopted by the EU. The financial statements are also required by law to be properly prepared in accordance with the UK Companies Act 2006 and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation. In addition, in order to meet certain US requirements, the Directors are required to prepare Santander UK’s financial statements in accordance with IFRS, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (‘IASB’)(IASB).

The Directors acknowledge their responsibility to ensureare responsible for ensuring the financial statements give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss presented and that the management report (comprising the Strategic Reportreport and the Directors’ Report), includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties the business faces.

IAS 1 requires that financial statements present fairly, for each financial year, the Company’s financial position, financial performance and cash flows. This requires the faithful representation of the effects of transactions, and other events and conditions, in accordance with the definitions and recognition criteria for assets, liabilities, income and expenses set out in the IASB’s ‘FrameworkFramework for the preparation and presentation of financial statements’.statements. In virtually all circumstances, a fair presentation will be achieved by compliance with all applicable IFRS. However, the Directors are also required to:

Properly select and apply accounting policies;policies
Present information, including accounting policies, in a manner that provides relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable information;information
Provide additional disclosures when compliance with the specific requirements in IFRS are insufficient to enable users to understand the impact of particular transactions, other events and conditions on the entity’s financial position and financial performance; andperformance
Make an assessment of the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the UK Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on Santander UK’sour website. Legislation in the United KingdomUK governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Disclosure of information to Auditors

Each of the Directors at the date of approval of this report confirms that:

So far as the Director is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which Santander UK’s auditor is unaware
The Director has taken all steps that they ought to have taken as a Director to make him or her self aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that Santander UK’s auditor is aware of that information.

This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of Section 418 of the UK Companies Act 2006.

Auditor

Deloitte LLP have expressedwill step down from their willingness to continue in office asof auditor and a resolution to reappoint them will be proposed at the Company’sconclusion of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.Meeting and the Board (at the recommendation of the Audit Committee) will recommend that Members appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP from the conclusion of the meeting.

By Order of the Board

/s/ Shaun Coles

Company Secretary

24 February 20152016

2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place,

London NW1 3AN

Annual Report 2014187


 

 

196  Santander UK plc

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188Santander UK plc


Financial review

Financial review

Annual Report189


IncomeBalanceCash
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CorporateDirectors’
       

Income statement review

SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT

  

Year ended

31 December 2014

£m

 

Year ended

31 December 2013(1)

£m

 

Year ended

31 December 2012(1)

£m

 

Net interest income

 3,434   2,963   2,734  

Non-interest income

 1,036   1,066   1,949  

Total operating income

 4,470   4,029   4,683  

Administrative expenses

 (1,915)   (1,947)   (1,873)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (482)   (248)   (241)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (2,397)   (2,195)   (2,114)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

 (258)   (475)   (988)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (416)   (250)   (429)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (674)   (725)   (1,417)  

Profit on continuing operations before tax

 1,399   1,109   1,152  

Tax on profit on continuing operations

 (289)   (211)   (271)  

Profit on continuing operations after tax

 1,110   898   881  

(Loss)/profit from discontinued operations after tax

 -   (8)   62  

Profit after tax for the year

 1,110   890   943  

Attributable to:

Equity holders of the parent

 1,110   890   943  
(1)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

2014 compared to 2013

Profit on continuing operations before tax increased by £290m to £1,399m in 2014 (2013: £1,109m). By income statement line, the movements were:Directors

 

>

Net interest income increased by £471m to £3,434m in 2014 (2013: £2,963m). This was driven by margin and volume improvements. Management continued to focus on reducing the cost of retail liabilities, replacing maturing tranches of higher cost eSaver savings products in the second half of 2013 and originating new lower cost ISAs in 2014. In addition, there was increased lending in the retail and corporate portfolios.Governance

Report

These increases were partly offset by reduced mortgage stock margins and new lending margin pressures reflecting the lower customer rates available on incentive products as the current environment for mortgage lending led to increased activity. We have been successful in the targeted retention of customers into new Santander UK mortgages.

Remuneration

Report

Directors’ Report

 

>

Non-interest income decreased by £30m to £1,036m in 2014 (2013: £1,066m), reflecting lower net banking fees in Retail Banking including higher cashback on 1I2I3 World products, and reduced overdraft fees, partially offset by an increase in credit cards business and new product promotions, and continued growth in 1I2I3 World product balances. There was also lower demand for interest rate and foreign exchange risk management products relating to Commercial Banking customers.

>

Administrative expenses decreased by £32m to £1,915m in 2014 (2013: £1,947m) principally due to a net gain of £218m which arose as a result of scheme changes that limit future defined benefit pension entitlements and provide for the longer term sustainability of our staff pension arrangement. This was partially offset by additional project costs, including those relating to our investment programme, as we continued to invest in the growth of the businesses serving SME and corporate customers, as well as developing transactional, interest rate and fixed income capabilities in Corporate & Institutional Banking. Costs remained tightly controlled.

>

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment costs increased by £234m to £482m in 2014 (2013: £248m). This was principally due to software write-offs of £206m for the decommissioning of redundant systems following the implementation of our new digital platform and the completion of our product simplification programme. The write-offs are expected to reduce our future depreciation charge.

The increase also reflected further investment in business growth, including the refurbishment of the branch network and enhancements to our digital channels, as well as the commencement of depreciation on a new data centre.

>

Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £217m to £258m in 2014 (2013: £475m). The decrease was largely due to lower mortgage impairment losses as a result of improving economic conditions, rising house prices, and prolonged low interest rates.

>

Provisions for other liabilities and charges increased by £166m to £416m in 2014 (2013: £250m). This was predominantly due to higher FSCS, UK Bank Levy, branch de-duplication and conduct charges, partially offset by a decrease in restructuring costs.

Regulatory costs relating to the FSCS of £91m (2013: £88m) and the UK Bank Levy of £74m (2013: £59m) were charged in the year. Other increases included a charge of £50m relating to the costs for our on-going branch de-duplication programme. There was a further provision of £140m including related costs, for conduct remediation. Of this, £95m related to PPI, which following a recent review of claims activity indicated that claims are now expected to continue for longer than originally anticipated. Monthly PPI redress costs including pro-active customer contact decreased to a monthly average of £11m for the full year, compared to a monthly average of £18m in 2013. The high proportion of invalid complaints continued. There was a net £45m charge to other products relating to existing remediation activities and new provisions which relate principally to wealth and investment products. See Note 35 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

>

The taxation charge increased by 37% largely due to higher profits, offset in part by the continued reduction in the main corporation tax rate. The effective tax rate for 2014, based on profit on continuing operations before tax was 20.7% (2013: 19.0%).

 

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Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

Financial statements

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IncomeBalanceCash
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2013 compared to 2012

Profit on continuing operations before tax decreased by £43m to £1,109m (2012: £1,152m). By income statement line, the movements were:

>

Net interest income increased by £229m to £2,963m in 2013 (2012: £2,734m). The key drivers of the increase were improved mortgage margins, as a greater proportion of customers remained on the Standard Variable Rate (‘SVR’), combined with reduced retail funding costs and better stock margins. The increase was also driven by the benefit from the lower cost of deposit acquisition in 2013. The success of the 1I2I3 World enabled us to attract less price-sensitive deposits from our growing primary banking customer base and reduce the pricing of our less relationship-focused savings products. The continued growth in Commercial customer loans generated through the network of regional CBCs which serve our SME clients, our trade finance business (invoice discounting programmes) and credit business with large corporates and the impact of improving new business margins also contributed to the increase in net interest income.

These increases were partly offset by the impact of the managed reduction in selected higher risk elements of the residential mortgage portfolio, decrease in funding costs and the continued low interest rate environment. This reflected the increased drag from the run-off of the structural hedge put in place in previous years.

>

Non-interest income decreased by £883m to £1,066m in 2013 (2012: £1,949m), largely due to a gain of £705m on a capital management exercise in the third quarter of 2012, and not repeated in 2013.

The decrease was also driven by lower income from large corporates, notably as a result of lower demand for interest rate and foreign exchange risk management products, lower investment and protection fees in Retail Banking as we operated under new regulatory rules, which limited new business volumes and a return to more normalised levels in our Equity markets business. The decrease was partially offset by a change to the pricing structure for our current accounts and credit arising from the debit valuation adjustment on derivatives written by Santander UK. This adjustment was introduced in accordance with the requirements of IFRS 13.

>

Administrative expenses increased by £74m to £1,947m in 2013 (2012: £1,873m) principally due to continued investment in the growth of the SME business and investment in growth opportunities for large corporates. We further developed our capacity to support our SME customers, with more customer-facing staff in our growing regional CBC network, as we expand into new financial centres across the UK. We also completed the roll-out of, and customer migration to, the new transactional platform in 2013.

These increases were in part offset by tight cost control, branch de-duplication and the effects of deleveraging of the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios.

>

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment costs increased by £7m to £248m in 2013 (2012: £241m). Investment programmes continued to support the business transformation and underpin future efficiency improvements. Investment focused on systems in the branch network, digital channels, and new transactional capabilities for our commercial customers. This increase was partially offset by the effects of deleveraging of the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios.

>

Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £513m to £475m in 2013 (2012: £988m). The decrease was mainly due to the £335m provision made in 2012, not repeated in 2013, following the review and full re-assessment of the assets held in the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios in run-off. The provision related to assets acquired from Alliance & Leicester plc (especially the shipping and property portfolios) as well as certain assets taken on as part of the old Abbey Commercial Mortgages book. The provision raised reflected the increased losses experienced in these portfolios. No further significant provisions were required in 2013 as disposals of assets across the portfolios were consistent with provisioned levels.

Credit quality in the Retail Banking and Commercial Banking loan portfolios continued to be satisfactory with improving underlying performance, and on unsecured portfolios due to better credit quality business.

>

Provisions for other liabilities and charges decreased by £179m to £250m in 2013 (2012: £429m). In 2012, provisions for other liabilities and charges included a net provision for conduct remediation of £232m, relating to retail products and to interest rate derivatives sold to corporate customers. In addition, in 2012 there was a £55m write-off of costs arising from the termination of the planned acquisition of the RBS businesses.

No additional provisions were made for PPI in the year. The volume of PPI activity decreased and the number of complaints we received fell 29% in 2013, although the high proportion of invalid complaints continued. Monthly PPI redress costs decreased through the year to an average in the fourth quarter of the year of £11m per month, compared to a monthly average of £18m for the full year 2013 and £26m in 2012. Following a reassessment of the provision required to cover non-PPI related conduct remediation and enforcement actions in relation to interest rate hedging, Card Protection Plan and retail investments, there was a release of £45m during the year. The UK Bank Levy and FSCS fees increased by £13m to £79m in 2013 (2012: £66m). See Note 35 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

>

The effective tax rate for 2013, based on profit on continuing operations before tax was 19.0% (2012: 23.5%). The reduction in the year was largely attributable to the continued reduction in the main corporation tax rate affecting current and deferred tax.

(Loss)/profit from discontinued operations after tax of £(8)m in 2013 (2012: £62m) comprised the profit before tax of the discontinued operations of £nil (2012: £84m), a loss on sale before tax of £10m, and a tax credit of £2m (2012: tax charge of £22m). The decrease in profit before tax principally reflected the reduction in the size of the co-brand credit cards business prior to the completion of its sale in 2013.

Critical factors affecting results

The preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements requires management to make estimates and judgements that affect the reported amount of assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date and the reported amount of income and expenses during the reporting period. Management evaluates its estimates and judgements on an ongoing basis. Management bases its estimates and judgements on historical experience and other factors believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. Estimates and judgements that are considered important to the portrayal of our financial condition including, where applicable, quantification of the effects of reasonably possible ranges of such estimates are set out in ‘Critical Accounting Policies and Areas of Significant Management Judgement’ in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The rest of this section contains a summary of the results, and commentary thereon, by income statement line item for each segment.

Annual Report 2014191


Financial review

Basis of results presentation

The segmental information in this Annual Report reflects the reporting structure in place at the reporting date in accordance with which the segmental information in Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements has been presented. The Company’s board of directors (the ‘Board’) is the chief operating decision maker for Santander UK. The segmental information below is presented on the basis used by the Board to evaluate performance and allocate resources. The Board reviews discrete financial information for each segment of the business which follows Santander UK’s normal accounting policies and principles, including measures of operating results, assets and liabilities. As described in Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, following a strategic review, the segmental financial information reported to the Board was revised in the fourth quarter of 2014, and prior periods restated, to designate three distinct customer business segments, which reflect how we now manage and operate the bank: Retail Banking, Commercial Banking and Corporate & Institutional Banking; and allocate indirect income, expenses and charges previously held at the Corporate Centre, which can be attributed to the three customer segments. This included a review of the internal transfer pricing policy, which resulted in a further allocation of funding and liquidity costs, central operating expenses and other provisions such as conduct, branch de-duplication, the UK Bank Levy and FSCS charges.

With the allocation of indirect income, expenses and charges from the Corporate Centre and with the three distinct customer business segments at differing stages of commercial maturity, we are now able to identify better and drive with greater granularity the key drivers of our business performance. This enables a more targeted apportionment of capital and other resources in line with the individual strategies and objectives of each business segment.

Retail Banking business activities remain broadly unchanged, offering a wide range of products and financial services to individuals and small businesses (with a turnover up to £250,000 per annum). Commercial Banking provides banking services to companies with a turnover of between £250,000 and £500m per annum through our enhanced platform, distribution capability and product suite. Large corporates, with an annual turnover above £500m, are now managed in our Corporate & Institutional Banking segment, where they can be best serviced in terms of their more specialised and tailored product needs, and benefit from the Banco Santander group’s global capability. Corporate Centre now predominantly consists of the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios, mark-to-market gains/losses arising from banking book activities and residual term mismatches.

As stated in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, Santander UK adopted IFRIC 21 with effect from 1 January 2014. The adoption of IFRIC 21 changed the accounting for the FSCS levy. For segmental reporting purposes, the FSCS is accounted for in Corporate Centre and the segmental analyses for prior years have also been adjusted to reflect this change.

PROFIT BEFORE TAX BY SEGMENT

   31 December 2014

Retail

Banking

£m

 

Commercial

Banking

£m

 

Corporate &

Institutional

Banking

£m

 

Corporate

Centre

£m

 

Total

£m

 

Net interest income/(expense)

 3,092   373   75   (106)   3,434  

Non-interest income

 560   112   277   87   1,036  

Total operating income/(expense)

 3,652   485   352   (19)   4,470  

Administration expenses

 (1,543)   (260)   (231)   119   (1,915)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (210)   (60)   (6)   (206)   (482)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (1,753)   (320)   (237)   (87)   (2,397)  

Impairment (losses)/releases on loans and advances

 (187)   (92)   4   17   (258)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (395)   (12)   (9)   -   (416)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (582)   (104)   (5)   17   (674)  

Profit/(loss) on continuing operations before tax

 1,317   61   110   (89)   1,399  

Profit from discontinued operations after tax

 -   -   -   -   -  
   31 December 2013(1)               

Net interest income/(expense)

 2,738   284   65   (124)   2,963  

Non-interest income

 599   113   280   74   1,066  

Total operating income/(expense)

 3,337   397   345   (50)   4,029  

Administration expenses

 (1,555)   (231)   (160)   (1)   (1,947)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (195)   (49)   (4)   -   (248)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (1,750)   (280)   (164)   (1)   (2,195)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

 (359)   (107)   -   (9)   (475)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (226)   (17)   (7)   -   (250)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (585)   (124)   (7)   (9)   (725)  

Profit/(loss) on continuing operations before tax

 1,002   (7)   174   (60)   1,109  

Loss from discontinued operations after tax

 -   -   -   (8)   (8)  
   31 December 2012(1)               

Net interest income/(expense)

 2,519   228   29   (42)   2,734  

Non-interest income

 632   179   417   721   1,949  

Total operating income

 3,151   407   446   679   4,683  

Administration expenses

 (1,504)   (187)   (180)   (2)   (1,873)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (192)   (45)   (4)   -   (241)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (1,696)   (232)   (184)   (2)   (2,114)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

 (420)   (109)   -   (459)   (988)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (312)   (47)   (8)   (62)   (429)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (732)   (156)   (8)   (521)   (1,417)  

Profit on continuing operations before tax

 723   19   254   156   1,152  

Profit from discontinued operations after tax

 -   -   -   62   62  
(1)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

192Santander UK plc


IncomeBalanceCash
statement reviewsheet reviewflows
       

Independent

Auditor’s report

RETAIL BANKING

Retail Banking offers a wide range of products and financial services to individuals and small businesses (with a turnover of less than £250,000 per annum), through a network of branches and ATMs, as well as through telephony, digital, mobile and intermediary channels. Retail Banking also includes Santander Consumer Finance, predominantly a vehicle finance business. Its main products are residential mortgage loans, savings and current accounts, credit cards and personal loans as well as insurance policies.

Summarised income statement

  

Year ended

31 December 2014

£m

 

Year ended

31 December 2013

£m

 

Year ended

31 December 2012

£m

 

Net interest income

 3,092   2,738   2,519  

Non-interest income

 560   599   632  

Total operating income

 3,652   3,337   3,151  

Administration expenses

 (1,543)   (1,555)   (1,504)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (210)   (195)   (192)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses

 (1,753)   (1,750)   (1,696)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

 (187)   (359)   (420)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (395)   (226)   (312)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (582)   (585)   (732)  

Profit on continuing operations before tax

 1,317   1,002   723  

2014 compared to 2013

Profit on continuing operations before tax increased by £315m to £1,317m in 2014 (2013: £1,002m). By income statement line, the movements were:

>

Net interest income increased by £354m to £3,092m in 2014 (2013: £2,738m). This was largely driven by increased lending and through management focus on reducing the cost of retail liabilities, replacing maturing tranches of higher cost eSaver savings products in the second half of 2013 and originating new lower cost ISAs in 2014.

These increases were partly offset by reduced mortgage stock margins and new lending margin pressures reflecting the lower customer rates available on incentive products as the current environment for mortgage lending led to increased activity. This activity, combined with UK Government schemes (such as Help to Buy), led to an increase in customers moving from Standard Variable Rate (‘SVR’) mortgages. We have been successful in the targeted retention of customers into new Santander UK mortgages.

>

Non-interest income decreased by £39m to £560m in 2014 (2013: £599m). The decrease reflected lower net banking fees, including higher cashback on 1I2I3 World products, and reduced overdraft fees, partially offset by an increase in credit cards business and new product promotions, and continued growth in 1I2I3 World product balances.

>

Administration expenses decreased by £12m to £1,543m in 2014 (2013: £1,555m). The decrease was driven by strong cost management discipline including multi-branch consolidation efficiency savings.

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Depreciation, amortisation and impairment expenses increased by £15m to £210m in 2014 (2013: £195m). The increase was principally due to further investment in business growth, including new branch systems and enhancements to our digital channels, as well as the commencement of depreciation on a new data centre.

>

Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £172m to £187m in 2014 (2013: £359m). This was largely driven by lower mortgage impairment losses as a result of improving economic conditions, rising house prices, prolonged low interest rates and collections efficiencies introduced both in 2013 and 2014. Impairment losses also decreased across the unsecured portfolios due to continued improvements in credit quality, particularly in credit cards and unsecured personal loan portfolios, which benefitted from the good risk profile of our 1I2I3 World customers. The loan loss charge was 0.12% (2013: 0.22%).

>

Provisions for other liabilities and charges increased by £169m to £395m in 2014 (2013: £226m). This was predominantly due to higher FSCS, UK Bank Levy, branch de-duplication and conduct charges, partially offset by a decrease in restructuring costs.

Regulatory costs relating to the FSCS of £89m (2013: £86m) and the UK Bank Levy of £50m (2013: £40m) were charged in the year. Following the adoption of IFRIC 21 on 1 January 2014, the charge for the FSCS is now recognised in the first half of the year as set out in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. IFRIC 21 has been applied retrospectively and prior periods have been adjusted. IFRIC 21 has no impact on the Bank Levy.

Other increases included a charge of £50m relating to the costs for our on-going branch de-duplication programme. There was a further provision of £150m including related costs, for conduct remediation. Of this, £95m related to PPI which, following a recent review of claims activity indicated that claims are now expected to continue for longer than originally anticipated. Monthly PPI redress costs including pro-active customer contact decreased to a monthly average of £11m for the full year, compared to a monthly average of £18m in 2013. The high proportion of invalid complaints continued. There was a net £45m charge to other products relating to existing remediation activities and new provisions which relate principally to wealth and investment products. See Note 35 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

There was also a reduced charge for restructuring costs in the year.

Annual Report 2014193


Financial review

2013 compared to 2012

Profit on continuing operations before tax increased by £279m to £1,002m in 2013 (2012: £723m). By income statement line, the movements were:

>

Net interest income increased by £219m to £2,738m in 2013 (2012: £2,519m). The key drivers of the increase were improved mortgage stock interest margins, as a greater proportion of customers remained on SVR, combined with reduced retail funding costs and better stock margins. The increase was also driven by the benefit from the lower cost of deposit acquisition in 2013. The success of the 1I2I3 World enabled us to attract less price-sensitive deposits from our growing primary banking customer base and reduce the pricing of our less relationship-focused savings products.

These increases were partly offset by the impact of the managed reduction in selected higher risk elements of the residential mortgage portfolio.

>

Non-interest income decreased by £33m to £599m in 2013 (2012: £632m). The decrease reflected lower investment and protection fees as we operated under new regulatory rules, which limited new business volumes. This was partially offset by a change to the pricing structure for current accounts made in 2012.

>

Administration expenses increased by £51m to £1,555m in 2013 (2012: £1,504m). The increase was driven by ongoing investment in business growth focused on improving customer experience, partially offset by the consolidation of multi-branch locations.

>

Depreciation and amortisation increased slightly by £3m to £195m in 2013 (2012: £192m), reflecting continued investment in systems in the branch network and digital channels.

>

Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £61m to £359m in 2013 (2012: £420m). This was largely due to the high quality of the book and the supportive economic environment for UK households, with low interest rates and decreasing unemployment. There was a reduction in impairment loss charges on secured portfolios with lower impacts from regulatory-driven policy and reporting changes, combined with improving underlying performance, and on unsecured portfolios due to better credit quality business.

>

Provisions for other liabilities and charges decreased by £86m to £226m in 2013 (2012: £312m). This was predominantly due to decreases in conduct charges, partially offset by increases in FSCS and UK Bank Levy charges, and restructuring costs.

Regulatory costs relating to the FSCS of £86m (2012: £44m) and the UK Bank Levy of £40m (2012: £35m) were charged in the year.

In 2012, provisions for other liabilities and charges included a net provision for conduct remediation of £186m relating to retail products. No additional provisions were made on PPI in the year. The volume of PPI activity decreased and the number of complaints we received fell in 2013 although the high proportion of invalid complaints continued. Monthly PPI redress costs decreased through the year to an average in the fourth quarter of the year of £11m per month, compared to a monthly average of £18m for the full year and £26m in 2012. Following a reassessment of the provision required to cover non-PPI related conduct remediation and enforcement actions in relation to Card Protection Plan and retail investments, there was a release of £45m during the year. See Note 35 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

There was also an increased charge for restructuring in the year.

Balances and ratios

  

31 December

2014

£bn

 

31 December

2013

£bn

 

31 December

2012

£bn

 

Total assets

 163.4   160.5   168.3  

Customer loans

 158.5   155.6   164.1  

- of which mortgages

 150.1   148.1   156.6  

- of which unsecured consumer and vehicle finance

 8.4   7.5   7.5  

Risk-weighted assets

 38.4   36.3(1)   37.6(1)  

Customer deposits

 129.6   123.2   127.2  

- of which current accounts

 41.1   27.9   15.9  

NPL ratio(2) (3)

 1.62%   1.89%   1.76%  

Coverage ratio(2) (4)

 34%   31%   32%  

Mortgage NPL ratio(2)(5)

 1.64%   1.88%   1.74%  

Mortgage coverage ratio(2)(6)

 24%   21%   20%  
(1)

Adjusted for consistency to reflect the CRD IV rules as if they had applied on 31 December 2013 and 2012 as described in ‘Risk-weighted assets’ in the Capital Risk Management section of the Risk Review.

(2)

The balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.

(3)

NPLs as a percentage of customer loans.

(4)

Impairment loss allowance as a percentage of NPLs.

(5)

Mortgage NPLs as a percentage of mortgage assets.

(6)

Mortgage impairment loss allowance as a percentage of mortgage NPLs.

194Santander UK plc


IncomeBalanceCash
statement reviewsheet reviewflows
  

    

2014 compared to 2013

>

Total assets increased to £163.4bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £160.5bn), mainly due to the rise in customer loans described below.

>

Customer loans increased to £158.5bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £155.6bn). Mortgage customer loans increased by £2.0bn. Increased gross mortgage lending and much-improved retentions activity resulted in modest expansion of the mortgage book.

SVR mortgage loan balances decreased by £8.4bn at 31 December 2014 to £43.9bn. We have been successful in retaining 80% of customers with maturing products on Santander UK mortgages. Interest-only mortgage balances decreased to £56.9bn (2013: £59.0bn) while Buy-to-Let mortgages increased to £3.1bn (2013: £2.2bn).

Unsecured consumer and vehicle finance balances, which include bank overdrafts, unsecured personal loans, credit cards and consumer finance, increased 12%. This was in line with the planned rollout of our 1I2I3 World loyalty strategy.

>

Risk-weighted assets increased by 6% to £38.4bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £36.3bn), reflecting growth in both mortgages and unsecured lending described above, as well as a small increase in the average mortgage risk weight.

>

Customer deposits increased 5% to £129.6bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £123.2bn) as current account balances continued to grow strongly. The 1I2I3 Current Account remains central to our retail customer relationship model and was the main driver of a net inflow of £13.2bn in current account balances during the year. This was partially offset by a continued managed reduction in deposits without a broader customer relationship, as we continued to focus on retaining and originating accounts held by more loyal customers.

>

The NPL ratio decreased to 1.62% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 1.89%), with an improvement across all the principal portfolios. There was a particular improvement in unsecured personal lending and 1I2I3 Credit Cards which benefitted from the good risk profile of our 1I2I3 World customers.

>

The mortgage NPL ratio decreased to 1.64% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 1.88%) with a further decrease in NPLs which reflected the good credit quality of the portfolio, and a growing mortgage book, supported by the improving economic environment for UK households, with low interest rates, rising house prices and falling unemployment. We remain aware that these trends may not continue and we take account of this in setting our provisions.

>

The mortgage NPL coverage ratio increased to 24% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 21%).

2013 compared to 2012

>

Total assets decreased by 5% to £160.5bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £168.3bn) driven by the decrease in customer loans described below.

>

Customer loans decreased by 5% to £155.6bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £164.1bn), due to management actions to tighten the lending criteria associated with higher risk elements of the mortgage portfolio, particularly higher loan-to-value and interest-only mortgages, initiated in early 2012. Interest-only mortgage loan balances decreased by £6bn. Unsecured and vehicle finance balances, which includes bank overdrafts, unsecured personal loans, credit cards and consumer finance, was stable in the year.

>

Risk-weighted assets decreased by 3% to £36.3bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £37.6bn), reflecting the continued managed reduction in selected higher risk elements of the mortgage portfolio.

>

Customer deposits decreased by 3% to £123.2bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £127.2bn). There was an acceleration in the reduction of retail savings balances without a broader customer relationship as we focused on retaining and originating accounts held by more loyal customers. The 1I2I3 Current Account remains central to our retail customer relationship model and was the main driver of the 75% increase in current account balances during the year.

>

The mortgage NPL ratio increased to 1.88% at 31 December 2013 (2012: 1.74%) largely due to the impact of regulatory-driven policy and reporting changes implemented in early 2012, although lower than in 2012, as well as the impact of lower mortgage balances. These policy and reporting changes are not expected to result in significant additional write-offs. Mortgage NPL balances were broadly stable over the year excluding the impact of the policy and reporting changes. The more recent performance over the last six months of 2013 showed that the NPL ratio had stabilised, as expected.

>

The mortgage coverage ratio increased to 21% at 31 December 2013 (2012: 20%), as a result of higher impairment loss allowance balances.

Annual Report 2014195


Financial review

Business volumes

  

31 December

2014

£bn

 

31 December

2013

£bn

 

31 December

2012

£bn

 

Mortgage gross lending

 26.3   18.4   14.4  

Mortgage net lending

 2.0   (8.5)   (9.6)  

UPL gross lending

 1.5   1.1   1.1  

UPL net lending

 0.2   (0.3)   (0.4)  

Vehicle finance net lending

 0.2   -   0.1  

Customer deposit flows

 6.4   (4.0)   5.8  

Number of 1I2I3 World customers

 3.6 million   2.4 million   1.3 million  

2014 compared to 2013

>

Mortgage gross lending was strong, increasing to £26.3bn with applications up 26% in 2014, due to improved markets, including gross lending driven by the UK Government-backed Help to Buy scheme. We maintained our prudent lending criteria with an average LTV of 65% (2013: 62%) on new lending in 2014, including the effect of higher LTV Help to Buy business. We helped 40,300 first-time buyers (£5.6bn of gross lending) and 8,100 Help to Buy customers (£1.2bn of gross lending) purchase a home.

>

UPL gross lending increased to £1.5bn in 2014 (2013: £1.1bn), benefitting from the opportunity of our 1I2I3 World customers and an increased focus on branch and internet origination. UPL net lending increased to £0.2bn in 2014 (2013: £(0.3)bn), driven by rising customer demand broadly in line with that observed across the market following a number of years of contraction.

>

Vehicle finance net lending increased to £0.2bn in 2014 (2013: £nil), benefiting from a continued increase in customer confidence.

>

Customer deposit balances increased to £6.4bn in 2014, as we focused on retaining and originating accounts held by more loyal customers. Current account balances increased by £13.2bn to £41.1bn, partially offset by lower savings balances as we focused on reducing more price-sensitive retail deposits.

>

The number of 1I2I3 World customers increased by 50% to 3.6 million in 2014 (2013: 2.4 million), with a continued growing transactional primary customer base. In 2014, we further expanded the 1I2I3 World by launching the 1I2I3 Mini, a new current account for children, 166,000 of which have been opened. In addition, we launched the 1I2I3 student products, which include 1I2I3 Student, 1I2I3 Graduate and 1I2I3 Post-Graduate new accounts (excluding automatic conversions), which grew to 107,000 customers. This makes 1I2I3 World accessible to the whole family and is helping us to deepen customer relationships.

The 1I2I3 World is transforming our customer profile, building deeper, more durable and more valuable relationships: 93% of 1I2I3 Current Accounts are a primary banking relationship (compared to 46% for our non-1I2I3 customers); on average 1I2I3 customers hold 2.3 products (compared to 1.5 products for non-1I2I3 customers); and average 1I2I3 account balances are 5 times higher than non-1I2I3 account balances.

1I2I3 World continued to expand, with almost 40% of customers holding both the 1I2I3 Current Account and 1I2I3 Credit Card. 1I2I3 World provides a qualitative improvement of customer relationships underpinning our retail interest margins. At 31 December 2014, £70.3bn (54%) of retail deposit balances were derived from 1I2I3 Current Account and other primary bank accounts with associated savings balances held by the same customers; an increase of 34% in the year.

2013 compared to 2012

>

Mortgage gross lending in 2013 was £18.4bn, with £8.5bn negative net lending due to the managed reduction in selected elements of the residential mortgage portfolio. The average LTV on new business completions in 2013 decreased slightly to 62% (2012: 63%).

>

UPL gross lending remained unchanged at £1.1bn in 2013 (2012: £1.1bn). UPL net lending decreased to £0.3bn in 2013 (2012: decreased by £0.4bn) reflecting market conditions.

>

Vehicle finance net lending decreased to £nil in 2013 (2012: £0.1bn).

>

Customer deposit balances were £4bn lower in 2013, reflecting a managed reduction in rate-sensitive deposits without a broader customer relationship and a smaller cross tax year ISA campaign, reflecting our lower funding requirement. This was partially offset by growth in current account balances as a result of the continued development of the 1I2I3 Current Account launched in March 2012.

>

The number of 1I2I3 World customers increased 85% to 2.4 million in 2013, with a growing transactional primary customer base. 1I2I3 World customers tend to have higher balances, more products with us, transact more frequently and with a higher average credit card spend than other customers.

196Santander UK plc


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statement reviewsheet reviewflows

COMMERCIAL BANKING

Commercial Banking offers a wide range of products and financial services to customers through a network of regional Corporate Business Centres (‘CBCs’) and through telephony and digital channels. The management of our customers is organised according to the annual turnover (£250,000 to £500m) of their business, enabling us to offer a differentiated service to SMEs and mid corporate customers. Commercial Banking also includes specialist commercial real estate and Social Housing lending businesses.

Summarised income statement

  

Year ended

31 December 2014

£m

 

Year ended

31 December 2013

£m

 

Year ended

31 December 2012

£m

 

Net interest income

 373   284   228  

Non-interest income

 112   113   179  

Total operating income

 485   397   407  

Administration expenses

 (260)   (231)   (187)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (60)   (49)   (45)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (320)   (280)   (232)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

 (92)   (107)��  (109)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (12)   (17)   (47)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (104)   (124)   (156)  

Profit/(loss) on continuing operations before tax

 61   (7)   19  

2014 compared to 2013

Profit on continuing operations before tax increased by £68m to £61m in 2014 (2013: loss of £7m). By income statement line, the movements were:

>

Net interest income increased by £89m to £373m in 2014 (2013: £284m), principally as a result of continued growth in customer loans and an improvement in stock deposit margins. Much of the loan growth was generated through our expanding network of regional CBCs and the increased number of relationship managers.

>

Non-interest income decreased by £1m to £112m in 2014 (2013: £113m) due to a lower demand for interest rate and foreign exchange risk management products in a relatively stable, low interest rate environment.

>

Administration expenses increased by £29m to £260m in 2014 (2013: £231m). The increase reflected continued investment in the growth of the businesses serving SME and corporate customers and as we continue to open new CBCs and recruited new relationship managers.

We are also investing in new platforms specifically for corporate customers and building on the expertise and presence of the wider Banco Santander group. In 2014, we launched a new corporate internet banking capability (‘Connect’), a new trade portal and trade club and the Santander Passport service. Our global alliances with other major international financial institutions, together with the extensive network provided by the Banco Santander group allow us to offer a broad range of international financial services for our customers.

>

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment increased by £11m to £60m in 2014 (2013: £49m) due to the continued investment in systems to improve and support new transactional capabilities for our customers and the increase in our growing network of regional CBCs.

>

Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £15m to £92m in 2014 (2013: £107m), with a loan loss rate of 0.52% (2013: 0.66%). Credit quality in the loan books continued to be good, supported by the improving economic environment and our cautious lending policy.

>

Provisions for other liabilities and charges decreased by £5m to £12m in 2014 (2013: £18m). Regulatory costs relating to the FSCS of £2m (2013: £2m) and the UK Bank Levy of £17m (2013: £13m) were charged in the year. There was also a modest conduct provision release of £10m.

Annual Report 2014197


Financial review

2013 compared to 2012

Profit on continuing operations before tax decreased by £26m to a loss of £7m in 2013 (2012: profit of £19m). By income statement line, the movements were:

>

Net interest income increased by £56m to £284m in 2013 (2012: £228m), principally as a result of continued growth in customer loans. Much of this growth was generated through the network of regional CBCs which serve our SME clients. Net interest income also benefitted from the impact of improving new business margins.

>

Non-interest income decreased by £66m to £113m in 2013 (2012: £179m) reflecting a reduced volume of interest rate hedging services, driven by the continued low interest rate environment; and the planned reduction in transactions from certain legacy cash transmission businesses.

>

Administration expenses increased by £44m to £231m in 2013 (2012: £187m). The increase reflected the continued investment in the growth of the SME business. We further developed our capacity to support our SME customers, with more customer-facing staff in our growing regional CBC network, as we expand into new financial centres across the UK.

>

Depreciation and amortisation increased by £4m to £49m in 2013 (2012: £45m) due to the continued investment in systems to support new transactional capabilities for our customers.

>

Impairment losses on loans and advances were broadly unchanged at £107m in 2013 (2012: £109m) with the credit quality of business written from 2009 onwards continuing to perform well. Provisions in 2013 largely related to business written before 2009.

>

Provisions for other liabilities and charges decreased by £30m to £17m in 2013 (2012: £47m). Regulatory costs relating to the FSCS of £2m (2012: £2m) and the UK Bank Levy of £13m (2012: £9m) were charged in the year. In 2012, provisions for other liabilities and charges included a provision for conduct remediation. No additional conduct provisions were made in 2013.

Balances and ratios

  

31 December

2014

£bn

 

31 December

2013

£bn

 

31 December

2012

£bn

 

Total assets

 18.7   17.0   15.4  

Customer loans

 18.7   17.0   15.4  

- of which SMEs

 12.6   11.7   10.6  

- of which mid corporate

 6.1   5.3   4.8  

Risk-weighted assets

 19.9   17.0(1)   17.0(1)  

Customer deposits

 15.3   13.8   10.5  

NPL ratio(2) (3)

 3.56%   3.83%   5.31%  

Coverage ratio(2) (4)

 46%   43%   39%  
(1)

Adjusted for consistency to reflect the CRD IV rules as if they had applied on 31 December 2013 and 2012 as described in ‘Risk-weighted assets’ in the Capital Risk Management section of the Risk Review.

(2)

The balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.

(3)

NPLs as a percentage of customer loans.

(4)

Impairment loss allowance as a percentage of NPLs.

2014 compared to 2013

>

Total assets increased by 10% to £18.7bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £17.0bn) driven by the growth in customer loans described below.

>

Customer loans increased by 10% to £18.7bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £17bn) maintaining a positive momentum despite an increasingly competitive and still contracting market. This growth was predominantly driven by our network of regional CBCs and our additional relationship managers as we continue to invest in growing our SME business.

Following a periodic review in the first quarter of 2014, the management of a number of customers was transferred from the SME portfolio to our mid corporate portfolio as the annual turnover of their businesses had increased. Prior periods have not been restated. The balance associated with these loans was £327m. Lending to SME customers increased 8% including the transfer (11% excluding the transfer), and with growth of 15% in mid corporates during the year (9% increase excluding transfer).

>

Risk-weighted assets increased by 17% to £19.9bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £17.0bn) reflecting growth in customer loans as described above and a recalibration of risk models.

>

Customer deposits increased by 11% to £15.3bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £13.8bn). We continued to attract deposit balances where we have a strong customer relationship and building on our new enhanced corporate cash management and deposit capabilities. Deposit growth fully funded the increase in lending and grew at a faster rate than in recent years.

>

The NPL ratio decreased to 3.56% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 3.83%), largely due to credit quality remaining strong. We continue to adhere to our prudent lending criteria as we further deliver on our business plan to expand lending.

198Santander UK plc


IncomeBalanceCash
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2013 compared to 2012

>

Total assets increased by 10% to £17bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £15.4bn) driven by the growth in customer loans described below.

>

Customer loans increased by 10% to £17bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £15.4bn). Corporate lending growth continues to be subject to prudent risk management criteria, as demonstrated by the good credit quality in newer vintage loans. Much of this growth was generated through the network of regional CBCs which support our SME customers.

>

Risk-weighted assets remained unchanged at £17.0bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £17.0bn). The impact of higher lending to customers (described above) was offset by the good credit quality of new vintage loans.

>

Customer deposits increased by 31% to £13.8bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £10.5bn) principally reflecting the strong inflows during the year as we continued to develop deeper relationships with our customers, following the expansion of our customer base, and building on our new enhanced corporate cash management and deposit capabilities.

>

The NPL ratio decreased to 3.83% at 31 December 2013 (2012: 5.31%), as the credit quality in newer loan vintages remained strong.

Business volumes

  

31 December

2014

 

31 December

2013

 

31 December

2012

 

New facilities

 £7,935m   £6,476m   £4,691m  

Bank account openings (No.)

 7,600   5,700   4,400  

CBCs (No.)

 66   50   34  

Relationship managers (No.)

 729   650   503  

2014 compared to 2013

>

New facilities increased 23% to £7,935m in 2014 (2013: £6,476m). We also expanded our coverage in the renewable energy, manufacturing and education sectors in the year.

>

Bank account openings showed strong growth increasing 33% to 7,600 in 2014 (2013: 5,700) with an acceleration in the usage of our corporate banking platform, completed in 2013.

>

We have in place a new scalable platform and are able to deliver a broader product suite with a wide range of ancillary services and we have extended our footprint and our capacity to service mid corporates and SMEs with the increase in the number of relationship managers in our growing network of 66 regional CBCs in 2014 (2013: 50), building towards a planned 750 relationship managers and our target of 70 regional CBCs by the end of 2015.

2013 compared to 2012

>

New facilities increased 38% to £6,476m in 2013 (2012: £4,691m) as we continued to build our SME franchise.

>

Bank account openings increased strongly by 30% to 5,700 in 2013 (2012: 4,400) supported by the implementation of our new corporate banking platform in 2013.

>

We developed our growing network of regional CBCs to 50 in 2013 (2012: 34), building towards our target of 70 centres by the end of 2015 to support the continuing growth of our SME business. We increased the number of client-facing relationship managers servicing our corporate customers to 650 in 2013 (2012: 503), building towards our objective of 750 relationship managers by the end of 2015.

Annual Report 2014199


Financial review

CORPORATE & INSTITUTIONAL BANKING

Corporate & Institutional Banking services corporate clients and financial institutions that, because of their size, complexity or sophistication, require specially-tailored services or value-added wholesale products. It offers risk management and other value-added financial services to large corporates with a turnover above £500m per annum, and financial institutions, as well as to the rest of Santander UK’s businesses. The main businesses areas include: working capital management (trade and export finance and cash management), financing (Debt Capital Markets, and corporate and specialised lending) and risk management (foreign exchange, rates and liability management).

Summarised income statement

  

Year ended

31 December 2014

£m

 

Year ended

31 December 2013

£m

 

Year ended

31 December 2012

£m

 

Net interest income

 75   65   29  

Non-interest income

 277   280   417  

Total operating income

 352   345   446  

Administration expenses

 (231)   (160)   (180)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (6)   (4)   (4)  

Total operating expenses excluding provisions and charges

 (237)   (164)   (184)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

 4   -   -  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (9)   (7)   (8)  

Total operating provisions and charges

 (5)   (7)   (8)  

Profit on continuing operations before tax

 110   174   254  

2014 compared to 2013

Profit on continuing operations before tax decreased by £64m to £110m in 2014 (2013: £174m). By income statement line, the movements were:

>

Net interest income increased by £10m to £75m in 2014 (2013: £65m), driven by a deposit margin improvement.

>

Non-interest income decreased by £3m to £277m in 2014 (2013: £280m), principally due to lower demand for interest rate and foreign exchange risk management products and a risk reduction strategy in a volatile second half of the year. This was partially offset by an increase in the short-term markets activity of clients.

We continued to develop the client franchise, in particular the large corporate segment, through a focussed client approach, an increase in the number of bankers providing coverage as well as improved product offerings. We continued to refocus the business mix towards core banking activities, such as global transaction banking, debt capital markets, supply chain finance and cash management. We also exited from a number of non-core activities where we lack scale and expertise.

>

Administration expenses increased by £71m to £231m in 2014 (2013: £160m), mainly reflecting investment in developing transactional, interest rate and fixed income capabilities (including a new cash management platform, specific foreign exchange tools and infrastructure for supply chain finance), as well as the related controls, systems and processes.

>

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment remained broadly stable at £6m in 2014 (2013: £4m).

>

Impairment losses on loans and advances benefitted from a release of £4m in 2014 (2013: £nil) reflecting improved performance of loans due to general improvements in economic conditions.

>

Provisions for other liabilities and charges remained broadly stable at £9m in 2014 (2013: £7m).

2013 compared to 2012

Profit on continuing operations before tax decreased by £80m to £174m in 2013 (2012: £254m). By income statement line, the movements were:

>

Net interest income increased by £36m to £65m in 2013 (2012: £29m), principally as a result of continued growth in customer loans generated through our trade finance business (invoice discounting programmes) and credit business with large corporates and a decrease in funding costs.

>

Non-interest income decreased by £137m to £280m in 2013 (2012: £417m), reflecting lower income from large corporates, notably as a result of lower demand for interest rate and foreign exchange risk management products. Furthermore, fixed income sales and money market transactions decreased reflecting reduced market activity compared to a particularly strong performance in 2012. The decrease also reflected a return to more normalised levels of market-making activity with reduced customer activity in a relatively stable, low interest rate environment. Market-making businesses (particularly in equity markets) also suffered lower levels of activity.

>

Administration expenses decreased by £20m to £160m in 2013 (2012: £180m), reflecting investment in growth opportunities for large corporates and the development of interest rate and foreign exchange product capabilities offset by tight cost control and reduced variable remuneration.

>

Depreciation and amortisation remained unchanged at £4m in 2013 (2012: £4m).

>

Provisions for other liabilities and charges remained broadly unchanged at £7m in 2013 (2012: £8m).

200Santander UK plc


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statement reviewsheet reviewflows

Balances and ratios

  

31 December

2014

£bn

 

31 December

2013

£bn

 

31 December

2012

£bn

 

Total assets(1)

 38.3   37.9   48.3  

Customer loans

 5.2   5.1   4.2  

Other assets

 33.1   32.8   44.2  

Risk-weighted assets

 16.8   16.5(1)   14.5(1)  

Customer deposits

 2.3   2.6   2.3  

NPL ratio(2) (3)

 1.01%   0.33%   0.40%  

Coverage ratio(2) (4)

 138%   453%   514%  
(1)

Adjusted for consistency to reflect the CRD IV rules as if they had applied on 31 December 2013 and 2012 as described in ‘Risk-weighted assets’ in the Capital Risk Management section of the Risk Review.

(2)

The balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.

(3)

NPLs as a percentage of customer loans.

(4)

Impairment loss allowance as a percentage of NPLs. The impairment loan loss allowance includes provisions against both NPLs and other loans where a provision is required. As a result the ratio can exceed 100%.

2014 compared to 2013

>

Total assets principally consist of derivatives, fixed income products and customer loans. Total assets increased by 1% to £38.3bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £37.9bn). The increase was driven by the growth in customer loans described below.

>

Customer loans increased to £5.2bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £5.1bn), despite volatile market conditions and an acceleration of refinancing activities.

>

Other assets principally consist of derivatives and fixed income products. Other assets increased slightly by 1% to £33.1bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £32.8bn).

>

Risk-weighted assets increased slightly to £16.8bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £16.5bn) reflecting customer loan growth.

>

Customer deposits decreased to £2.3bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £2.6bn) as part of a plan to focus more on the management of our relationship driven deposit base.

>

The NPL ratio increased to 1.01% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 0.33%), due to a single infrastructure loan which moved to non-performance.

2013 compared to 2012

>

Total assets decreased by 22% to £37.9bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £48.3bn). The decrease was driven by the reduction in other assets described below.

>

Customer loans increased by 21% to £5.1bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £4.2bn), principally due to increased customer loans to large corporate clients generated through our trade finance business (invoice discounting programmes) in our global transactional banking services unit where we continued to develop product capabilities. Growth was also seen in credit markets acquisition finance deals with large corporate clients.

>

Other assets decreased by 26% to £32.8bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £44.2bn) primarily reflecting a decrease in the fair values of interest rate derivative assets. There was a corresponding decrease in derivative liabilities.

>

Risk-weighted assets increased by 14% to £16.5bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £14.5bn) due to changes in market risk capital requirements.

>

Customer deposits increased by £0.3bn to £2.6bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £2.3bn), as we continued to develop deeper relationships with our clients and a focus away from rate-driven deposits as a result.

>

The NPL ratio decreased slightly to 0.33% at 31 December 2013 (2012: 0.40%). The NPL ratio is sensitive to specific adverse movements due to the size and nature of the portfolio.

Annual Report 2014201


Financial review

CORPORATE CENTRE

Corporate Centre includes asset and liability management for the Santander UK group and management of the non-core corporate and treasury legacy portfolios. Corporate Centre is responsible for managing capital and funding, balance sheet composition and structure and strategic liquidity risk for the Santander UK group. The non-core corporate and treasury legacy portfolios include aviation, shipping, infrastructure, commercial mortgages, Social Housing loans and structured credit assets, all of which are being run-down and/or managed for value. In addition, the co-brand credit cards business sold in 2013 was managed in Corporate Centre prior to its sale and presented as discontinued operations.

Summarised income statement

  

Year ended

31 December 2014

£m

 

Year ended

31 December 2013(1)

£m

 

Year ended

31 December 2012(1)

£m

 

Net interest expense

 (106)   (124)   (42)  

Non-interest income

 87   74   721  

Total operating (expense)/income

 (19)   (50)   679  

Administration expenses

 119   (1)   (2)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (206)   -   -  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (87)   (1)   (2)  

Impairment releases/(losses) on loans and advances

 17   (9)   (459)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 -   -   (62)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 17   (9)   (521)  

(Loss)/profit on continuing operations before tax

 (89)   (60)   156  

    

         

(Loss)/profit on discontinued operations after tax

 -   (8)   62  
(1)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

2014 compared to 2013

Loss on continuing operations before tax increased by £29m to £89m in 2014 (2013: loss of £60m). By income statement line, the movements were:

>

Net interest expense decreased by £18m to £106m in 2014 (2013: £124m) driven by the run-down of the non-core asset portfolios.

>

Non-interest income increased by £13m to £87m in 2014 (2013: £74m) largely reflecting mark-to-market gains.

>

Administration expenses decreased by £120m to income of £119m in 2014 (2013: expense of £1m). This was largely due to a net gain of £218m which arose as a result of scheme changes that limit future defined benefit pension entitlements and provide for the longer term sustainability of our staff pension arrangement. This was partially offset by additional project costs of £98m, including those relating to our investment programme, which were borne centrally.

>

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment increased to £206m in 2014 (2013: £nil). This was due to software write-offs for the decommissioning of redundant systems following the implementation of our new digital platform and the completion of our product simplification programme. The write-offs are expected to reduce our future depreciation charge.

>

Impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by £26m to £17m in 2014 (2013: charge of £9m) due to a £25m release in the non-core portfolio as a result of the improving economic environment and disposal of assets, utilising lower provisions than allocated.

Loss from discontinued operations after tax of £nil in 2014 (2013: £8m) reflected the sale of the co-brand credit cards business in 2013.

202Santander UK plc


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statement reviewsheet reviewflows

2013 compared to 2012

Loss on continuing operations before tax decreased by £216m to a loss of £60m in 2013 (2012: profit of £156m). By income statement line, the movements were:

>

Net interest expense increased by £82m to £124m in 2013 (2012: £42m) as a consequence of the continued low interest rate environment. This reflected the increased drag from the run-off of the structural hedge put in place in previous years, whilst the benefit of lower funding and liquidity costs was passed to the businesses

>

Non-interest income decreased by £647m to £74m in 2013 (2012: £721m) largely due to a gain of £705m on a capital management exercise in the third quarter of 2012 not repeated in 2013. This was partially offset by the £38m credit arising from the debit valuation adjustment on derivatives written by Santander UK. This debit valuation adjustment was introduced in accordance with the requirements of IFRS 13.

>

Administration expenses remained at a low level at £1m in 2013 (2012: £2m).

>

Impairment losses on loans and advances in the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios decreased by £450m to £9m in 2013 (2012: £459m). In 2012, provisions of £335m were made following the review and full re-assessment of the assets held in the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios in run-off. The provision related to assets acquired from Alliance & Leicester plc, notably the shipping and property portfolios, as well as certain assets in the old Abbey Commercial Mortgages book. The provision raised reflected the increased losses experienced in these portfolios. No further significant provisions were required in 2013 as disposals of assets across the portfolios were consistent with provisioned levels.

>

Provisions for other liabilities and charges decreased by £62m to £nil in 2013 (2012: £62m). In 2012, there was a £55m write-off of costs arising from the termination of the planned acquisition of the RBS businesses.

(Loss)/profit from discontinued operations after tax of £(8)m in 2013 (2012: £62m) comprised the profit before tax of the discontinued operations of £nil (2012: £85m), a loss on sale before tax of £10m, and a tax credit of £2m (2012: tax charge of £22m). The decrease in profit before tax principally reflected the reduction in the size of the co-brand credit cards business prior to the completion of its sale in 2013.

Balances and ratios

  

31 December

2014

£bn

 

31 December

2013

£bn

 

31 December

2012

£bn

 

Total assets

 55.6   55.0   61.0  

Customer loans (non-core)

 8.3   9.4   11.0  

Risk-weighted assets

 7.2   7.9(1)   9.5(1)  

Customer deposits

 5.2   6.8   8.6  

NPL ratio(2) (3)

 1.62%   2.36%   4.49%  

Coverage ratio(2) (4)

 134%   125%   99%  
(1)

Adjusted for consistency to reflect the CRD IV rules as if they had applied on 31 December 2013 and 2012 as described in ‘Risk-weighted assets’ in the Capital Risk Management section of the Risk Review.

(2)

The balances include interest charged to the customer’s account, but exclude interest accrued but not yet charged to the account.

(3)

NPLs as a percentage of customer loans.

(4)

Impairment loan loss allowance as a percentage of NPLs. The impairment loan loss allowance includes provisions against both NPLs and other loans where a provision is required. As a result the ratio can exceed 100%.

Annual Report 2014203


Financial review

Non-core assets

  

31 December

2014

£bn

 

31 December

2013

£bn

 

31 December

2012

£bn

 

Social housing

 6.7   7.1   7.5  

Commercial mortgages

 0.9   1.2   1.4  

Shipping

 0.3   0.4   0.7  

Aviation

 0.2   0.4   0.6  

Other

 0.2   0.3   0.8  

Non-core customer loans

 8.3   9.4   11.0  

Legacy Treasury asset portfolio

 0.7   2.0   1.9  

Total non-core assets

 9.0   11.4   12.9  

2014 compared to 2013

>

Total assets increased by 1% to £55.6bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £55.0bn) principally driven by an increase in liquid assets, partially offset by the reduction in non-core customer loans described below. Liquid asset balances continued to be managed against liquidity requirements with a focus on efficiency, given stability in capital markets and as a consequence of historic actions taken to strengthen the balance sheet.

>

Customer loans decreased by 12% to £8.3bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £9.4bn) due to the rundown of the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios as we continued to successfully implement our on-going exit strategy from individual loans and leases. Disposals of assets continued across the portfolios with no significant impact on the income statement. The Social Housing loan portfolio remained relatively stable, reflecting its long-term, low risk nature.

>

Risk-weighted assets decreased by 9% to £7.2bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £7.9bn) largely reflecting the reduction in customer loans due to the continued run-down of the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios.

>

Customer deposits decreased by 24% to £5.2bn at 31 December 2014 (2013: £6.8bn), as part of a plan to focus on the management of our more relationship-driven deposit base.

>

The NPL ratio decreased to 1.62% at 31 December 2014 (2013: 2.36%), reflecting the on-going sale and run-off of the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios which continued with no significant impact on the income statement. Social Housing loans comprised 81% of customer loans in Corporate Centre at 31 December 2014, and this portfolio is fully performing.

2013 compared to 2012

>

Total assets decreased by 10% to £55.0bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £61.0bn) driven by the reduction in customer loans described below, and a decrease in eligible liquid assets, partially offset by an increase in the ALCO portfolio, as part of liquidity management activities.

Eligible liquid assets decreased by £7.4bn to £29.5bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £36.9bn). Balances were managed more efficiently, given stability in capital markets and as a consequence of the actions taken to strengthen the balance sheet by reducing short-term wholesale funding over the last three years. Surplus liquidity was also utilised to fund maturing medium term funding and to invest in the ALCO portfolio. Eligible liquid assets significantly exceeded short-term (i.e. of less than one year) wholesale funding, with a coverage ratio of 138%.

>

Customer loans decreased by 15% to £9.4bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £11.0bn) due to the rundown of the non-core portfolios as we successfully implemented our ongoing exit strategy from individual loans and leases. Disposals of assets continued across the portfolios within provisioned levels. The Social Housing portfolio was stable, reflecting its long-term, low risk nature.

>

Risk-weighted assets decreased by 17% to £7.9bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £9.5bn) due to the reduction in non-core customer loans, the continued rundown of the Treasury asset portfolio and the sale of the co-brand credit cards business.

>

Customer deposits decreased by 21% to £6.8bn at 31 December 2013 (2012: £8.6bn), as we focussed on the management of our more relationship-driven deposit base.

204Santander UK plc


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statement reviewsheet reviewflows

Balance sheet review

This Financial Review describes Santander UK’s significant assets and liabilities and its strategy and reasons for entering into such transactions. In this section, references to UK and non-UK, in the geographical analysis, refer to the location of the office where the transaction is recorded.

SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

  

2014

£m

 

2013(1)

£m

 

Assets

Cash and balances at central banks

 22,562   26,374  

Trading assets

 21,700   22,294  

Derivative financial instruments

 23,021   20,049  

Financial assets designated at fair value

 2,881   2,747  

Loans and advances to banks

 2,057   2,347  

Loans and advances to customers

 188,691   184,587  

Loans and receivables securities

 118   1,101  

Available for sale securities

 8,944   5,005  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 963   769  

Interest in other entities

 38   27  

Property, plant and equipment

 1,624   1,521  

Retirement benefit assets

 315   118  

Tax, intangibles and other assets

 3,063   3,347  

Total assets

 275,977   270,286  

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

 8,214   8,696  

Deposits by customers

 153,606   147,167  

Trading liabilities

 15,333   21,278  

Derivative financial instruments

 22,732   18,863  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

 2,848   3,407  

Debt securities in issue

 51,790   50,870  

Subordinated liabilities

 4,002   4,306  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 139   -  

Retirement benefit obligations

 199   672  

Tax, other liabilities and provisions

 2,921   2,437  

Total liabilities

 261,784   257,696  

Equity

Total shareholders’ equity

 14,193   12,590  

Total equity

 14,193   12,590  

Total liabilities and equity

 275,977   270,286  
(1)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

A more detailed consolidated balance sheet is contained in the Consolidated Financial Statements.

31 December 2014 compared to 31 December 2013

Assets

Cash and balances at central banks

Cash and balances held at central banks decreased by 14% to £22,562m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £26,374m), with a greater proportion of our liquid asset portfolio being held in debt securities rather than cash at central banks.

Trading assets

Trading assets decreased by 3% to £21,700m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £22,294m), reflecting lower levels of activity relating to securities purchased under resale agreements to both banks and customers partially offset by increased holdings of £4,071m of equity instruments as part of short-term markets trading activity.

Derivative financial instruments - assets

Derivative assets increased by 15% to £23,021m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £20,049m). The increase was mainly attributable to the increase in fair values of interest rate and cross currency derivative assets mainly driven by movements in yield curves and foreign exchange. This was partially offset by the maturity of trades which were economically hedging a portfolio which also matured in the year.

Financial assets designated at fair value through profit and loss

Financial assets designated at fair value through profit and loss slightly increased by 5% to £2,881m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £2,747m), primarily attributable to the increase in fair value of the debt securities portfolio and UK Social Housing association loans offset by the maturity of loans to UK Social Housing associations and new loans no longer being designated at fair value, in accordance with Santander UK’s policy.

Loans and advances to customers

Loans and advances to customers increased by 2% to £188,691m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £184,587m) principally due to an increase in mortgage lending, maintaining the positive momentum that commenced in the second quarter of 2014. In addition, corporate lending balances increased. These increases were partially offset by a reduction in non-core corporate and legacy portfolios.

Annual Report 2014205


Financial review

Loans and receivables securities

Loans and receivables securities decreased by 89% to £118m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £1,101m). The decrease was attributable to the disposal of legacy Treasury asset portfolio.

Available for sale securities

Available for sale securities increased by 79% to £8,944m at 31 December 2014 (2013: ��5,005m) largely due to the purchase of UK Government bonds and fixed and floating rate bonds as part of normal liquid asset portfolio management activity.

Property, plant and equipment

Property, plant and equipment increased by 7% to £1,624m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £1,521m). The increase was attributable to the completion of a Data Centre offset by depreciation charge for the year.

Retirement benefit assets

Retirement benefit assets increased by 167% to £315m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £118m). For those sections of the Santander UK Group Pension Scheme which had surpluses, the key drivers of the increase were scheme changes that limit future defined benefit pension entitlements and provide for the longer term sustainability of our staff pension arrangements. In re-measurement of the defined benefit pension schemes during the year, the return on plan assets (excluding net interest income) exceeded the actuarial losses arising from changes in financial assumptions.

Tax, intangibles and other assets

Tax, intangibles and other assets decreased by 9% to £3,063m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £3,347m). The decrease primarily reflected a reduction in intangible software assets as a result of write-offs for the decommissioning of redundant systems following the implementation of our new digital platform and the completion of our product simplification programme.

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

Deposits by banks remained broadly unchanged at £8,214m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £8,696m).

Deposits by customers

Deposits by customers increased by 4% to £153,606m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £147,167m) as we focused on retaining and originating accounts held by more loyal Retail Banking customers. Current account balances increased, partially offset by lower savings deposit balances as we focused on reducing short-term retail deposits without a broader customer relationship.

Trading liabilities

Trading liabilities decreased by 28% to £15,333m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £21,278m). A decrease in securities sold under repurchase activities and the cash collateral received as part of normal trading activity were offset by an increase in short-term deposits and short positions.

Derivative financial instruments - liabilities

Derivative liabilities increased by 21% to £22,732m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £18,863m). The increase was mainly attributable to the increase in fair values of interest rate and cross currency derivative liabilities mainly driven by movements in yield curves and foreign exchange.

Financial liabilities designated at fair value through profit and loss

Financial liabilities designated at fair value decreased by 16% to £2,848m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £3,407m). The decrease principally reflected reduced issuances in financial liabilities designated at fair value through profit or loss, with new issuances at amortised cost in debt securities in issue.

Debt securities in issue

Debt securities in issue increased by 2% to £51,790m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £50,870m) due to increased issuances under the US$20bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme and certificates of deposits offset by decrease in Holmes securitisation programme.

Subordinated liabilities

Subordinated liabilities decreased by 7% to £4,002m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £4,306m) due to the redemption of perpetual callable subordinated notes.

Retirement benefit obligations

Retirement benefit obligations decreased by 70% to £199m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £672m). The explanation for the movement is the same as that given for retirement benefit assets above.

Tax, other liabilities and provisions

Tax, other liabilities and provisions increased by 16% to £2,921m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £2,437m). The increase principally reflected the increase in dividend payable and unsettled financial transactions.

Equity

Total shareholders’ equity increased by 13% to £14,193m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £12,590m). The increase was principally attributable to the issuance of £800m Perpetual Capital Securities to our immediate parent company, actuarial gains, valuation of cashflow hedges and the retained profit for the year, partially offset by dividends declared.

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statement reviewsheet reviewflows

RECONCILIATION TO CLASSIFICATIONS IN THE CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

In the remaining sections of the Financial Review, the principal assets and liabilities are summarised by their nature, rather than by their classification in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. The classifications of assets and liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet, including the note reference, and in the Financial Review may be reconciled as follows:

31 December 2014  Financial review section     
Balance sheet line itemNote Securities 

Loans and

advances to

banks

 

Loans and

advances to

customers

 Derivatives 

Tangible

fixed

assets

 

Retirement

benefit

assets

 Other 

Balance

sheet total

 
     £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m 

Assets

Cash and balances at central banks

 13   -   -   -   -   -   -   22,562   22,562  

Trading assets

 14   12,757   5,936   3,007   -   -   -   -   21,700  

Derivative financial instruments

 15   -   -   -   23,021   -   -   -   23,021  

Financial assets designated at fair value

 16   622   -   2,259   -   -   -   -   2,881  

Loans and advances to banks

 17   -   2,057   -   -   -   -   -   2,057  

Loans and advances to customers

 18   -   -   188,691   -   -   -   -   188,691  

Loans and receivables securities

 21   -   9   109   -   -   -   -   118  

Available for sale securities

 22   8,944   -   -   -   -   -   -   8,944  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   -   -   -   963   963  

Interests in other entities

 23   -   -   -   -   -   -   38   38  

Property, plant and equipment

 25   -   -   -   -   1,624   -   -   1,624  

Retirement benefit assets

 36   -   -   -   -   -   315   -   315  

Tax, intangibles and other assets

    -   -   -   -   -   -   3,063   3,063  
     22,323   8,002   194,066   23,021   1,624   315   26,626   275,977  
     

Deposits by

banks

 Deposits by
customers
 

Debt
securities

in issue

 Derivatives Retirement
benefit
obligations
 Other 

Balance

sheet total

 
        £m £m £m £m £m £m £m 

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

 28   8,214   -   -   -   -   -   8,214  

Deposits by customers

 29   -   153,606   -   -   -   -   153,606  

Trading liabilities

 30   7,223   4,899   3,211   -   -   -   15,333  

Derivative financial instruments

 15   -   -   -   22,732   -   -   22,732  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

 31   -   -   2,848   -   -   -   2,848  

Debt securities in issue

 32   -   -   51,790   -   -   -   51,790  

Subordinated liabilities

 33   -   -   4,002   -   -   -   4,002  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   -   -   139   139  

Retirement benefit obligations

 36   -   -   -   -   199   -   199  

Tax, other liabilities and provisions

       -   -   -   -   -   2,921   2,921  
        15,437   158,505   61,851   22,732   199   3,060   261,784  
31 December 2013(1)  Financial review section     
Balance sheet line itemNote Securities Loans and
advances to
banks
 Loans and
advances to
customers
 Derivatives 

Tangible
fixed

assets

 

Retirement
benefit

assets

 Other 

Balance

sheet total

 
     £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m 

Assets

Cash and balances at central banks

 13   -   -   -   -   -   -   26,374   26,374  

Trading assets

 14   8,564   9,326   4,404   -   -   -   -   22,294  

Derivative financial instruments

 15   -   -   -   20,049   -   -   -   20,049  

Financial assets designated at fair value

 16   528   -   2,219   -   -   -   -   2,747  

Loans and advances to banks

 17   -   2,347   -   -   -   -   -   2,347  

Loans and advances to customers

 18   -   -   184,587   -   -   -   -   184,587  

Loans and receivables securities

 21   -   246   855   -   -   -   -   1,101  

Available for sale securities

 22   5,005   -   -   -   -   -   -   5,005  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   -   -   -   769   769  

Interests in other entities

 23   -   -   -   -   -   -   27   27  

Property, plant and equipment

 25   -   -   -   -   1,521   -   -   1,521  

Retirement benefit assets

 36   -   -   -   -   -   118   -   118  

Tax, intangibles and other assets

    -   -   -   -   -   -   3,347   3,347  
     14,097   11,919   192,065   20,049   1,521   118   30,517   270,286  
     Deposits
by banks
 Deposits by
customers
 

Debt
securities

in issue

 Derivatives Retirement
benefit
obligations
 Other 

Balance

sheet total

 
        £m £m £m £m £m £m £m 

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

 28   8,696   -   -   -   -   -   8,696  

Deposits by customers

 29   -   147,167   -   -   -   -   147,167  

Trading liabilities

 30   11,291   7,069   2,918   -   -   -   21,278  

Derivative financial instruments

 15   -   -   -   18,863   -   -   18,863  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

 31   -   -   3,407   -   -   -   3,407  

Debt securities in issue

 32   -   -   50,870   -   -   -   50,870  

Subordinated liabilities

 33   -   -   4,306   -   -   -   4,306  

Retirement benefit obligations

 36   -   -   -   -   672   -   672  

Tax, other liabilities and provisions

       -   -   -   -   -   2,437   2,437  
        19,987   154,236   61,501   18,863   672   2,437   257,696  
(1)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Annual Report 2014207


Financial review

SECURITIES

Santander UK’s holdings of securities only represent a small proportion of its total assets. Santander UK holds securities principally in its trading portfolio or classified as available-for-sale.

Securities analysis by type of issuer

The following table sets out the book and market values of securities at 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012. For further information, see the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Trading portfolio

Debt securities:

UK Government

 905   989   1,817  

US Treasury and other US Government agencies and corporations

 309   399   31  

Other OECD governments

 5,788   5,243   2,069  

Bank and building society:

- Certificates of deposit and bonds

 -   -   13  

Other issuers:

- Fixed and floating rate notes – Government guaranteed

 979   1,081   426  

- Fixed and floating rate notes - Other

 -   147   138  

Ordinary shares and similar securities

 4,776   705   464  
  12,757   8,564   4,958  

Available for sale securities

Debt securities:

UK Government

 4,164   2,912   3,844  

US Treasury and other US Government agencies and corporations

 -   -   363  

Other OECD governments

 -   -   906  

Bank and building society:

- Certificates of deposit and bonds

 4,755   2,069   346  

Ordinary shares and similar securities

 25   24   24  
  8,944   5,005   5,483  

Financial assets designated at fair value through profit and loss

Debt securities:

Other issuers:

- Mortgage-backed securities

 226   229   250  

- Other asset-backed securities

 134   87   78  

- Other securities

 262   212   235  
  622   528   563  
  22,323   14,097   11,004  

UK Government

UK Government securities represent Treasury Bills and UK Government guaranteed issues by other UK banks. These securities are held for trading and liquidity purposes. For further information, see ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk Review.

US Treasury and other US Government agencies and corporations

US Treasury and other US Government agencies’ and corporations’ securities represent US Treasury Bills, including cash management bills. These securities are held for trading and liquidity purposes. For further information, see ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk Review.

Other OECD governments

Other OECD government securities represent issuances by OECD governments, other than the US and UK Governments, principally Japan, Italy and Switzerland (2013: principally Japan, Italy and Switzerland). These securities are held for trading and liquidity management purposes. For further information, see ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk Review.

Bank and building society certificates of deposit and bonds

Bank bonds represent fixed securities with short to medium-term maturities issued by banks. These were managed within the overall position for the relevant book. These securities were held for liquidity purposes.

208Santander UK plc


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Fixed and floating rate notes

Fixed and floating rate notes have regular interest rate profiles and are either managed within the overall position for the relevant book or are hedged into one of the main currencies. These securities are held for trading and yield purposes. For further information on Government-guaranteed fixed and floating rate notes, see ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk Review.

Mortgage-backed securities

This category principally comprises UK residential mortgage-backed securities. These securities are of good quality and contain no sub-prime element. These securities are held as part of the FMIR portfolio. See Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Other asset-backed securities

This category comprises a range of mostly floating-rate asset-backed securities. See Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Other securities

This category principally comprises reversionary UK property securities. See Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Ordinary shares and similar securities

This category comprises equity securities listed in the UK and other countries held for trading purposes. See Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Contractual maturities of securities

Contractual maturities for available-for-sale debt securities and contractual maturities of investments held for trading or classified as fair value through profit or loss are set out in Notes 22 and 44 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, respectively.

Significant exposures

The following table sets forth the book value (which equals market value) of securities of individual counterparties where the aggregate amount of those securities exceeded 10% of Santander UK’s shareholders’ funds at 31 December 2014 as set out in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. The table also sets forth the classification of the securities in the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

  

Trading assets

£m

 

Available-for-sale

£m

 

Total

£m

 

UK Government and UK Government guaranteed

 1,884   4,164   6,048  

Japanese Government

 3,783   -   3,783  

LOANS AND ADVANCES TO BANKS

Loans and advances to banks include loans to banks and building societies and balances with central banks (excluding those central bank balances which can be withdrawn on demand).

Loans and advances to banks geographical analysis

The geographical analysis of loans and advances presented in the following table is based on the location of the office from which the loans and advances are made, rather than the domicile of the borrower. The balances below include loans and advances to banks that are classified in the balance sheet as trading assets, financial assets designated at fair value, or loans and receivables securities.

  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

2011

£m

 

2010

£m

 

UK

 5,181   8,966   11,763   10,727   13,561  

Non-UK

 2,821   2,953   1,153   861   118  
  8,002   11,919   12,916   11,588   13,679  

Further geographical analysis of loans and advances to banks based on the country of domicile of the borrower rather than the office of lending is contained in ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk Review, including details of balances with other Banco Santander group companies.

Annual Report 2014209


Financial review

Loans and advances to banks maturity analysis

The following table sets forth loans and advances to banks by maturity at 31 December 2014.

  

On

demand

£m

 

In not more

than three

months

£m

 

In more than
three months but

not more than one

year

£m

 

In more than one

year but not more

than five years

£m

 

In more than five

years but not more

than ten years

£m

 

In more

than ten

years

£m

 

Total

£m

 

UK

 3,061   1,146   74   266   330   304   5,181  

Non-UK

 2,821   -   -   -   -   -   2,821  

Total

 5,882   1,146   74   266   330   304   8,002  

Of which:

– Fixed interest rate

 147   796   43   -   330   281   1,597  

– Variable interest rate

 5,334   321   31   266   -   23   5,975  

– Non interest-bearing

 401   29   -   -   -   -   430  

Total

 5,882   1,146   74   266   330   304   8,002  

LOANS AND ADVANCES TO CUSTOMERS

Santander UK provides lending facilities primarily to personal customers in the form of mortgages secured on residential properties and lending facilities to corporate customers. Purchase and resale agreements represent sale and repurchase activity with professional non-bank customers by the short term markets business.

Loans and advances to customers geographical analysis

The geographical analysis of loans and advances presented in the following table is based on the location of the office from which the loans and advances are made. Further geographical analysis of loans and advances to customers based on the country of domicile of the borrower rather than the office of lending is contained in ‘Country Risk Exposure’ in the Risk Review, including details of balances with other Banco Santander group companies.

The balances below are stated before the deduction for impairment loss allowances and include loans and advances to customers that are classified in the balance sheet as trading assets, financial assets designated at fair value, or loans and receivables securities.

  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

2011

£m

 

2010

£m

 

UK

Advances secured on residential property

 150,436   149,017   157,304   166,841   166,065  

Corporate loans

 32,262   29,799   29,571   29,988   25,737  

Finance leases

 2,639   3,158   3,061   2,944   2,653  

Other secured advances

 15   -   -   -   -  

Other unsecured advances

 7,043   5,732   6,733   7,545   7,734  

Purchase and resale agreements

 1,237   4,210   2,512   6,150   8,641  

Loans and receivables securities

 42   855   769   814   2,075  

Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures

 797   813   347   32   57  

Total UK

 194,471   193,584   200,297   214,314   212,962  

Non-UK

Advances secured on residential property

 4   5   6   6   8  

Corporate loans

 -   -   -   1   1  

Other secured advances

 -   -   -   -   -  

Other unsecured advances

 -   31   25   -   -  

Purchase and resale agreements

 963   -   4,950   188   18  

Loans and receivables securities

 67   -   -   -   -  

Total non-UK

 1,034   36   4,981   195   27  

Total

 195,505   193,620   205,278   214,509   212,989  

Less: impairment loss allowances

 (1,439)   (1,555)   (1,802)   (1,563)   (1,655)  

Total, net of impairment loss allowances

 194,066   192,065   203,476   212,946   211,334  

Detailed analysis of the loans and receivables securities included in the table above is set out in Note 21 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Further analysis of the impairment loss allowance is set out in Note 18 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

No single concentration of loans and advances, with the exception of advances secured on residential properties and corporate loans, as disclosed above, accounts for more than 10% of total loans and advances and no individual country, other than the UK accounts for more than 5% of total loans and advances.

210Santander UK plc


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Loans and advances to customers maturity analysis

The following table sets out loans and advances to customers by maturity at 31 December 2014. Overdrafts are included in the ‘on-demand’ category. Loans and advances are included at their contractual maturity; no account is taken of a customer’s ability to repay early where it exists.

  

On

demand

£m

 

In not more

than three

months

£m

 

In more than

three months but

not more than

one year

£m

 

In more than

one year but not

more than five

years

£m

 

In more than five

years but not

more than ten

years

£m

 

In more than

ten years

£m

 

Total

£m

 

UK

Advances secured on residential property

 1   452   675   6,842   16,612   125,854   150,436  

Corporate loans

 354   1,115   2,274   14,116   5,465   8,938   32,262  

Finance leases

 -   293   763   1,403   85   95   2,639  

Other secured advances

 -   -   -   3   4   8   15  

Other unsecured advances

 1,166   409   534   3,614   587   733   7,043  

Purchase and resale agreements

 -   1,007   230   -   -   -   1,237  

Loans and receivables securities

 -   -   -   -   -   42   42  

Amounts due from fellow subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures

 3   728   -   52   14   -   797  

Total UK

 1,524   4,004   4,476   26,030   22,767   135,670   194,471  

Non-UK

Advances secured on residential property

 -   -   -   1   1   2   4  

Purchase and resale agreements

 -   963   -   -   -   -   963  

Loans and receivables securities

 -   -   -   -   -   67   67  

Total non-UK

 -   963   -   1   1   69   1,034  

Total

 1,524   4,967   4,476   26,031   22,768   135,739   195,505  

Of which:

– Fixed interest rate

 57   2,421   1,532   8,684   8,301   78,043   99,038  

– Variable interest rate

 1,467   2,546   2,944   17,347   14,467   57,696   96,467  

Total

 1,524   4,967   4,476   26,031   22,768   135,739   195,505  

Of which:

– Interest-only advances secured on residential property

 323   188   722   5,858   10,228   40,268   57,587  

Santander UK’s policy is to hedge all fixed-rate loans and advances to customers using derivative instruments, or by matching with other on-balance sheet interest rate exposures.

The balance sheet is managed on a behavioural basis, rather than on the basis of contractual maturity, with many loans being prepaid prior to their legal maturity. This applies in particular to advances secured on residential property.

Impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers

Details of Santander UK’s impairment loss allowances policy are set out in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. An analysis of impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers, including movements in impairment loss allowances, is set out in Note 17 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

DERIVATIVE ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Assets

- held for trading

 20,235   17,433   28,064  

- held for hedging

 2,786   2,616   2,082  
  23,021   20,049   30,146  

Liabilities

- held for trading

 20,462   17,297   27,415  

- held for hedging

 2,270   1,566   1,446  
  22,732   18,863   28,861  

Derivatives are held for trading or for risk management purposes. All derivatives are classified as held at fair value through profit or loss. For accounting purposes, Santander UK chooses to designate certain derivatives in a hedging relationship if they meet specific criteria. The main hedging derivatives are interest rate and cross-currency swaps, which are used to hedge fixed-rate lending and structured savings products and medium-term note issuances, capital issuances and other capital markets funding.

Commercial Banking and Corporate & Institutional Banking deal with commercial customers who wish to enter into derivative contracts. Any market risk arising from such transactions is hedged by Corporate & Institutional Banking. Corporate & Institutional Banking is responsible for implementing Santander UK derivative hedging with the external market together with its own trading activities. Further detail on market risk is set out in the Risk Review. A summary of Santander UK’s derivative activities, the related risks associated with such activities and the types of hedging derivatives used in managing such risks, as well as notional amounts and assets and liabilities analysed by contract type are contained in Note 15 of the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Annual Report 2014211


Financial review

TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Property, plant and equipment

 1,624   1,521   1,541  

Capital expenditure incurred during the year

 370   258   230  

Details of capital expenditure contracted but not provided for in respect of tangible fixed assets are set out in Note 25 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Santander UK had 1,291 property interests at 31 December 2014 (2013: 1,502). The total consisted of 340 freeholds (2013: 349) and 952 operating lease interests (2013: 1,153), occupying a total floor space of 519,193 square metres (2013: 510,671 square metres).

The number of property interests is more than the number of individual properties as Santander UK has more than one interest in some properties. The majority of Santander UK’s property interests are retail branches. Included in the above total are 118 properties (2013: 208 properties) that were not occupied by Santander UK at 31 December 2014. Of Santander UK’s individual properties, 967 are located in the UK (2013: 1,056) and none in Europe and the US (2013: 1 and 2) respectively. There are no material environmental issues associated with the use of the above properties.

At 31 December 2014, Santander UK had 14 principal sites including its headquarters (2013: 16). They are used for its significant business operations, including Technology and Operations; People and Talent; Retail Banking; Commercial Banking; Corporate & Institutional Banking; Telephone Sales and Servicing; Complaints handling; Debt management; Finance; Compliance; Marketing; and IT operations including Data Centres.

Management believes its existing properties and those under construction, together with those it leases, are adequate and suitable for its business as presently conducted and to meet future business needs. All properties are adequately maintained.

RETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS

  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Retirement benefit assets

 315   118   254  

Retirement benefit obligations

 (199)   (672)   (305)  

Santander UK operates a number of defined contribution and defined benefit pension schemes, and post-retirement medical benefit plans. Detailed disclosures of Santander UK’s retirement benefit assets and obligations are contained in Note 36 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

DEPOSITS BY BANKS

The balances below include deposits by banks that are classified in the balance sheet as trading liabilities and financial liabilities designated at fair value.

  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Year-end balance(1)

 15,437   19,987   19,677  

Average balance(2)

 16,018   27,395   26,714  

Average interest rate(2)

 1.01%   1.53%   1.27%  
(1)

The year-end deposits by banks balance includes non-interest bearing items in the course of transmission of £308m (2013: £614m, 2012: £340m).

(2)

Calculated using monthly data.

At 31 December 2014, deposits by foreign banks amounted to £3,840m (2013: £14,186m, 2012: £12,280m). The following tables set forth the average balances of deposits by banks by geography.

 Average: year ended 31 December 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

UK

 16,016   27,307   26,592  

Non-UK

 2   88   122  
  16,018   27,395   26,714  

212Santander UK plc


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DEPOSITS BY CUSTOMERS

The balances below include deposits by customers that are classified in the balance sheet as trading liabilities and financial liabilities designated at fair value.

  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Year-end balance

 158,505   154,236   156,285  

Average balance(1)

 156,308   154,881   159,611  

Average interest rate(1)

 1.34%   1.74%   1.93%  
(1)

Calculated using monthly data.

The following tables set forth the average balances of deposits by geography and customer type.

 Average: year ended 31 December 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

UK

Retail demand deposits

 91,668   81,022   78,163  

Retail time deposits

 29,504   35,925   41,925  

Wholesale deposits

 31,856   31,067   31,118  
  153,028   148,014   151,206  

Non-UK

Retail demand deposits

 834   964   1,375  

Retail time deposits

 1,218   2,703   5,818  

Wholesale deposits

 1,228   3,200   1,212  
  3280   6,867   8,405  
  156,308   154,881   159,611  

Retail demand and time deposits are obtained either through the branch network, cahoot or remotely (such as postal accounts). Retail demand and time deposits are also obtained outside the UK, principally through Abbey National International Limited and through the Isle of Man branch of Santander UK plc. They are all interest bearing and interest rates are varied from time to time in response to competitive conditions.

Demand deposits

Demand deposits consist of savings and current accounts. Savings products comprise Individual Savings Accounts, instant saver accounts, remote access accounts, such as those serviced by post, and a number of other accounts which allow the customer a limited number of notice-free withdrawals per year depending on the balance remaining in the account. These accounts are treated as demand deposits because the entire account balance may be withdrawn on demand without penalty as one of the notice-free withdrawals.

Time deposits

Time deposits consist of notice accounts, which require customers to give notice of an intention to make a withdrawal, and bond accounts, which have a minimum deposit requirement. In each of these accounts early withdrawal incurs an interest penalty.

Wholesale deposits

Wholesale deposits are those which either are obtained through the money markets or for which interest rates are quoted on request rather than being publicly advertised. These deposits are of fixed maturity and bear interest rates that reflect the inter-bank money market rates.

Annual Report 2014213


Financial review

SHORT-TERM BORROWINGS

Santander UK includes short-term borrowings within deposits by banks, trading liabilities, financial liabilities designated at fair value and debt securities in issue and does not show short-term borrowings separately on the balance sheet. Short-term borrowings are defined by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the ‘SEC’) as amounts payable for short-term obligations that are US Federal funds purchased and securities sold under repurchase agreements, commercial paper, borrowings from banks, borrowings from factors or other financial institutions and any other short-term borrowings reflected on Santander UK’s balance sheet. Santander UK’s only significant short-term borrowings are securities sold under repurchase agreements, commercial paper, borrowings from banks, negotiable certificates of deposit, and certain other debt securities in issue. Additional information on short-term borrowings is provided in the table below for each of the years ended 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012.

  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Securities sold under repurchase agreements

- Year-end balance

 9,420   14,844   24,583  

- Year-end interest rate

 0.35%   0.49%   0.40%  

- Average balance(1)

 16,816   20,573   30,336  

- Average interest rate(1)

 0.35%   0.54%   0.39%  

- Maximum balance(1)

 22,066   26,215   37,621  

Commercial paper

- Year-end balance

 4,364   3,996   3,697  

- Year-end interest rate

 0.24%   0.27%   0.37%  

- Average balance(1)

 4,404   4,453   3,742  

- Average interest rate(1)

 0.29%   0.28%   0.61%  

- Maximum balance(1)

 5,412   5,291   3,921  

Borrowings from banks (Deposits by banks)(2)

- Year-end balance

 2,983   3,057   2,372  

- Year-end interest rate

 0.38%   0.02%   0.29%  

- Average balance(1)

 3,135   2,721   2,923  

- Average interest rate(1)

 0.07%   0.03%   0.31%  

- Maximum balance(1)

 4,518   3,401   4,606  

Negotiable certificates of deposit

- Year-end balance

 3,806   2,646   4,499  

- Year-end interest rate

 0.36%   1.56%   1.97%  

- Average balance(1)

 4,044   2,529   2,208  

- Average interest rate(1)

 0.39%   1.51%   1.39%  

- Maximum balance(1)

 5,142   3,173   4,499  

Other debt securities in issue

- Year-end balance

 4,446   5,434   2,789  

- Year-end interest rate

 2.52%   3.37%   2.99%  

- Average balance(1)

 4,858   4,919   5,644  

- Average interest rate(1)

 2.89%   3.00%   2.70%  

- Maximum balance(1)

 5,975   7,245   7,049  
(1)

Calculated using monthly data.

(2)

The year-end deposits by banks balance includes non-interest bearing items in the course of transmission of £308m (2013: £614m, 2012: £340m).

Commercial paper is issued by Abbey National Treasury Services plc and Abbey National North America LLC. Abbey National Treasury Services plc issues commercial paper with a minimum issuance amount of Euro 100,000 with a maximum maturity of 364 days. Abbey National North America LLC issues commercial paper with minimum denominations of US$100,000 with maturity of up to 270 days from the date of issue.

Certificates of deposit and certain time deposits

The following table sets forth the maturities of Santander UK’s certificates of deposit and other large wholesale time deposits from non-bank counterparties in excess of £50,000 (or the non-sterling equivalent of £50,000) at 31 December 2014. A proportion of Santander UK’s retail time deposits also exceeds £50,000 at any given date; however, the ease of access and other terms of these accounts means that they may not have been in excess of £50,000 throughout 2014.

Furthermore, the customers may withdraw their funds on demand upon payment of an interest penalty. For these reasons, no maturity analysis is presented for such deposits.

  

Not more than three

months

£m

 

In more than three months but

not more than six months

£m

 

In more than six months but

not more than one year

£m

 

In more than one

year

£m

 

          Total

£m

 

Certificates of deposit:

- UK

 1,683   583   277   -   2,543  

- Non-UK

 1,197   33   33   204   1,467  

Wholesale time deposits:

- UK

 639   30   99   101  869  
  3,519   646   409   305   4,879  

At 31 December 2013, an additional £14m of wholesale deposits were repayable on demand.

214Santander UK plc


IncomeBalanceCash
statement reviewsheet reviewflows

DEBT SECURITIES IN ISSUE

Santander UK has issued debt securities in a range of maturities, interest rate structures and currencies, for purposes of meeting liquidity, funding and capital needs.

  Note 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Trading liabilities

 30   3,211   2,918   4,119  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

 31   2,848   3,407   4,002  

Debt securities in issue

 32   51,790   50,870   59,621  

Subordinated liabilities

 33   4,002   4,306   3,781  
     61,851   61,501   71,523  

Most of the debt securities that Santander UK has issued are classified as ‘Debt securities in issue’ in the balance sheet. The remaining debt securities issued by Santander UK are classified separately in the balance sheet, either because they qualify as ‘Trading liabilities’ or were designated upon initial recognition as ‘Financial liabilities designated at fair value’, or there are key differences in the legal terms of the securities, such as liquidation preferences, or subordination of the rights of holders to the rights of holders of certain other liabilities (‘Subordinated liabilities’). Further information is set out in Notes 30 to 33 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Santander UK enters into cross-currency derivatives in connection with all funding raised through the issuance of debt securities in currencies other than sterling (principally euro, US dollars and Japanese yen) which swap foreign currency liabilities back into sterling as Santander UK’s commercial balance sheet is almost entirely denominated in sterling.

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS

The amounts and maturities of contractual obligations in respect of guarantees are described in Note 37 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Other contractual obligations, including payments of principal and interest where applicable, are set out in the table below. Interest payments are included in the maturity column of the interest payments themselves, and are calculated using current interest rates.

 Payments due by period 
  

Total

£m

 

Less than 1 year

£m

 

1-3 years

£m

 

3-5 years

£m

 

Over 5 years

£m

 

Deposits by banks(1) (2)

 15,437   11,179   3,943   199   116  

Deposits by customers - repos(1)

 4,540   4,040   -   -   500  

Deposits by customers - other(2)

 153,965   148,367   4,406   856   336  

Derivative financial instruments

 22,732   2,834   2,519   2,403   14,976  

Debt securities in issue(3)

 57,849   13,891   11,096   6,154   26,708  

Subordinated liabilities

 4,002   269   541   513   2,679  

Retirement benefit obligations

 9,314   225   496   566   8,027  

Operating lease obligations

 406   67   119   108   112  

Purchase obligations

 465   465   -   -   -  
  268,710   181,337   23,120   10,799   53,454  
(1)

Securities sold under repurchase agreements.

(2)

Includes deposits by banks and deposits by customers that are classified in the balance sheet as trading liabilities.

(3)

Includes debt securities in issue that are classified in the balance sheet as trading liabilities and financial liabilities designated at fair value.

As the above table is based on contractual maturities, no account is taken of call features related to Subordinated liabilities. The repayment terms of the debt securities may be accelerated in line with the covenants contained within the individual loan agreements. Details of deposits by banks and deposits by customers can be found in Notes 28 and 29 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Santander UK has entered into outsourcing contracts where, in some circumstances, there is no minimum specified spending requirement. In these cases, anticipated spending volumes have been included within purchase obligations.

Under current conditions, Santander UK’s working capital is expected to be sufficient for its present requirements and to pursue its planned business strategies.

OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS

In the ordinary course of business, Santander UK issues guarantees on behalf of customers. The significant types of guarantees are standby letters of credit which represent the taking on of credit on behalf of customers when actual funding is not required, normally because a third party is not prepared to accept the credit risk of the ANTS group’s customer. These are included in the normal impairment loss allowance assessment alongside other forms of credit exposure

In addition, Santander UK, as is normal in such activity, gives representations, indemnities and warranties on the sale of subsidiaries, businesses and other assets. The maximum potential amount of any claims made against these is usually significantly higher than actual settlements. Provisions are made with respect to management’s best estimate of the likely outcome, either at the time of sale, or subsequently if additional information becomes available.

See Note 24 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information regarding off-balance sheet arrangements. See Note 37 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding Santander UK’s guarantees, commitments and contingencies. In the ordinary course of business, Santander UK also enters into securitisation transactions as described in Note 19 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. The securitisation companies are consolidated and the assets continue to be administered by Santander UK. The securitisation companies provide Santander UK with an important source of long-term funding.

Annual Report 2014215


Financial review

INTEREST RATE SENSITIVITY

Interest rate sensitivity refers to the relationship between interest rates and net interest income resulting from the periodic repricing of assets and liabilities. The largest administered rate items in Santander UK’s balance sheet are residential mortgages and retail deposits, the majority of which bear interest at variable rates. Santander UK is able to mitigate the impact of interest rate movements on net interest income in Retail Banking by repricing separately the variable rate mortgages and variable rate retail deposits, subject to competitive pressures.

Santander UK also offers fixed-rate mortgages and savings products on which the interest rate paid by or to the customer is fixed for an agreed period of time at the start of the contract. Santander UK manages the margin on fixed-rate products by the use of derivatives matching the fixed-rate profiles. The risk of prepayment is reduced by imposing early termination charges if the customers terminate their contracts early.

Santander UK seeks to manage the risks associated with movements in interest rates as part of its management of the overall non-trading position. This is done within limits as described in the Risk Review.

Changes in net interest income - volume and rate analysis

The following table allocates changes in interest income, interest expense and net interest income (including amounts classified in discontinued operations) between changes in volume and changes in rate for the years ended 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012. Volume and rate variances have been calculated on the movement in the average balances and the change in the interest rates on average interest-earning assets and average interest-bearing liabilities. The variance caused by changes in both volume and rate has been allocated to rate changes.

    2014/2013    2013/2012 
 

Total

change

 

Changes due to

increase/(decrease) in

 

Total

change

 

Changes due to

increase/(decrease) in

 
  £m 

Volume

£m

 

Rate

£m

 £m 

Volume

£m

 

Rate

£m

 

Interest income

Loans and advances to banks:

- UK

 (20)   (36)   16   (37)   (15)   (22)  

- Non-UK

 11   7   4   10   20   (10)  

Loans and advances to customers:

- UK

 (392)   (44)   (348)   (237)   (347)   110  

Other interest earning financial assets:

- UK

 31   30   1   -   14   (14)  

- Non-UK

 (3)   (3)   -   2   1   1  

Total interest income

- UK

 (381)   (50)   (331)   (274)   (348)   74  

- Non-UK

 8   4   4   12   21   (9)  
  (373)   (46)   (327)   (262)   (327)   65  

Interest expense

Deposits by banks:

- UK

 (107)   (39)   (68)   1   (52)   53  

- Non-UK

 -   -   -   -   -   -  

Deposits by customers - retail demand deposits:

- UK

 (14)   139   (153)   (193)   46   (239)  

- Non-UK

 (10)   (2)   (8)   (27)   (12)   (15)  

Deposits by customers - retail time deposits:

- UK

 (465)   (210)   (255)   4   (167)   171  

- Non-UK

 (46)   (36)   (10)   (88)   (82)   (6)  

Deposits by customers - wholesale deposits:

- UK

 (51)   (26)   (25)   37   82   (45)  

- Non-UK

 -   1   (1)   1   -   1  

Subordinated debt:

- UK

 45   12   33   (68)   (44)   (24)  

Debt securities in issue:

- UK

 (192)   (68)   (124)   (161)   (155)   (6)  

- Non-UK

 (6)   1   (7)   (8)   12   (20)  

Other interest-bearing financial liabilities:

- UK

 2   1   1   11   30   (19)  

Total interest expense

- UK

 (782)   (191)   (591)   (369)   (260)   (109)  

- Non-UK

 (62)   (36)   (26)   (122)   (82)   (40)  
  (844)   (227)   (617)   (491)   (342)   (149)  

Net interest income

 471   181   290   229   15   214  

216Santander UK plc


IncomeBalanceCash
statement reviewsheet reviewflows

AVERAGE BALANCE SHEET

As year-end statements may not be representative of activity throughout the year, average balance sheets are presented below. The average balance sheets summarise the significant categories of assets and liabilities, together with average interest rates.

       2014       2013       2012 
  

Average

Balance(1)

£m

 

Interest

£m

 

Average

rate

%

 

Average

balance(1)

£m

 

Interest(4,5)

£m

 

Average

rate

%

 

Average

balance(1)

£m

 

Interest

£m

 

Average

rate

%

 

Assets

Loans and advances to banks:

- UK

 19,263   111   0.58   26,432   131   0.50   28,941   168   0.58  

- Non-UK

 10,078   30   0.30   7,453   19   0.25   2,339   9   0.38  

Loans and advances to customers:(3)

- UK

 187,843   6,548   3.49   189,048   6,940   3.67   198,657   7,177   3.61  

- Non-UK

 5   -   -   6   -   -   7   -   -  

Debt securities:

- UK

 8,312   108   1.30   6,009   77   1.28   5,093   77   1.51  

- Non-UK

 -   -   -   166   3   1.81   92   1   1.09  

Total average interest-earning assets, interest income(2)

 225,501   6,797   3.01   229,114   7,170   3.13   235,129   7,432   3.24  

Impairment loss allowances

 (1,502)   -   -   (1,704)   -   -   (1,707)   -   -  

Trading business

 18,549   -   -   25,032   -   -   26,445   -   -  

Assets designated at FVTPL

 2,793   -   -   3,140   -   -   4,439   -   -  

Other non-interest-earning assets

 34,204   -   -   38,414   -   -   42,624   -   -  

Total average assets

 279,545   -   -   293,996   -   -   306,930   -   -  

Non-UK assets as a % of total

 3.61%   -   -   2.59%   -   -   0.79%   -   -  

Liabilities

Deposits by banks:

- UK

 (6,855)   (81)   1.18   (8,624)   (188)   2.18   (11,945)   (187)   1.57  

- Non-UK

 (2)   -   -   (13)   -   -   (65)   -   -  

Deposits by customers - retail demand:

- UK

 (91,668)   (1,047)   1.14   (81,022)   (1,061)   1.31   (78,163)   (1,254)   1.60  

- Non-UK

 (834)   (3)   0.36   (964)   (13)   1.35   (1,375)   (40)   2.91  

Deposits by customers - retail time:

- UK

 (29,504)   (708)   2.40   (35,925)   (1,173)   3.26   (41,925)   (1,169)   2.79  

- Non-UK

 (1,218)   (20)   1.64   (2,703)   (66)   2.44   (5,818)   (154)   2.65  

Deposits by customers – wholesale:

- UK

 (26,361)   (293)   1.11   (28,525)   (344)   1.21   (22,506)   (307)   1.36  

- Non-UK

 (1,169)   (1)   0.09   (628)   (1)   0.16   (52)   -   -  

Bonds and medium-term notes:

- UK

 (46,517)   (1,021)   2.19   (49,292)   (1,213)   2.46   (55,567)   (1,374)   2.47  

- Non-UK

 (4,730)   (11)   0.23   (4,512)   (17)   0.38   (3,043)   (25)   0.82  

Dated and undated loan capital and other subordinated liabilities:

- UK

 (4,285)   (151)   3.52   (3,860)   (106)   2.75   (5,159)   (174)   3.37  

- Non-UK

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -  

Other interest-bearing liabilities:

- UK

 (422)   (27)   6.40   (406)   (25)   6.16   (129)   (14)   10.85  

Total average interest-bearing liabilities, interest expense(2)

 (213,565)   (3,363)   1.57   (216,474)   (4,207)   1.94   (225,747)   (4,698)   2.08  

Trading business

 (22,242)   -   -   (30,546)   -   -   (28,962)   -   -  

Liabilities designated at FVTPL

 (3,556)   -   -   (4,997)   -   -   (5,152)   -   -  

- Other non-interest bearing liabilities

 (26,606)   -   -   (29,003)   -   -   (33,770)   -   -  

Shareholders’ funds

 (13,576)   -   -   (12,976)   -   -   (13,299)   -   -  

Total average liabilities and shareholders’ funds

 (279,545)   -   -   (293,996)   -   -   (306,930)   -   -  

Non-UK liabilities as a % of total

 2.84%   -   -   3.00%   -   -   3.37%   -   -  
(1)

Average balances are based upon monthly data.

(2)

The ratio of average interest-earning assets to interest-bearing liabilities for the year ended 31 December 2014 was 105.59% (2013: 105.84%, 2012: 104.16%).

(3)

Loans and advances to customers include non-performing loans. See the ‘Credit Risk’ section of the Risk Review.

(4)

The net interest margin for the year ended 31 December 2014 was 1.52% (2013: 1.29%, 2012: 1.16%). Net interest margin is calculated as net interest income divided by average interest earning assets. This differs from the Banking Net Interest Margin, discussed in the CEO’s review, which is calculated as net interest income divided by average customer assets.

(5)

The interest spread for the year ended 31 December 2014 was 1.44% (2013: 1.19%, 2012: 1.16%). Interest spread is the difference between the rate of interest earned on average interest-earning assets and the rate of interest paid on average interest-bearing liabilities.

Annual Report 2014217


Financial review

Cash flows

  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Net cash (outflow)/inflow from operating activities

 (5,559)   4,752   4,024  

Net cash (outflow)/inflow from investing activities

 (4,145)   182   (5,808)  

Net cash (outflow)/inflow from financing activities

 (335)   (8,423)   1,101  

Decrease in cash and cash equivalents

 (10,039)   (3,489)   (683)  

The major activities and transactions that affected Santander UK’s cash flows during 2014, 2013 and 2012 were as follows:

In 2014, the net cash outflow from operating activities of £5,559m resulted from the reduction in trading balances, increased customer lending partially offset by increased customer savings and deposits from other banks. In 2014, the net cash outflow from investing activities of £4,145m principally reflected the purchase and sale of available-for-sale securities. In 2014, the net cash outflow from financing activities of £335m reflected the repayment of debt securities maturing in the year of £20,310m offset by new issues of debt securities of £19,936m and the issuance of £800m Perpetual Capital Securities. Further outflows of cash occurred in the payment of interim dividends of £447m on ordinary shares and £40m of dividends on other equity instruments. In 2014, cash and cash equivalents decreased by £10,039m principally from the increase in customer lending and purchase of available-for-sale securities.

In 2013, the net cash inflow from operating activities of £4,752m resulted from the continued reduction in Santander UK’s lending portfolios, partially offset by a reduction in customer savings and deposits from other banks. In 2013, the net cash inflow from investing activities of £182m was in principle derived from the purchase and sale of UK Treasury bills, partially offset by the purchase of property, plant and equipment. In 2013, the net cash outflow from financing activities of £8,423m reflected the repayment of loan capital maturing in the year of £33,170m partially offset by new issues of loan capital of £25,469m. Further outflows of cash occurred in the payment of £665m dividends on ordinary shares. In 2013, cash and cash equivalents decreased by £3,489m principally from the repayment of matured loan capital offset by reduced customer lending.

In 2012, the net cash inflow from operating activities of £4,024m resulted from Santander UK’s continued de-leveraging process of legacy portfolios in run-off, partially offset by a reduction in trading liabilities. In 2012, the net cash outflow from investing activities of £5,808m resulted primarily from the acquisition of UK Treasury bills and the purchase of property, plant and equipment. In 2012, the net cash inflow from financing activities of £1,101m reflected new issues of loan capital of £37,219m offset by repayments of loan capital maturing in the year of £35,636m and payment of £425m dividends on ordinary shares. In 2012, cash and cash equivalents decreased by £683m principally from the continued de-leveraging process of legacy portfolios in run-off offset by the purchase of Treasury bills.

218Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements

Financial    statements

Annual Report 2014219


Financial statements

 

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Santander UK plc

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Santander UK plc and subsidiaries (the ‘Group’)Group) as at 31 December 20142015 and 2013,2014, and the related consolidated income statements, consolidated statements of comprehensive income, consolidated statements of changes in equity, and consolidated cash flow statements for each of the three years in the period ended 31 December 2014,2015, the related Notes 1 to 48 and the information on page 36 to 160 of the Risk Review,review, except for those items marked as unaudited. These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Group’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. The Group is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. Our audits included consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Group’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, such consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Santander UK plc and subsidiaries as at 31 December 20142015 and 2013,2014, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended 31 December 2014,2015, in conformity with International Financial Reporting Standards (‘IFRS’)(IFRS) as adopted by the European Union and IFRS as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (‘IASB’)(IASB).

/s/ Deloitte LLP

London, United Kingdom

24 February 2016

 

 

LOGO

Annual Report 2015

Deloitte LLP

London, UK

24 February 2015

Financial statements

 

 

220Santander UK plc


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222Santander UK plc

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Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT

For the years ended 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012

 

          Notes        

        2014

£m

 

        2013(1)

£m

 

        2012(1) 

£m

 

Interest and similar income

3 6,797   7,170   7,432  

Interest expense and similar charges

3 (3,363)   (4,207)   (4,698)  

Net interest income

  3,434   2,963   2,734  

Fee and commission income

4 1,095   1,058   1,086  

Fee and commission expense

4 (356)   (300)   (225)  

Net fee and commission income

  739   758   861  

Net trading and other income

5 297   308   1,088  

Total operating income

  4,470   4,029   4,683  

Administration expenses

6 (1,915)   (1,947)   (1,873)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

7 (482)   (248)   (241)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

  (2,397)   (2,195)   (2,114)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

9 (258)   (475)   (988)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

9 (416)   (250)   (429)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

  (674)   (725)   (1,417)  

Profit on continuing operations before tax

 1,399   1,109   1,152  

Tax on profit on continuing operations

10 (289)   (211)   (271)  

Profit on continuing operations after tax

 1,110   898   881  

(Loss)/profit from discontinued operations after tax

11 -   (8)   62  

Profit after tax for the year

  1,110   890   943  

Attributable to:

Equity holders of the parent

  1,110   890   943  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

      Notes    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Interest and similar income

    3     6,695       6,797       7,170  

Interest expense and similar charges

    3     (3,120)       (3,363)       (4,207)  

Net interest income

          3,575       3,434       2,963  

Fee and commission income

    4     1,115       1,095       1,058  

Fee and commission expense

    4     (400)       (356)       (300)  

Net fee and commission income

          715       739       758  

Net trading and other income

    5     283       297       308  

Total operating income

          4,573       4,470       4,029  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

    6     (2,400)       (2,397)       (2,195)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

    8     (66)       (258)       (475)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

    8     (762)       (416)       (250)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

          (828)       (674)       (725)  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

         1,345       1,399       1,109  

Tax on profit from continuing operations

    9     (381)       (289)       (211)  

Profit from continuing operations after tax

         964       1,110       898  

Loss from discontinued operations after tax

    10     -       -       (8)  

Profit after tax for the year

          964       1,110       890  

Attributable to:

                

Equity holders of the parent

         939       1,110       890  

Non-controlling interests

    37     25       -       -  

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

For the years ended 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012

 

          Notes        

        2014

£m

 

        2013(1)

£m

 

        2012(1)

£m

 

Profit for the year

  1,110   890   943  

Other comprehensive income/(expense):

Other comprehensive income that may be reclassified to profit or loss subsequently:

Available-for-sale securities

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

22 235   15   6  

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities transferred to profit or loss on sale

 (208)   (46)   (17)  

- Tax on above items

10 (6)   7   3  
   21   (24)   (8)  

Cash flow hedges:

- Net gains/(losses) on cash flow hedges

 44   (207)   -  

- Net gains on cash flow hedges transferred to profit or loss

 427   66   -  

- Tax on above items

10 (99)   31   -  
   372   (110)   -  

Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations

  (4)   -   -  

Net other comprehensive income/(expense) that may be reclassified to profit or loss subsequently

  389   (134)   (8)  

Other comprehensive income that will not be reclassified to profit or loss subsequently:

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

36 132   (564)   (183)  

Tax on above item

10 (27)   113   42  

Net other comprehensive income/(expense) that will not be reclassified to profit or loss subsequently

  105   (451)   (141)  

Total other comprehensive income/(expense) for the year net of tax

  494   (585)   (149)  

Total comprehensive income for the year

  1,604   305   794  

Attributable to:

Equity holders of the parent

  1,604   305   794  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

      Notes    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Profit for the year

          964       1,110       890  

Other comprehensive income/(expense):

                

Other comprehensive income that may be reclassified to profit or loss subsequently:

                

Available-for-sale securities

                

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

    20     14       235       15  

- Net losses/(gains) on available-for-sale securities transferred to profit or loss

         42       (208)       (46)  

- Tax on above items

    9     (2)       (6)       7  
           54       21       (24)  

Cash flow hedges:

                

- Net (losses)/gains on cash flow hedges

         (307)       44       (207)  

- Net losses on cash flow hedges transferred to profit or loss

         305       427       66  

- Tax on above items

    9     (6)       (99)       31  
           (8)       372       (110)  

Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations

          (5)       (4)       -  

Net other comprehensive income/(expense) that may be reclassified to profit or loss subsequently

          41       389       (134)  

Other comprehensive income that will not be reclassified to profit or loss subsequently:

                

  Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

    34     319       132       (564)  

  Tax on above item

    9     (89)       (27)       113  

Net other comprehensive income/(expense) that will not be reclassified to profit or loss subsequently

          230       105       (451)  

Total other comprehensive income/(expense) for the year net of tax

          271       494       (585)  

Total comprehensive income for the year

          1,235       1,604       305  

Attributable to:

                

Equity holders of the parent

         1,209       1,604       305  

Non-controlling interests

    37     26       -       -  

The accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements and the audited sections of the Risk Review form an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

 

202  Santander UK plc


Annual Report 2014223

Independent

Auditor’s report

    Primary financial

    statements

Notes to the

financial statements


Financial statements

 

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

At 31 December 2014 and 2013

 

          Notes        

            2014

£m

 

            2013(1)

£m

 

Assets

Cash and balances at central banks

13 22,562   26,374  

Trading assets

14 21,700   22,294  

Derivative financial instruments

15 23,021   20,049  

Financial assets designated at fair value

16 2,881   2,747  

Loans and advances to banks

17 2,057   2,347  

Loans and advances to customers

18 188,691   184,587  

Loans and receivables securities

21 118   1,101  

Available-for-sale securities

22 8,944   5,005  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 963   769  

Interests in other entities

23 38   27  

Intangible assets

24 2,187   2,335  

Property, plant and equipment

25 1,624   1,521  

Current tax assets

 -   114  

Deferred tax assets

26 -   16  

Retirement benefit assets

36 315   118  

Other assets

27 876   882  

Total assets

  275,977   270,286  

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

28 8,214   8,696  

Deposits by customers

29 153,606   147,167  

Trading liabilities

30 15,333   21,278  

Derivative financial instruments

15 22,732   18,863  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

31 2,848   3,407 ��

Debt securities in issue

32 51,790   50,870  

Subordinated liabilities

33 4,002   4,306  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 139   -  

Other liabilities

34 2,302   1,883  

Provisions

35 491   550  

Current tax liabilities

 69   4  

Deferred tax liabilities

 59   -  

Retirement benefit obligations

36 199   672  

Total liabilities

  261,784   257,696  

Equity

Share capital and other equity instruments

38 4,244   3,709  

Share premium

38 5,620   5,620  

Retained earnings

 4,056   3,377  

Other reserves

  273   (116)  

Total shareholders’ equity

  14,193   12,590  

Total liabilities and equity

  275,977   270,286  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

      Notes    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Assets

            

Cash and balances at central banks

         16,842       22,562  

Trading assets

    12     23,961       21,700  

Derivative financial instruments

    13     20,911       23,021  

Financial assets designated at fair value

    14     2,398       2,881  

Loans and advances to banks

    15     3,548       2,057  

Loans and advances to customers

    16     198,045       188,691  

Loans and receivables securities

    19     52       118  

Available-for-sale securities

    20     9,012       8,944  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

         781       963  

Interests in other entities

    21     48       38  

Intangible assets

    22     2,231       2,187  

Property, plant and equipment

    23     1,597       1,624  

Current tax assets

         49       -  

Retirement benefit assets

    34     556       315  

Other assets

    25     1,375       876  

Total assets

          281,406       275,977  

Liabilities

            

Deposits by banks

    26     8,278       8,214  

Deposits by customers

    27     164,074       153,606  

Trading liabilities

    28     12,722       15,333  

Derivative financial instruments

    13     21,508       22,732  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

    29     2,016       2,848  

Debt securities in issue

    30     49,615       51,790  

Subordinated liabilities

    31     3,885       4,002  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

         110       139  

Other liabilities

    32     2,335       2,302  

Provisions

    33     870       491  

Current tax liabilities

         1       69  

Deferred tax liabilities

    24     223       59  

Retirement benefit obligations

    34     110       199  

Total liabilities

          265,747       261,784  

Equity

            

Share capital and other equity instruments

    36     4,911       4,244  

Share premium

    36     5,620       5,620  

Retained earnings

         4,679       4,056  

Other reserves

          314       273  

Total shareholders’ equity

         15,524       14,193  

Non-controlling interests

    37     135       -  

Total equity

          15,659       14,193  

Total liabilities and equity

          281,406       275,977  

The accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements and the audited sections of the Risk Review form an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

The Primary Financial Statements and the accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board on 24 February 20152016 and signed on its behalf by:

 

LOGO

Stephen Jones

Chief Financial Officer

Company Registered Number: 2294747

224LOGOLOGO
Nathan BostockAntonio Roman
Chief Executive OfficerChief Financial Officer
Santander UK plcCompany Registered Number: 2294747

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT

For the years ended 31 December

      Notes    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Cash flows (used in)/from operating activities

                

Profit for the year

         964       1,110       890  

Adjustments for:

                

Non-cash items included in profit

         1,841       1,306       1,618  

Change in operating assets

         (9,990)       (11,662)       17,616  

Change in operating liabilities

         4,292       4,475       (15,951)  

Corporation taxes paid

         (419)       (149)       (118)  

Effects of exchange rate differences

          (585)       (613)       702  

Net cash flow (used in)/from operating activities

    38     (3,897)       (5,533)       4,757  

Cash flows (used in)/from investing activities

                

Investments in other entities

    21, 46     (109)       -       (18)  

Purchase of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets

    22, 23     (356)       (506)       (339)  

Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets

         40       71       99  

Purchase of available-for-sale securities

         (2,021)       (4,236)       (2,904)  

Proceeds from sale and redemption of available-for-sale securities

          1,928       526       3,344  

Net cash flow (used in)/from investing activities

          (518)       (4,145)       182  

Cash flows (used in)/from financing activities

                

Issue of Perpetual Capital Securities

    36     750       800       -  

Issue of debt securities

         13,267       19,936       25,469  

Issuance costs of debt securities

         (33)       (26)       (20)  

Repayment of debt securities

         (16,098)       (20,310)       (32,880)  

Repurchase of other equity instruments

    36     (99)       (274)       (275)  

Dividends paid on ordinary shares

    11     (575)       (447)       (665)  

Dividends paid on preference shares classified in equity

    11     (2)       (19)       (19)  

Dividends paid on Reserve Capital Instruments

    11     (21)       (21)       (21)  

Dividends paid on Perpetual Preferred Securities

    11     -       -       (17)  

Dividends paid on Perpetual Capital Securities

    11     (103)       -       -  

Net cash flow used in financing activities

          (2,914)       (361)       (8,428)  

Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents

          (7,329)       (10,039)       (3,489)  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the year

         27,363       37,179       41,639  

Effects of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

          317       223       (971)  

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year

    38     20,351       27,363       37,179  

The accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements form an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

204  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
       

Independent

Auditor’s report

    Primary financial

    statements

Notes to the

financial statements

 

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

For the years ended 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012

 

     Other reserves          Other reserves      
Notes

Share capital
and other
equity
instruments

£m

 

Share
premium

£m

 

Available
for sale
reserve

£m

 

Cash flow
hedging
reserve

£m

 

Foreign
currency
translation
reserve

£m

 

Retained
earnings(1)

£m

 

Total

£m

  Notes 

Share capital
& other
equity
instruments

£m

 

Share
premium

£m

 

Available
for sale

£m

 

Cash flow
hedging

£m

 

Foreign
currency
translation

£m

 

Retained

earnings(1)

£m

 

Total

£m

 

Non-

controlling
interests

£m

 

Total

£m

 

1 January 2015

   4,244    5,620    (2)    262    13    4,056    14,193    —      14,193  

Total comprehensive income/(expense) for the year:

          

- Profit for the year

   -    -    -    -    -    939    939    25    964  

- Other comprehensive income/(expense) for the year:

          

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

   -    -    14    -    -    -    14    -    14  

- Net losses on available-for-sale securities transferred to profit or loss

   -    -    42    -    -    -    42    -    42  

- Net losses on cash flow hedges

   -    -    -    (307)    -    -    (307)    -    (307)  

- Net losses on cash flow hedges transferred to profit or loss

   -    -    -    305    -    -    305    -    305  

- Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

 34    -    -    -    -    -    318    318    1    319  

- Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations

   -    -    -    -    (5)    -    (5)    -    (5)  

- Tax on other comprehensive income/(expense)

   -    -    (2)    (6)    -    (89)    (97)    -    (97)  
Other comprehensive income/(expense) for the year, net of tax  -    -    54    (8)    (5)    229    270    1    271  

Acquisition of subsidiary with non-controlling interests

 46    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    109    109  

Issue of Perpetual Capital Securities

 36    750    -    -    -    -    -    750    -    750  

Repurchase of other equity instruments

 36    (83)    -    -    -    -    (16)    (99)    -    (99)  

Tax on other equity instruments

 36    -    -    -    -    -    24    24    -    24  

Dividends on ordinary shares

 11    -    -    -    -    -    (427)    (427)    -    (427)  

Dividends on other equity instruments

 11    -    -    -    -    -    (126)    (126)    -    (126)  

31 December 2015

  4,911    5,620    52    254    8    4,679    15,524    135    15,659  

1 January 2014

 3,709   5,620   (23)   (110)   17   3,377   12,590    3,709   5,620   (23)   (110)   17   3,377   12,590    -   12,590  

Total comprehensive income for the year:

Total comprehensive income/(expense) for the year:

          

- Profit for the year

 -   -   -   -   -   1,110   1,110     -    -    -    -    -   1,110   1,110    -   1,110  

- Other comprehensive income for the year:

- Other comprehensive income/(expense) for the year:

          

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

 -   -   235   -   -   -   235     -    -   235    -    -    -   235    -   235  

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities transferred to profit or loss

 -   -   (208)   -   -   -   (208)     -    -   (208)    -    -    -   (208)    -   (208)  

- Net gains on cash flow hedges

 -   -   -   44   -   -   44     -    -    -   44    -    -   44    -   44  

- Net losses on cash flow hedges transferred to profit or loss

 -   -   -   427   -   -   427     -    -    -   427    -    -   427    -   427  

- Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

 -   -   -   -   -   132   132     -    -    -    -    -   132   132    -   132  

- Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations

 -   -   -   -   (4)   -   (4)     -    -    -    -   (4)    -   (4)    -   (4)  

- Tax on other comprehensive income

  -   -   (6)   (99)   -   (27)   (132)  

Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax

  -   -   21   372   (4)   105   494  

- Tax on other comprehensive income/(expense)

   -    -   (6)   (99)    -   (27)   (132)    -   (132)  
Other comprehensive income/(expense) for the year, net of tax  -    -   21   372   (4)   105   494    -   494  

Issue of Perpetual Capital Securities

 800   -   -   -   -   -   800   36   800    -    -    -    -    -   800    -   800  

Repurchase of Preference Shares

 (265)   -   -   -   -   (9)   (274)  

Dividends and other distributions

  -   -   -   -   -   (527)   (527)  

Repurchase of other equity instruments

 36   (265)    -    -    -    -   (9)   (274)    -   (274)  

Dividends on ordinary shares

 11    -    -    -    -    -   (487)   (487)    -   (487)  

Dividends on other equity instruments

 11    -    -    -    -    -   (40)   (40)    -   (40)  

31 December 2014

  4,244   5,620   (2)   262   13   4,056   14,193   4,244   5,620   (2)   262   13   4,056   14,193    -   14,193  

1 January 2013

 3,999   5,620   1   -   17   3,405   13,042    3,999   5,620   1    -   17   3,405   13,042    -   13,042  

Total comprehensive income for the year:

Total comprehensive income/(expense) for the year:

          

- Profit for the year

 -   -   -   -   -   890   890     -    -    -    -    -   890   890    -   890  

- Other comprehensive income for the year:

- Other comprehensive income/(expense) for the year:

          

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

 -   -   15   -   -   -   15     -    -   15    -    -    -   15    -   15  

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities transferred to profit or loss

 -   -   (46)   -   -   -   (46)     -    -   (46)    -    -    -   (46)    -   (46)  

- Net losses on cash flow hedges

 -   -   -   (207)   -   -   (207)     -    -    -   (207)    -    -   (207)    -   (207)  

- Net losses on cash flow hedges transferred to profit or loss

 -   -   -   66   -   -   66     -    -    -   66    -    -   66    -   66  

- Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

 -   -   -   -   -   (564)   (564)     -    -    -    -    -   (564)   (564)    -   (564)  

- Tax on other comprehensive income

  -   -   7   31   -   113   151  

Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax

  -   -   (24)   (110)   -   (451)   (585)  

Repurchase of preference shares

38 (290)   -   -   -   -   15   (275)  

Dividends and other distributions

12 -   -   -   -   -   (482)   (482)  

- Tax on other comprehensive income/(expense)

   -    -   7   31    -   113   151    -   151  
Other comprehensive income/(expense) for the year, net of tax  -    -   (24)   (110)    -   (451)   (585)    -   (585)  

Repurchase of other equity instruments

 36   (290)    -    -    -    -   15   (275)    -   (275)  

Dividends on ordinary shares

 11    -    -    -    -    -   (425)   (425)    -   (425)  

Dividends on other equity instruments

 11    -    -    -    -    -   (57)   (57)    -   (57)  

31 December 2013

  3,709   5,620   (23)   (110)   17   3,377   12,590   3,709   5,620   (23)   (110)   17   3,377   12,590    -   12,590  

1 January 2012

 3,999   5,620   9   -   17   3,110   12,755  

Total comprehensive income for the year:

- Profit for the year

 -   -   -   -   -   943   943  

- Other comprehensive income for the year:

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

 -   -   6   -   -   -   6  

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities transferred to profit or loss

 -   -   (17)   -   -   -   (17)  

- Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

 -   -   -   -   -   (183)   (183)  

- Tax on other comprehensive income

  -   -   3   -   -   42   45  

Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax

  -   -   (8)   -   -   (141)   (149)  

Dividends and other distributions

12 -   -   -   -   -   (507)   (507)  

31 December 2012

  3,999   5,620   1   -   17   3,405   13,042  
(1)Includes capital redemption reserve of £21m (2014: £265m, 2013: £nil) arising from the purchase of £300m fixed/floating rate non-cumulative callable preference shares in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

The accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements and the audited sections of the Risk Review form an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

COMPANY BALANCE SHEET

At 31 December

      Notes     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Assets

            

Cash and balances at central banks

         14,562       18,102  

Derivative financial instruments

     13       3,302       3,412  

Financial assets designated at fair value

     14       60       83  

Loans and advances to banks

     15       18,962       6,073  

Loans and advances to customers

     16       181,608       170,211  

Loans and receivables securities

     19       4,991       4,598  

Available-for-sale securities

     20       7,828       6,405  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

         (35)       7  

Interests in other entities

     21       5,203       5,366  

Intangible assets

     22       2,017       1,986  

Property, plant and equipment

     23       1,266       1,260  

Current tax assets

         198       208  

Retirement benefit assets

     34       537       311  

Other assets

     25       1,159       783  

Total assets

            241,658       218,805  

Liabilities

            

Deposits by banks

     26       28,268       12,553  

Deposits by customers

     27       189,291       183,788  

Derivative financial instruments

     13       3,028       2,154  

Debt securities in issue

     30       -       112  

Subordinated liabilities

     31       3,951       4,065  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

         (5)       -  

Other liabilities

     32       2,073       2,028  

Provisions

     33       815       436  

Deferred tax liabilities

     24       176       26  

Retirement benefit obligations

     34       110       199  

Total liabilities

            227,707       205,361  

Equity

            

Share capital and other equity instruments

     36       4,911       4,244  

Share premium

     36       5,620       5,620  

Retained earnings

         3,354       3,557  

Other reserves

            66       23  

Total shareholders’ equity

            13,951       13,444  

Total liabilities and equity

            241,658       218,805  

The accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements form an integral part of these Financial Statements.

The Financial Statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board on 24 February 2016 and signed on its behalf by:

 

Annual Report 2014LOGO225LOGO
Nathan BostockAntonio Roman
Chief Executive OfficerChief Financial Officer


Financial statements

Company Registered Number: 2294747

 

 

CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT206  Santander UK plc

For the years ended 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012

          Notes        

            2014

£m

 

            2013(1)

£m

 

            2012(1)

£m

 

Cash flows (used in)/from operating activities

Profit for the year

 1,110   890   943  

Adjustments for:

Non cash items included in profit

 1,306   1,618   1,511  

Change in operating assets

 (11,662)   17,616   8,340  

Change in operating liabilities

 4,449   (15,956)   (4,578)  

Corporation taxes paid

 (149)   (118)   (231)  

Effects of exchange rate differences

  (613)   702   (1,961)  

Net cash flow (used in)/from operating activities

39 (5,559)   4,752   4,024  

Cash flows (used in)/from investing activities

Investments in other entities

 -   (18)   (6)  

Purchase of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets

24,25 (506)   (339)   (454)  

Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets

 71   99   80  

Purchase of available-for-sale securities

 (4,236)   (2,904)   (6,338)  

Proceeds from sale and redemption of available-for-sale securities

  526   3,344   910  

Net cash flow (used in)/from investing activities

  (4,145)   182   (5,808)  

Cash flows (used in)/from financing activities

Issue of debt securities

 19,936   25,469   37,219  

Issue of Perpetual Capital Securities

 800   -   -  

Repayment of debt securities

 (20,310)   (32,880)   (35,636)  

Repurchase of preference shares

 (274)   (290)   -  

Dividends paid on ordinary shares

12 (447)   (665)   (425)  

Dividends paid on preference shares classified in equity

12 (19)   (19)   (19)  

Dividends paid on Reserve Capital Instruments

12 (21)   (21)   (21)  

Dividends paid on Perpetual Preferred Securities

12 -   (17)   (17)  

Net cash flow (used in)/from financing activities

  (335)   (8,423)   1,101  

Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents

  (10,039)   (3,489)   (683)  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the year

 37,179   41,639   42,946  

Effects of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

  223   (971)   (624)  

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year

39 27,363   37,179   41,639  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

The accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements and the audited sections of the Risk Review form an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

226Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

COMPANY BALANCE SHEETCASH FLOW STATEMENT

AtFor the years ended 31 December 2014 and 2013

 

          Notes        

            2014(1)

£m

 

            2013(1),(2)

£m

 

Assets

Cash and balances at central banks

13 18,102   21,399  

Derivative financial instruments

15 3,412   2,461  

Financial assets designated at fair value

16 83   1  

Loans and advances to banks

17 6,073   109,267  

Loans and advances to customers

18 170,211   164,393  

Loans and receivables securities

21 4,598   5,474  

Available-for-sale securities

22 6,405   2,029  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 7   -  

Interests in other entities

23 5,366   6,176  

Intangible assets

24 1,986   1,678  

Property, plant and equipment

25 1,260   1,196  

Current tax assets

 208   423  

Deferred tax assets

26 -   54  

Retirement benefit assets

36 311   110  

Other assets

27 783   808  

Total assets

  218,805   315,469  

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

28 12,553   115,218  

Deposits by customers

29 183,788   179,399  

Derivative financial instruments

15 2,154   1,803  

Debt securities in issue

32 112   156  

Subordinated liabilities

33 4,065   4,212  

Other liabilities

34 2,028   1,584  

Provisions

35 436   481  

Deferred tax liabilities

 26   -  

Retirement benefit obligations

36 199   670  

Total liabilities

  205,361   303,523  

Equity

Share capital and other equity instruments

38 4,244   3,709  

Share premium

38 5,620   5,620  

Retained earnings

 3,557   2,617  

Available for sale reserve

  23   -  

Total shareholders’ equity

  13,444   11,946  

Total liabilities and equity

  218,805   315,469  

    (1) The Company financial statements and all related footnotes have not been audited under the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

    (2) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

      Notes    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Cash flows (used in)/from operating activities

                

Profit/(loss) for the year

         115       1,346       225  

Adjustments for:

                

Non-cash items included in profit

         1,603       2,166       2,424  

Change in operating assets

         (15,710)       50,829       22,447  

Change in operating liabilities

         22,083       (98,441)       (4,826)  

Corporation taxes paid

         (132)       (59)       (87)  

Effects of exchange rate differences

          (104)       66       (182)  

Net cash flow (used in)/from operating activities

    38     7,855       (44,093)       20,001  

Cash flows (used in)/from investing activities

                

Investment in other entities

    21     -       -       (1,084)  

Purchase of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets

    22,23     (313)       (372)       (320)  

Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets

         28       13       38  

Purchase of available-for-sale securities

         (2,021)       (4,236)       (1,680)  

Proceeds from sale and redemption of available-for-sale securities

          617       109       -  

Net cash flow used in investing activities

          (1,689)       (4,486)       (3,046)  

Cash flows (used in)/from financing activities

                

Issue of Perpetual Capital Securities

         750       800       -  

Issue of debt securities

         1,059       -       907  

Issuance costs of debt securities

         (6)       -       (3)  

Repayment of debt securities

         (1,251)       (342)       (227)  

Repurchase of preference shares

         (99)       (274)       (275)  

Dividends paid on ordinary shares

    11     (575)       (447)       (665)  

Dividends paid on Perpetual Preferred Securities

    11     -       -       (17)  

Dividends paid on preference shares classified in equity

    11     (2)       (19)       (19)  

Dividends paid on Reserve Capital Instruments

    11     (21)       (21)       (21)  

Dividends paid on Perpetual Capital Securities

    11     (103)       -       -  

Net cash flow used in financing activities

          (248)       (303)       (320)  

Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents

          5,918       (48,882)       16,635  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the year

          22,035       70,917       54,282  

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year

    38     27,953       22,035       70,917  

The accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements and the audited sections of the Risk Review form an integral part of these Financial Statements.

The Primary Financial Statements and the accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board on 25 February 2015 and signed on its behalf by:

 

Annual Report 2015

LOGO

Stephen Jones

Chief Financial Officer

Company Registered Number: 2294747

Annual Report 2014227


Financial statements

 

 

 

COMPANY STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

For the years ended 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012

 

  Notes

Share capital and
other equity
instruments

£m

 

Share premium

£m

 

Available for
sale reserve

£m

 

Retained
earnings(1)

£m

 

Total(2)

£m

 

1 January 2014

 3,709   5,620   -   2,617   11,946  

Total comprehensive income for the year:

- Profit for the year

 -   -   -   1,346   1,346  

- Other comprehensive income for the year:

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

 -   -   257   -   257  

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities transferred to profit or loss on sale

 -   -   (228)   -   (228)  

- Other movements

 -   -   -   21   21  

- Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

 -   -   -   136   136  

- Tax on other comprehensive income

  -   -   (6)   (27)   (33)  

Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax

  -   -   23   130   153  

Issue of Perpetual Capital Securities

 800   -   -   -   800  

Repurchase of preference shares

 (265)   -   -   (9)   (274)  

Dividends

  -   -   -   (527)   (527)  

31 December 2014

  4,244   5,620   23   3,557   13,444  

1 January 2013

 3,999   5,620   (2)   3,310   12,927  

Total comprehensive income for the year:

- Profit for the year

 -   -   -   225   225  

- Other comprehensive income for the year:

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

 -   -   2   -   2  

- Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

 -   -   -   (564)   (564)  

- Tax on other comprehensive income

  -   -   -   113   113  

Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax

  -   -   2   (451)   (449)  

Repurchase of preference shares

38 (290)   -   -   15   (275)  

Dividends

12 -   -   -   (482)   (482)  

31 December 2013

  3,709   5,620   -   2,617   11,946  

1 January 2012

 3,999   5,620   7   4,714   14,340  

Total comprehensive income for the year:

- Profit for the year

 -   -   -   (756)   (756)  

- Other comprehensive income for the year:

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

 -   -   2   -   2  

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities transferred to profit or loss

 -   -   (14)   -   (14)  

- Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

 -   -   -   (183)   (183)  

- Tax on other comprehensive income

  -   -   3   42   45  

Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax

  -   -   (9)   (141)   (150)  

Dividends

12 -   -   -   (507)   (507)  

31 December 2012

  3,999   5,620   (2)   3,310   12,927  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

    (2) The Company financial statements and all related footnotes have not been audited under the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

      Notes     

Share capital
and other
equity
instruments

£m

     

Share premium

£m

     

Available

for sale

£m

     

Cash flow
hedging

£m

     

Retained
earnings

£m

     

Total

£m

 

1 January 2015

         4,244       5,620       23       -       3,557       13,444  

Total comprehensive income/(expenses) for the year:

                            

- Profit for the year

         -       -       -       -       115       115  

- Other comprehensive income/(expenses) for the year:

                            

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

         -       -       10       -       -       10  

- Net losses on available-for-sale securities transferred to profit or loss

         -       -       40       -       -       40  

- Net gains on cash flow hedges

         -       -       -       74       -       74  

- Net gains on cash flow hedges transferred to profit or loss

         -       -       -       (81)       -       (81)  

- Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

     34       -       -       -       -       316       316  

- Tax on other comprehensive income

            -       -       (1)       1       (89)       (89)  

Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax

            -       -       49       (6)       227       270  

Issue of Perpetual Capital Securities

     36       750       -       -       -       -       750  

Repurchase of other equity instruments

     36       (83)       -       -       -       (16)       (99)  

Dividends on ordinary shares

     11       -       -       -       -       (427)       (427)  

Dividends on other equity instruments

     11       -       -       -       -       (126)       (126)  

Tax on repurchase of other equity instruments

            -       -       -       -       24       24  

31 December 2015

            4,911       5,620       72       (6)       3,354       13,951  

1 January 2014

         3,709       5,620       -       -       2,617       11,946  

Total comprehensive income/(expenses) for the year:

                            

- Profit for the year

         -       -       -       -       1,346       1,346  

- Other comprehensive income/(expenses) for the year:

                            

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

         -       -       257       -       -       257  

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities transferred to profit or loss

         -       -       (228)       -       -       (228)  

- Other movements

         -       -       -       -       21       21  

- Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

     34       -       -       -       -       136       136  

- Tax on other comprehensive income/(expenses)

            -       -       (6)       -       (27)       (33)  

Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax

            -       -       23       -       130       153  

Issue of Perpetual Capital Securities

     36       800       -       -       -       -       800  

Repurchase of other equity instruments

     36       (265)       -       -       -       (9)       (274)  

Dividends on ordinary shares

     11       -       -       -       -       (487)       (487)  

Dividends on other equity instruments

     11       -       -       -       -       (40)       (40)  

31 December 2014

            4,244       5,620       23       -       3,557       13,444  
                     -          

1 January 2013

         3,999       5,620       (2)       -       3,310       12,927  

Total comprehensive income/(expenses) for the year:

                            

- Profit for the year

         -       -       -       -       225       225  

- Other comprehensive income/(expenses) for the year:

                            

- Net gains on available-for-sale securities

         -       -       2       -       -       2  

- Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

     34       -       -       -       -       (564)       (564)  

- Tax on other comprehensive income

            -       -       -       -       113       113  
Other comprehensive income/(expenses) for the year, net of tax            -       -       2       -       (451)       (449)  

Repurchase of other equity instruments

     36       (290)       -       -       -       15       (275)  

Dividends on ordinary shares

     11       -       -       -       -       (425)       (425)  

Dividends on other equity instruments

     11       -       -       -       -       (57)       (57)  

31 December 2013

            3,709       5,620       -       -       2,617       11,946  

The accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements and the audited sections of the Risk Review form an integral part of these Financial Statements.

 

 

228Santander UK plc

208  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          
Auditor’s Reportstatements

COMPANY CASH FLOW STATEMENT

For the years ended 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012

          Notes        

            2014(1)

£m

 

            2013(1),(2)

£m

 

            2012(1),(2)

£m

 

Cash flows (used in)/from operating activities

Profit/(loss) for the year

 1,346   225   (756)  

Adjustments for:

Non cash items included in profit

 2,166   2,424   1,053  

Change in operating assets

 50,829   22,447   2,446  

Change in operating liabilities

 (98,441)   (4,814)   10,394  

Corporation taxes paid

 (59)   (87)   (149)  

Effects of exchange rate differences

  66   (182)   (530)  

Net cash flow (used in)/from operating activities

39 (44,093)   20,013   12,458  

Cash flows (used in)/from investing activities

Interests in other entities

23 -   (1,084)   -  

Purchase of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets

24,25 (372)   (320)   (354)  

Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets

 13   38   3  

Purchase of available-for-sale securities

 (4,236)   (1,680)   (348)  

Proceeds from sale and redemption of available-for-sale securities

  109   -   46  

Net cash flow used in investing activities

  (4,486)   (3,046)   (653)  

Cash flows (used in)/from financing activities

Issue of debt securities

 -   907   -  

Issue of Perpetual Capital Securities

 800   -   -  

Repayment of debt securities

 (342)   (227)   (2,394)  

Repurchase of preference shares

 (274)   (290)   -  

Dividends paid on ordinary shares

12 (447)   (665)   (425)  

Dividends paid on Perpetual Preferred Securities

12 -   (17)   (17)  

Dividends paid on preference shares classified in equity

12 (19)   (19)   (19)  

Dividends paid on Reserve Capital Instruments

12 (21)   (21)   (21)  

Net cash flow used in financing activities

  (303)   (332)   (2,876)  

Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents

  (48,882)   16,635   8,929  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the year

 70,917   54,282   45,353  

Effects of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

  -   -   -  

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year

39 22,035   70,917   54,282  

    (1) The Company financial statements and all related footnotes have not been audited under the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

    (2) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

The accompanying Notes to the Financial Statements and the audited sections of the Risk Review form an integral part of these Financial Statements.

    

 

Annual Report 2014229


Financial review

 

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

These financial statements are prepared for Santander UK plc (the ‘Company’)Company) and the Santander UK plc group (the ‘SantanderSantander UK group’)group) under the UK Companies Act 2006. The principal activity of the Santander UK group is the provision of an extensive range of personal financial services, and a wide range of banking and financial services to business and public sector customers.

Santander UK plc is a public limited company, incorporated in England and Wales having a registered office in England. It is an operating company undertaking banking and financial services transactions.

Basis of preparation

These financial statements incorporate the financial statements of the Company and entities controlled by the Company (its subsidiaries) made up to 31 December each year. The financial statements have been prepared on the going concern basis using the historical cost convention, as modified by the revaluation of available-for-sale financial assets, financial assets and financial liabilities held at fair value through profit or loss and all derivative contracts, assets held for sale, retirement benefit obligations and cash-settled share based payments. An assessment of the appropriateness of the adoption of the going concern basis of accounting is disclosed in the Directors’ statement of going concern set out in the Directors’ Report.

Compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards

The Santander UK group consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (‘IASB’)(IASB), including interpretations issued by the IFRS Interpretations Committee (‘IFRIC’)(IFRIC) of the IASB (together ‘IFRS’)IFRS). The Santander UK group has also complied with its legal obligation to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union as there are no applicable differences between the two frameworks for the periods presented.

The Company financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union and as applied in accordance with the provision of the UK Companies Act 2006.

Disclosures required by IFRS 7 ‘Financial Instruments: Disclosure’ relating to the nature and extent of risks arising from financial instruments can be found in the Risk Review which form an integral part of these financial statements.

Recent accounting developments

In 2014, the Santander UK group adopted the following new accounting pronouncements and amendments to standards which became effective for financial years beginning on 1 January 2014.

a)

IAS 32 ‘Financial Instruments: Presentation’ - In December 2011, the IASB issued amendments to IAS 32 entitled ‘Offsetting Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities’ which clarified the requirements for offsetting financial instruments and addressed inconsistencies in current practice when applying the offsetting criteria in IAS 32 ‘Financial Instruments: Presentation’. The amendments are effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2014 with early adoption permitted and are required to be applied retrospectively. The amendments did not have a material effect on the Consolidated Financial Statements.

b)

IFRIC Interpretation 21 ‘Levies’ - In May 2013, IFRIC issued IFRIC 21 which provides guidance on accounting for the liability to pay a government imposed levy. IFRIC 21 is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2014. This interpretation clarifies that the obligating event that gives rise to a liability to pay a government levy is the activity that triggers the payment of the levy as set out in the relevant legislation. An entity does not have a constructive obligation to pay a levy that will be triggered by operating in a future period. The adoption of IFRIC 21 changed the accounting for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (‘FSCS’) but did not affect the accounting for any other government imposed levy paid by the Santander UK group. In accordance with IFRIC 21, which has been applied retrospectively, FSCS levies are not recognised earlier than the levy year commencing 1 April to which the levies relate.

The impact of applying IFRIC 21 at 1 January 2014 was to increase retained earnings by £70m, increase deferred tax assets by £19m, and to reduce provisions by £89m. The impact of IFRIC 21 on the results for the year ended 31 December 2013 increase provisions for other liabilities and charges by £30m and to decrease tax on profit on continuing operations by £7m resulting in a decrease of profit on continuing operations after tax by £23m. The impact of IFRIC 21 on the results for the year ended 31 December 2012 was to decrease provisions for other liabilities and charges by £5m and to increase tax on profit on continuing operations by £1m resulting in an increase of profit on continuing operations after tax by £4m. The impact of applying IFRIC 21 at 1 January 2013 was to increase retained earnings by £93m, increase deferred tax assets by £26m, and to reduce provisions by £119m. In accordance with IFRIC 21, FSCS levies of £91m have been recognised in provisions for other liabilities and charges for the year ended 31 December 2014 (see Note 35). The application of IFRIC 21 had no impact on cash and cash equivalents or net cash flows from operating activities. Within the cash flow statement, the impact of the application of IFRIC 21 on the profit for the year was offset by an equal and opposite impact on the change in operating liabilities.

c)

There are a number of other changes to IFRS that were effective from 1 January 2014. Those changes did not have a significant impact on the Santander UK group’s financial statements.

230Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements

Future accounting developments

The Santander UK group has not yet adopted the following significant new or revised standards and interpretations, and amendments thereto, which have been issued but which are not yet effective for the Santander UK group:

 

a)

IFRS 9 ‘Financial Instruments’ (‘IFRS 9’)(IFRS 9) – In July 2014, the IASB issued the final version of IFRS 9 which includes the completion of all phases of the project to replace IAS 39 ‘Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement’ as discussed below.

Phase 1: Classification and measurement of financial assets and financial liabilities. Financial assets are classified on the basis of the business model within which they are held and their contractual cash flow characteristics. The standard also introduces a ‘fair value through other comprehensive income’ measurement category for particular simple debt instruments. The requirements for the classification and measurement of financial liabilities were carried forward unchanged from IAS 39, however, the requirements relating to the fair value option for financial liabilities were changed to address own credit risk and, in particular, the presentation of gains and losses within other comprehensive income.

Phase 2: Impairment methodology. IFRS 9 fundamentally changes the impairment requirements relating to the accounting for an entity’s expected credit losses on its financial assets and commitments to extend credit. It is no longer necessary for a credit event to have occurred before credit losses are recognised. Instead, an entity always accounts for expected credit losses, and changes in those expected credit losses. The amount of expected credit losses is updated at each reporting date to reflect changes in credit risk since initial recognition.

Phase 3: Hedge accounting. These requirements align hedge accounting more closely with risk management and establish a more principle-based approach to hedge accounting. Dynamic hedging of open portfolios is being dealt with as a separate project and until such time as that project is complete, entities can choose between applying the hedge accounting requirements of IFRS 9 or to continue to apply the existing hedge accounting requirements in IAS 39. The revised hedge accounting requirements in IFRS 9 are applied prospectively.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

The effective date of IFRS 9 is 1 January 2018. For annual periods beginning before 1 January 2018, an entity may elect to early apply only the requirements for the presentation of gains and losses on financial liabilities designated at fair value through profit or loss. At the date of publication of these Consolidated Financial Statements the standard is awaiting EU endorsement and the impact of the standard is currently being assessed. It is not yet practicable to quantify the effect of IFRS 9 on these Consolidated Financial Statements.

With reference to the expected credit loss (ECL) approach to impairment under IFRS 9 (Phase 2 above), the following sets out the general principles, a comparison of the current impairment and ECL approaches, specific modelling techniques and details of key responsibilities and accountabilities.

1.General principles: The current incurred credit loss provisioning approach applied in IAS 39 will be replaced with a forward looking expected loss impairment model under IFRS 9. ECL forecasts combine modelled estimates of a borrower’s probability of default and transaction estimates of exposure at default and loss given default that are discounted using the effective interest rate. Modelled ECLs will be informed by the best information available on forecasts of future macroeconomic credit conditions such as GDP, unemployment rates, house prices, etc. Existing risk management methodologies will be leveraged as a basis for calculating ECLs, with appropriate adjustments made to ensure estimates are forward looking. Modelling techniques are used to establish statistical relationships between macroeconomic data and the drivers of default and loss either for specific obligors, facilities, segments or portfolios.

2.How the current impairment approach compares with the new ECL approach: The key change compared to the current incurred credit loss provisioning approach is that the ECL approach must reflect both current and forecast changes in macroeconomic data over a horizon that extends from 12 months to the remaining life of the asset if a borrower’s credit risk is deemed to have deteriorated significantly at the reporting date compared to the origination date. These macroeconomic forecasts are required to be unbiased and probability weighted amounts determined by evaluating a range of possible outcomes and considering reasonable and supportable information at the reporting date. Similar to the current incurred credit loss provisioning approach, management will exercise judgement as to whether additional adjustments are required in order to adequately reflect possible events or conditions that could affect credit risk. Such adjustments are expected to be temporary in nature as the relevant factor or event becomes more clearly reflected in modelled ECL forecasts.

3.Specific modelling techniques to implement the ECL approach: IFRS 9 forecasting models attempt to find stable relationships between historical observed default and loss experience and macroeconomic variables over time. By modelling these relationships and measuring current values of each economic variable, forecasters can then apply conditional assumptions to form an expected future value of those variables. While these econometric models attempt to consistently capture correlations across economic variables, forecasts tend to be closer to actual outcomes during more benign periods in the economic cycle but can under/over predict when structural breaks occur in economic relationships or when there is high uncertainty around conditioning assumptions, e.g. at peaks and troughs in the economic cycle.

4.Key responsibilities and accountabilities: Santander UK has established an IFRS 9 steering group which is accountable for IFRS 9 implementation. The steering group is supported by working groups responsible for compliance with the new accounting standard relating to model methodology, technical accounting, policies and IT system design. Issues identified by the steering group that cannot be resolved are escalated to the appropriate Board committees.

 

b)

IFRS 15 ‘Revenue from Contracts with Customers’ (‘IFRS 15’)(IFRS 15) – In May 2014, the IASB issued IFRS 15. The effective date of IFRS 15 is 1 January 2017.2018. The standard establishes the principles that shall be applied in connection with revenue from contracts with customers including the core principle that the recognition of revenue must depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the entitlement to consideration in exchange for those goods and services. IFRS 15 applies to all contracts with customers but does not apply to lease contracts, insurance contracts, financial instruments and certain non-monetary exchanges. At the date of publication of these Consolidated Financial Statements the standard is awaiting EU endorsement. Whilst it is expected that a significant proportion of the Santander UK group’s revenue will be outside the scope of IFRS 15, the impact of the standard is currently being assessed. It is not yet practicable to quantify the effect of IFRS 15 on these Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

c)

There areIFRS 16 ‘Leases’ (IFRS 16) – In January 2016, the IASB issued IFRS 16. The standard is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019. Earlier adoption is permitted for entities that apply IFRS 15 at or before the date of initial application of IFRS 16. IFRS 16 sets out the principles for the recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure for both lessees and lessors. For lessee accounting, IFRS 16 introduces a numbersingle lessee accounting model and requires a lessee to recognise a right-of-use asset representing its right to use the underlying leased asset and a lease liability representing its obligation to make lease payments for all leases with a term of other standards which have been issuedmore than 12 months, unless the underlying asset is of low value. For lessor accounting, IFRS 16 substantially carries forward the lessor accounting requirements from the existing leasing standard (IAS 17) and a lessor continues to classify its leases as operating leases or amended that are expectedfinance leases and to be effective in future periods. However,account for those two types of leases differently. At the date of publication of these Consolidated Financial Statements the standard is awaiting EU endorsement. The impact of the standard is currently being assessed, however, it is not yet practicable to providequantify the effect of IFRS 16 on these Consolidated Financial Statements.

d)During 2015, the IASB published its exposure draft of amendments to IAS 19 ‘Employee Benefits’ and IFRIC 14 ‘IAS 19 – The Limit on a reasonable estimateDefined Benefit Asset, Minimum Funding Requirements and their Interaction’ which has provided additional clarity on the role of their effects ontrustees’ rights in an assessment of the recoverability of a surplus in an employee pension fund. Having reviewed the trust deed and rules, management does not currently believe that the Santander UK group’s financial statements until a detailed review has been completed.

group will be impacted by the proposed amendments but will continue to monitor their finalisation and evolving practice.

Comparative information

As required by US public company reporting requirements, these financial statements include two years of comparative information for the consolidated income statement, consolidated statement of comprehensive income, consolidated statement of changes in equity, consolidated statement of cash flows and related Notes.

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Auditor’s Reportstatementsfinancial statements    

Consolidation

a) Subsidiaries

The Consolidated Financial Statements incorporate the financial statements of Santander UK plc and entities (including structured entities) controlled by the Company and its subsidiaries. Control is achieved where the Company has (i) power over the investee; (ii) is exposed, or has rights, to variable returns from its involvement with the investee; and (iii) has the ability to use its power to affect its returns. The Company reassesses whether or not it controls an investee if facts and circumstances indicate that there are changes to one or more of the three elements of control listed above.

When the Company has less than a majority of the voting rights of an investee, it has power over the investee when the voting rights are sufficient to give it the practical ability to direct the relevant activities of the investee unilaterally. The Company considers all relevant facts and circumstances in assessing whether or not the Company’s voting rights in an investee are sufficient to give it power, including:

 

>

-

the size of the Company’s holding of voting rights relative to the size and dispersion of holdings of the other vote holders;

holders
>

-

potential voting rights held by the Company, other vote holders or other parties;

parties
>

-

rights arising from other contractual arrangements; and

arrangements
>

-

any additional facts and circumstances that indicate that the Company has, or does not have, the current ability to direct the relevant activities at the time that decisions need to be made, including voting patterns at previous shareholders’ meetings.

Consolidation of a subsidiary begins when the Company obtains control over the subsidiary and ceases when the Company loses control of the subsidiary. Specifically, the results of a subsidiary acquired or disposed of during the year are included in the consolidated income statement and the consolidated statement of comprehensive income from the date the Company gains control until the date when the Company ceases to control the subsidiary. Inter-company transactions, balances and unrealised gains on transactions between Santander UK group companies are eliminated; unrealised losses are also eliminated unless the cost cannot be recovered.

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Financial review

The acquisition method of accounting is used to account for the acquisition of subsidiaries which meet the definition of a business. The cost of an acquisition is measured at the fair value of the assets given up, shares issued or liabilities undertaken at the date of acquisition. Acquisition related costs are expensed as incurred. The excess of the cost of acquisition, as well as the fair value of any interest previously held, over the fair value of the Santander UK group’s share of the identifiable net assets of the acquired subsidiary, associate or business at the date of acquisition is recorded as goodwill. When the Santander UK group loses control of a subsidiary, the profit or loss on disposal is calculated as the difference between (i) the aggregate of the fair value of the consideration received and the fair value of any retained interest and (ii) the previous carrying amount of the assets (including goodwill), less liabilities of the subsidiary and any non-controlling interests. Amounts previously recognised in other comprehensive income in relation to the subsidiary are accounted for (i.e. reclassified to profit or loss or transferred directly to retained earnings) in the same manner as would be required if the relevant assets or liabilities are disposed of. The fair value of any investment retained in the former subsidiary at the date when control is lost is regarded as the fair value on initial recognition for subsequent accounting under IAS 39 ‘Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement’ or, when applicable, the costs on initial recognition of an investment in an associate or jointly controlled entity.

Transactions between entities under common control, i.e. fellow subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA (the ‘ultimate parent’)ultimate parent) are outside the scope of IFRS 3 – ‘Business Combinations’, and there is no other guidance for such situations under IFRS. The Santander UK group elects to account for transactions between entities under common control for cash consideration in a manner consistent with the approach under IFRS 3R, unless the transaction represents a reorganisation of entities within the Santander UK group, in which case the transaction is accounted for at its historical cost. Business combinations between entities under common control transacted for non-cash consideration are accounted for by the Santander UK group in a manner consistent with group reconstruction relief under UK GAAP (merger accounting).

b) Associates and joint ventures

Associates are entities over which the Santander UK group has significant influence and that is neither a subsidiary nor an interest in a joint venture. Significant influence is the power to participate in the financial and operating policy decisions of the investee but is not control or joint control over those policies. Unrealised gains on transactions between the Santander UK group and its associates are eliminated to the extent of the Santander UK group’s interest in the associates; unrealised losses are also eliminated unless the transaction provides evidence of an impairment of the asset transferred. The Santander UK group’s investment in associates includes goodwill on acquisition.

Joint ventures are joint arrangements whereby the parties that have joint control of the arrangement have rights to the net assets of the joint arrangement. Joint control is the contractually agreed sharing of control of an arrangement, which exists only when decisions about the relevant activities require unanimous consent of the parties sharing control. Accounting policies have been aligned to the extent there are differences from the Santander UK group’s policies.

The Santander UK group’s investments in associates and joint ventures are accounted for by the equity method of accounting and are initially recorded at cost and adjusted each year to reflect the Santander UK group’s share of the post-acquisition results of the joint venture or associate. When the Santander UK group’s share of losses of an associate or a joint venture exceeds the Santander UK group’s interest in that associate or joint venture, the Santander UK group discontinues recognising its share of further losses. Additional losses are recognised only to the extent that the Santander UK group has incurred legal or constructive obligations or made payments on behalf of the associate or joint venture.

Foreign currency translation

Items included in the financial statements of each entity (including foreign branch operations) in the Santander UK group are measured using the currency that best reflects the economic substance of the underlying events and circumstances relevant to that entity (the ‘functional currency’)functional currency). The Consolidated Financial Statements are presented in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Company.

Income statements and cash flows of foreign entities are translated into the Santander UK group’s presentation currency at average exchange rates for the year and their balance sheets are translated at the exchange rates ruling on 31 December.

Exchange differences arising from the translation of the net investment in foreign entities are recognised in other comprehensive income. When a foreign entity is sold, such exchange differences are recognised in the income statement as part of the gain or loss on sale.

Foreign currency transactions are translated into the functional currency of the entity involved at the exchange rates prevailing at the dates of the transactions. Foreign exchange gains and losses resulting from the settlement of such transactions and from the translation of monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are recognised in the income statement unless recognised in other comprehensive income in connection with a cash flow hedge. Non-monetary items denominated in a foreign currency measured at historical cost are not re-translated. Exchange rate differences arising on non-monetary items measured at fair value are recognised in the consolidated income statement except for differences arising on available-for-sale equity securities which are recognised in other comprehensive income.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

Exchange rate differences recognised in the consolidated income statement on items not at fair value through profit and loss were £477m income (2014: £486m income, (2013:2013: £(450)m expense, 2012: £1,631m income)expense) and are presented in the line net trading and other income (see Note 5). Exchange rate differences on items measured at fair value through profit or loss are included in the changes to fair value as presented in net trading and other income.

Revenue recognition

a) Interest income and expense

Interest income on financial assets that are classified as loans and receivables or available-for-sale, and interest expense on financial liabilities other than those at fair value through profit and loss are determined using the effective interest method. The effective interest rate is the rate that discounts the estimated future cash payments or receipts over the expected life of the instrument or, when appropriate, a shorter period, to the net carrying amount of the financial asset or financial liability. When calculating the effective interest rate, the future cash flows are estimated after considering all the contractual terms of the instrument excluding future credit losses. The calculation includes all amounts paid or received by the Santander UK group that are an integral part of the overall return, direct incremental transaction costs related to the acquisition, issue or disposal of the financial instrument and all other premiums or discounts. Interest income on assets classified as loans and receivables and available-for-sale, interest expense on liabilities classified at amortised cost, and interest income and expense on hedging derivatives are recognised in interest and similar income and interest expense and similar charges in the income statement.

In accordance with IFRS, the Santander UK group recognises interest income on assets after they have been written down as a result of an impairment loss. Interest continues to be accrued on all loans and the element of interest that is not anticipated to be recovered is provided for.

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Interest income on impaired financial assets is recognised using the rate of interest used to discount the future cash flows for the purpose of measuring the impairment loss.

b) Fee and commission income and expense

Fees and commissions that are not an integral part of the effective interest rate are recognised when the service is provided.provided, or on the performance of a significant act. For retail and corporate products, fee and commission income consists principally of collection services fees, commission on foreign currencies, commission and other fees received from retailers for processing credit card transactions, fees received from other credit card issuers for providing cash advances for their customers through the Santander UK group’s branch and ATM networks, annual fees payable by credit card holders and fees for non-banking financial products. Revenue from these income streams is recognised when the service is provided.

For insurance products, fee and commission income consists principally of commissions earned on the sale of building and contents insurance, life protection insurance and payment cover insurance. Revenue from these income streams is recognised when the service is provided.

Asset management fee and commission income comprises portfolio and other management advisory and service fees, investment fund management fees, and fees for private banking, financial planning and custody services. Portfolio and other management advisory and service fees are recognised based on the applicable service contracts as the service is provided. Asset management fees related to investment funds are recognised rateably over the period the service is provided. The same principle is applied for private banking, financial planning and custody services that are continuously provided over an extended period of time.

Fee and commission income which forms an integral part of the effective interest rate of a financial instrument (e.g. certain loan commitment fees) is recognised as an adjustment to the effective interest rate and recorded in ‘Interest income’.

c) Dividend income

Except for equity securities classified as trading assets or financial assets held at fair value through profit or loss, described below, dividend income is recognised when the right to receive payment is established. This is the ex-dividend date for equity securities.

d) Net trading and other income

Net trading and other income comprises all gains and losses from changes in the fair value of financial assets and liabilities held at fair value through profit or loss (including financial assets and liabilities held for trading, trading derivatives and designated as fair value through profit or loss), together with related interest income, expense, dividends and changes in fair value of any derivatives managed in conjunction with these assets and liabilities. Changes in fair value of derivatives in a fair value hedging relationship are also recognised in net trading and other income. Net trading and other income also include income from operating lease assets, and profits/(losses) arising on the sales of property, plant and equipment and subsidiary undertakings.

Borrowing costs

Borrowing costs directly attributable to the acquisition, construction or production of qualifying assets, including computer software, which are assets that necessarily take a substantial period of time to develop for their intended use, are added to the cost of those assets, until such time as the assets are substantially ready for their intended use. All other borrowing costs are recognised in profit or loss in the period in which they occur.

Pensions and other post-retirement benefits

The Santander UK group operates various pension schemes. The schemes are generally funded through payments to insurance companies or trustee-administered funds, as determined by periodic actuarial calculations. A defined benefit plan is a pension plan that guarantees an amount of pension benefit to be provided, usually as a function of one or more factors such as age, years of service or compensation. A defined contribution plan is a pension plan under which the Santander UK group pays fixed contributions as they fall due into a separate entity (a fund). The pension paid to the member at retirement is based on the amount in the separate fund for each member. The Santander UK group has no legal or constructive obligations to pay further contributions into the fund to ‘top up’ benefits to a certain guaranteed level. Pension costs are charged to the ‘Administration expenses’, within the line item ‘Administration expenses’,‘Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges’ with the net interest on the defined benefit asset or liability included within ‘Net interest income’ in the income statement.

a) Defined benefit plans

The asset or liability recognised in respect of defined benefit pension plans is the present value of the defined benefit obligation at the balance sheet date, less the fair value of plan assets. The defined benefit obligation is calculated annually by independent actuaries using the projected unit credit method. The assets of the schemes are measured at their fair values at the balance sheet date. Full actuarial valuations of the Santander UK group’s principal defined benefit schemes are carried out on a triennial basis. Each scheme’s Trustee is responsible for the actuarial valuations and in doing so considers or relies in part on a report of a third party expert.

The present value of the defined benefit obligation is estimated by projecting forward the growth in current accrued pension benefits to reflect inflation and salary growth to the date of pension payment, then discounted to present value using an interest rate applicable to high-quality AA rated corporate bonds of the same currency and which have terms to maturity closest to the terms of the scheme liabilities, adjusted where necessary to match those terms. In determining the value of scheme liabilities, demographic and financial assumptions are made by management about mortality, inflation, discount rates, pension increases and earnings growth, based on past experience. Financial assumptions are based on market conditions at the balance sheet date and can generally be derived objectively.

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financial statements    

Demographic assumptions require a greater degree of estimation and judgement to be applied to externally derived data. Any surplus or deficit of scheme assets over liabilities is recognised in the balance sheet as an asset (surplus) or liability (deficit). An asset is only recognised to the extent that the surplus can be recovered through reduced contributions in the future or through refunds from the scheme.

The income statement includes the net interest income/expense on the net defined benefit liability/asset, current service cost and any past service cost and gain or loss on settlement. Remeasurement of defined benefit pension schemes, including return on scheme assets (excludes amounts included in net interest), actuarial gains and losses arising from changes in financial assumptions and changes in actuarial assumptions and the effect of the changes to the asset ceiling (if applicable) are recognised in other comprehensive income. Remeasurement recognised in other comprehensive income will not be reclassified to the income statement. Past-service costs are recognised as an expense in the income statement at the earlier of when the plan amendment or curtailment occurs and when the related restructuring costs or termination benefits are recognised. Curtailments include the impact of significant reductions in the number of employees covered by a plan, or amendments to the terms of the plan so that a significant element of future service will no longer qualify for benefits or will qualify only for reduced benefits. Curtailment gains and losses on businesses that meet the definition of discontinued operations are included in profit or loss for the year from discontinued operations. Gains and losses on settlements are recognised when the settlement occurs.

Annual Report 2014233


Financial review

b) Defined contribution plans

For defined contribution plans, the Santander UK group pays contributions to publicly or privately administered pension insurance plans on a mandatory, contractual or voluntary basis. Once the contributions have been paid, the Santander UK group has no further payment obligation. The regular contributions constitute net periodic costs for the year in which they are due and are included in staff costs which are presented in Administration expenses in the income statement.

c) Post-retirement medical benefit plans

Post-retirement medical benefit liabilities are determined using the Projected Unit Credit Method, with actuarial valuations updated at each yearend.year end. The expected benefit costs are accrued over the period of employment using an accounting methodology similar to that for the defined benefit pension scheme.

Share-based payments

The Santander UK group engages in cash-settled and equity-settled share-based payment transactions in respect of services received from certain of its employees. Shares of the Santander UK group’s parent, Banco Santander S.A.SA are purchased in the open market by the Santander UK group (for the Employee Sharesave scheme) or are purchased by Banco Santander S.A.SA or another Banco Santander group company (for awards granted under the Long TermLong-Term Incentive Plan and the Deferred Shares Bonus Plan) to satisfy share options as they vest.

Options granted under the Employee Sharesave scheme are accounted for as cash-settled share-based payment transactions. Awards granted under the Long-Term Incentive Plan and Deferred Shares Bonus Plan are accounted for as equity-settled share-based payment transactions.

The fair value of the services received is measured by reference to the fair value of the shares or share options initially on the date of the grant for both the cash and equity settled share-based payments and then subsequently at each reporting date for the cash settled share-based payments. The cost of the employee services received in respect of the shares or share options granted is recognised in the income statement within administration expenses, over the period that the services are received, which is the vesting period.

A liability equal to the portion of the goods or services received is recognised at the current fair value determined at each balance sheet date for cash-settled share-based payments. A liability equal to the amount to be reimbursed to Banco Santander S.A.SA is recognised at the current fair value determined at the grant date for equity-settled share-based payments.

The fair value of the options granted under the Employee Sharesave scheme is determined using an option pricing model, which takes into account the exercise price of the option, the current share price, the risk free interest rate, the expected volatility of the Banco Santander S.A.SA share price over the life of the option and the dividend growth rate. The fair value of the awards granted for the Long Term Incentive Plan was determined at the grant date using an option pricing model, which takes into account the share price at grant date, the risk free interest rate, the expected volatility of the Banco Santander S.A.SA share price over the life of the award and the dividend growth rate. Vesting conditions included in the terms of the grant are not taken into account in estimating fair value, except for those that include terms related to market conditions. Non-market vesting conditions are taken into account by adjusting the number of shares or share options included in the measurement of the cost of employee service so that ultimately, the amount recognised in the income statement reflects the number of vested shares or share options.

Where an award has been modified, as a minimum, the expense of the original award continues to be recognised as if it had not been modified. Where the effect of a modification is to increase the fair value of an award or increase the number of equity instruments, the incremental fair value of the award or incremental fair value of the modification of the award is recognised in addition to the expense of the original grant, measured at the date of modification, over the modified vesting period.

A cancellation that occurs during the vesting period is treated as an acceleration of vesting, and recognised immediately for the amount that would otherwise have been recognised for services over the vesting period.

Goodwill and other intangible assets

Goodwill represents the excess of the cost of an acquisition, as well as the fair value of any interest previously held, over the fair value of the Santander UK group’s share of the identifiable net assets of the acquired subsidiary, associate, or business at the date of acquisition. Goodwill on the acquisition of subsidiaries and businesses is included in intangible assets. Goodwill on acquisitions of associates is included as part of Investment in associates. Goodwill is tested for impairment at each balance sheet date, or more frequently when events or changes in circumstances dictate, and carried at cost less accumulated impairment losses. Gains and losses on the disposal of an entity or business include the carrying amount of goodwill relating to the entity or business sold.

Other intangible assets are recognised if they arise from contracted or other legal rights or if they are capable of being separated or divided from the Santander UK group and sold, transferred, licensed, rented or exchanged. The value of such intangible assets is amortised on a straight-line basis over the useful economic life of the assets in question, which ranges from three to seven years. Other intangible assets are reviewed annually for impairment indicators and tested for impairment where indicators are present.

Software development costs are capitalised when they are direct costs associated with identifiable and unique software products that are expected to provide future economic benefits and the cost of these products can be measured reliably. These costs include payroll, the costs of materials and services and directly attributable overheads. Internally developed software meeting these criteria and externally purchased software are classified in intangible assets on the balance sheet and amortised on a straight-line basis over their useful life of three to seven years, unless the software is an integral part of the related computer hardware, in which case it is treated as property, plant and equipment as described below. Capitalisation of costs ceases when the software is capable of operating as intended. Costs associated with maintaining software programmes are expensed as incurred.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

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Property, plant and equipment

Property, plant and equipment include owner-occupied properties (including leasehold properties), office fixtures and equipment and computer software. Property, plant and equipment are carried at cost less accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses. A review for indications of impairment is carried out at each reporting date. Gains and losses on disposal are determined by reference to the carrying amount and are reported in net trading and other income. Repairs and renewals are charged to the income statement when the expenditure is incurred. Internally developed software meeting the criteria set out in ’Goodwill and other intangible assets’ above and externally purchased software are classified in property, plant and equipment on the balance sheet where the software is an integral part of the related computer hardware.

Classes of property, plant and equipment are depreciated on a straight-line basis over their useful life, as follows:

 

Owner-occupied properties

Not exceeding 50 years

Office fixtures and equipment

3 to 15 years

Computer software

3 to 7 years

Depreciation is not charged on freehold land and assets under construction.

Financial assets and liabilities

Financial assets and liabilities are initially recognised when the Santander UK group becomes a party to the contractual terms of the instrument. The Santander UK group determines the classification of its financial assets and liabilities at initial recognition. Financial assets are classified as financial assets at fair value through profit or loss, loans and receivables, available-for-sale and held to maturity financial assets. Financial assets that are classified at fair value through profit or loss, which have not been designated as such or are not accounted for as derivatives, or assets classified as available-for-sale, may subsequently in rare circumstances, be reclassified from the fair value through profit or loss category to the loans and receivables, available-for-sale or held to maturity categories. In order to meet the criteria for reclassification, the asset must no longer be held for the purpose of selling or repurchasing in the near term and must also meet the definition of the category into which it is to be reclassified had it not been required to classify it at fair value through profit or loss at initial recognition. The reclassified value is the fair value of the asset at the date of reclassification. The Santander UK group has not utilised this option and therefore has not reclassified any assets from the fair value through profit or loss category that were classified as such at initial recognition. Financial liabilities are classified as fair value through profit or loss if they are either held for trading or otherwise designated at fair value through profit or loss on initial recognition.

Financial assets are derecognised when the rights to receive cash flows have expired or the Santander UK group has transferred its contractual right to receive the cash flows from the assets and either: (1) substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership have been transferred; or (2) the Santander UK group has neither retained nor transferred substantially all of the risks and rewards, but has transferred control. Financial liabilities are derecognised when extinguished, cancelled or expire.expired.

A regular way purchase is a purchase of a financial asset under a contract whose terms require delivery of the asset within the timeframe established generally by regulation or convention in the market place concerned. Regular way purchases of financial assets classified as loans and receivables, issues of equity or financial liabilities measured at amortised cost are recognised on settlement date; all other regular way purchases and issues are recognised on trade date.

a) Financial assets and liabilities at fair value through profit or loss

Financial assets and financial liabilities are classified as fair value through profit or loss if they are either held for trading or otherwise designated at fair value through profit or loss on initial recognition.

Financial asset and financial liabilities are classified as held for trading if they are derivatives or it they are acquired or incurred principally for the purpose of selling or repurchasing in the near term, or form part of a portfolio of financial instruments that are managed together and for which there is evidence of short-term profit taking.

In certain circumstances financial assets and financial liabilities other than those that are held for trading are designated at fair value through profit or loss where this results in more relevant information because it significantly reduces a measurement inconsistency that would otherwise arise from measuring assets or liabilities or recognising the gains or losses on them on a different basis, where the assets or liabilities are managed and their performance evaluated on a fair value basis, or where a financial asset or financial liability contains one or more embedded derivatives which are not closely related to the host contract.

Financial assets and financial liabilities classified as fair value through profit or loss are initially recognised at fair value and transaction costs are taken directly to the income statement. Gains and losses arising from changes in fair value are included directly in the income statement.

Derivative financial instruments, trading assets and liabilities and financial assets and liabilities designated at fair value are classified as fair value through profit or loss.

b) Loans and receivables

Loans and receivables are non-derivative financial assets with fixed or determinable payments, that are not quoted in an active market and which are not classified as available-for-sale or fair value through profit or loss. They arise when the Santander UK group provides money or services directly to a customer with no intention of trading the loan. Loans and receivables are initially recognised at fair value including direct and incremental transaction costs. They are subsequently valued at amortised cost, using the effective interest method. Loans and receivables consist of loans and advances to banks, loans and advances to customers, and loans and receivables securities.

c) Available-for-sale financial assets

Available-for-sale financial assets are non-derivative financial assets that are designated as available-for-sale and are not categorised into any of the other categories described. They are initially recognised at fair value including direct and incremental transaction costs. They are subsequently held at fair value. Gains and losses arising from changes in fair value of available-for-sale securities are recognised in other comprehensive income until sale or until determined to be impaired when the cumulative gain or loss or impairment losses are transferred to the income statement. Where the financial asset is interest-bearing, interest is determined using the effective interest method.

Income on investments in equity shares, debt instruments and other similar interests is recognised in the income statement as and when dividends are declared and interest is accrued. Impairment losses and foreign exchange translation differences on monetary items are recognised in the income statement.

 

 

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d) Held to maturity investments

Held to maturity investments are non-derivative financial assets with fixed or determinable payments and fixed maturity that an entity has the positive intention and ability to hold to maturity, are initially recognised at fair value and are subsequently valued at amortised cost, using the effective interest method. The Santander UK group does not hold any held to maturity financial assets.

e) Borrowings

Borrowings (which include deposits by banks, deposits by customers, debt securities in issue and subordinated liabilities) are recognised initially at fair value, being their issue proceeds (fair value of consideration received) net of transaction costs incurred. Borrowings are subsequently stated at amortised cost or fair value through profit or loss dependent on designation at initial recognition.

Preference shares which carry a contractual obligation to transfer economic benefits are classified as financial liabilities and are presented in subordinated liabilities. The coupon on these preference shares is recognised in the income statement as interest expense on an amortised cost basis using the effective interest method.

f) Other financial liabilities

All other financial liabilities are initially recognised at fair value net of transaction costs incurred. They are subsequently stated at amortised cost, using the effective interest method.

Contracts involving the receipt of cash on which customers receive an index-linked return are accounted for as equity index-linked deposits. The principal products are Capital Guaranteed/Protected Products which give the customers a limited participation in the upside growth of an equity index. In the event the index falls in price, a cash principal element is guaranteed/protected. The equity index-linked deposits contain embedded derivatives. These embedded derivatives, in combination with the principal cash deposit element, are designed to replicate the investment performance profile tailored to the return agreed in the contracts with customers. These products are accounted for as deposits by customers at amortised cost. The embedded derivatives are separated from the host instrument and are separately accounted for as derivative financial instruments.

g) Sale and repurchase agreements (including stock borrowing and lending)

Securities sold subject to a commitment to repurchase them at a predetermined price (‘repos’)(repos) under which substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership are retained by the Santander UK group remain on the balance sheet and a liability is recorded in respect of the consideration received. Securities purchased under commitments to resell (‘reverse repos’)(reverse repos) are not recognised on the balance sheet and the consideration paid is recorded as an asset. The difference between the sale and repurchase price is treated as trading income in the income statement, except where the repo is not treated as part of the trading book, in which case the difference is recorded in interest income or expense.

Securities lending and borrowing transactions are generally secured, with collateral taking the form of securities or cash advanced or received. Securities lent or borrowed are not reflected on the balance sheet. Collateral in the form of cash received or advanced is recorded as a deposit or a loan. Collateral in the form of securities is not recognised.

h) Day One profits adjustments

The fair value of a financial instrument on initial recognition is generally its transaction price (that is, the fair value of the consideration given or received). However, sometimes the fair value will be based on other observable current market transactions in the same instrument, without modification or repackaging, or on a valuation technique whose variables include only data from observable markets, such as interest rate yield curves, option volatilities and currency rates. When such evidence exists, the Santander UK group recognises a trading gain or loss at inception (day 1 gain or loss), being the difference between the transaction price and the fair value. When significant unobservable parameters are used, the entire day 1 gain or loss is deferred and is recognised in the income statement over the life of the transaction until the transaction matures, is closed out, the valuation inputs become observable or the Santander UK group enters into an offsetting transaction.

Derivative financial instruments

Derivative financial instruments (‘derivatives’)(derivatives) are contracts or agreements whose value is derived from one or more underlying indices or asset values inherent in the contract or agreement, which require no or little initial net investment and are settled at a future date. Transactions are undertaken in interest rate, cross currency, equity, residential property and other index-related swaps, forwards, caps, floors, swaptions, as well as credit default and total return swaps, equity index contracts and exchange traded interest rate futures, and equity index options.

Derivatives are held for trading or for risk management purposes. Derivatives are classified as held for trading unless they are designated as being in a hedge relationship. The Santander UK group chooses to designate certain derivatives as in a hedging relationship if they meet specific criteria, as further described within ‘hedge accounting’ below.

Derivatives are recognised initially (on the date on which a derivative contract is entered into), and are subsequently remeasured, at their fair value. Fair values of exchange-traded derivatives are obtained from quoted market prices. Fair values of over-the-counter derivatives are obtained using valuation techniques, including discounted cash flow and option pricing models.

Derivatives may be embedded in other financial instruments, such as the conversion option in a convertible bond. Embedded derivatives are treated as separate derivatives when their economic characteristics and risks are not closely related to those of the host contract; the terms of the embedded derivative would meet the definition of a stand-alone derivative if they were contained in a separate contract; and the combined contract is not held for trading or designated at fair value. These embedded derivatives are measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognised in the income statement. Contracts containing embedded derivatives are not subsequently reassessed for separation unless either there has been a change in the terms of the contract which significantly modifies the cash flows (in which case the contract is reassessed at the time of modification) or the contract has been reclassified (in which case the contract is reassessed at the time of reclassification).

All derivatives are carried as assets when their fair value is positive and as liabilities when their fair value is negative, except where netting is permitted. The method of recognising fair value gains and losses depends on whether derivatives are held for trading or are designated as hedging instruments and, if the latter, the nature of the risks being hedged. All gains and losses from changes in the fair value of derivatives held for trading are recognised in the income statement, and included within net trading and other income.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

Offsetting financial assets and liabilities

Financial assets and liabilities including derivatives are offset and the net amount reported in the balance sheet when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis, or realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously. The Santander UK group is party to a number of arrangements, including master netting arrangements under industry standard agreements which facilitate netting of transactions in jurisdictions where netting agreements are recognised and have legal force. The netting arrangements do not generally result in an offset of balance sheet assets and liabilities for accounting purposes, as transactions are usually settled on a gross basis.

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Hedge accounting

Santander UK plc group applies hedge accounting to represent, to the maximum possible extent permitted under accounting standards, the economic effects of its risk management strategies. Derivatives are used to hedge exposures to interest rates, exchange rates and certain indices such as retail price indices.

At the time a financial instrument is designated as a hedge (i.e., at the inception of the hedge), the Santander UK group formally documents the relationship between the hedging instrument(s) and hedged item(s), its risk management objective and strategy for undertaking the hedge. The documentation includes the identification of each hedging instrument and respective hedged item, the nature of the risk being hedged (including the benchmark interest rate being hedged in a hedge of interest rate risk) and how the hedging instrument’s effectiveness in offsetting the exposure to changes in the hedged item’s fair value attributable to the hedged risk is to be assessed. Accordingly, the Santander UK group formally assesses, both at the inception of the hedge and on an ongoing basis, whether the hedging derivatives have been and will be highly effective in offsetting changes in the fair value attributable to the hedged risk during the period that the hedge is designated. A hedge is normally regarded as highly effective if, at inception and throughout its life, the Santander UK group can expect, and actual results indicate, that changes in the fair value or cash flow of the hedged items are effectively offset by changes in the fair value or cash flow of the hedging instrument. If at any point it is concluded that it is no longer highly effective in achieving its documented objective, hedge accounting is discontinued.

Where derivatives are held for risk management purposes, and when transactions meet the required criteria for documentation and hedge effectiveness, the derivatives may be designated as either: (i) hedges of the change in fair value of recognised assets or liabilities or firm commitments (‘fair(fair value hedges’)hedges); (ii) hedges of the variability in highly probable future cash flows attributable to a recognised asset or liability, or a forecast transaction (‘cash(cash flow hedges’)hedges); or (iii) a hedge of a net investment in a foreign operation (‘net(net investment hedges’)hedges). The Santander UK group applies fair value hedge accounting and cash flow hedge accounting but not hedging of a net investment in a foreign operation.

a) Fair value hedge accounting

Changes in the fair value of derivatives that are designated and qualify as fair value hedges are recorded in the income statement, together with the changes in the fair value of the hedged asset or liability that are attributable to the hedged risk. Where the hedged item is measured at amortised cost, the fair value changes due to the hedged risk adjust the carrying amount of the hedged asset or liability. Changes in the fair value of portfolio hedged items are presented separately in the consolidated balance sheet position in Macro hedge of interest rate risk and recognised in the income statement as income or expenses on financial assetswithin Net trading and liabilities held for trading.other income. If the hedge no longer meets the criteria for hedge accounting, changes in the fair value of the hedged item attributable to the hedged risk are no longer recognised in the income statement. For fair value hedges of interest rate risk, the cumulative adjustment that has been made to the carrying amount of the hedged item is amortised to the income statement using the effective interest method over the period to maturity. For portfolio hedged items, the cumulative adjustment is amortised to the income statement using the straight line method over the period to maturity.

b) Cash flow hedge accounting

The effective portion of changes in the fair value of qualifying cash flow hedges is recognised in other comprehensive income in the cash flow hedging reserve. The gain or loss relating to the ineffective portion is recognised immediately in the income statement. Amounts accumulated in equity are reclassified to the income statement in the periods in which the hedged item affects profit or loss. When a hedging instrument expires or is sold, or when a hedge no longer meets the criteria for hedge accounting, any cumulative gain or loss existing in equity at that time remains in equity and is recognised in the income statement when the forecast transaction is ultimately recognised in the income statement. When a forecast transaction is no longer expected to occur, the cumulative gain or loss that was reported in equity is immediately transferred to the income statement.

The Santander UK group is exposed to cash flow interest rate risk on its floating rate assets and foreign currency risk on its fixed rate debt issuances denominated in foreign currency. Cash flow hedging is used to hedge the variability in cash flows arising from both these risks.

Securitisation transactions

The Santander UK group has entered into certain arrangements where undertakings have issued mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities or have entered into funding arrangements with lenders in order to finance specific loans and advances to customers. As the Santander UK group has retained substantially all the risks and rewards of the underlying assets, such financial instruments continue to be recognised on the balance sheet, and a liability recognised for the proceeds of the funding transaction.

Impairment of financial assets

At each balance sheet date the Santander UK group assesses whether, as a result of one or more events occurring after initial recognition, there is objective evidence that a financial asset or group of financial assets classified as loans and advances, loans and receivables securities or available-for-sale financial assets have become impaired. Evidence of impairment varies across different portfolios and may include indications that the borrower or group of borrowers have defaulted, are experiencing significant financial difficulty, or the debt has been restructured potentially reducing the burden to the borrower. Impairment losses are recorded as charges in the income statement and the carrying amount of the financial asset or group of financial assets is reduced by establishing an impairment loss allowance. Impairment loss allowances are maintained at the level that management deems sufficient to absorb incurred losses. Losses expected from future events are not recognised.

 

 

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a) Loans and advances

Impairment loss allowances for loans and advances, less amounts released and recoveries of amounts written off are charged to the line item ‘Impairment losses on loans and advances’ in the income statement. The impairment loss allowances are deducted from the ‘Loans and advances to banks’, ‘Loans and advances to customers’ and ‘Loans and receivables securities’ line items on the balance sheet.

i) Retail assets

Retail customers are assessed either individually or collectively for impairment. Potential indicators of loss events which may be evidence of impairment for retail borrowers may include:

 

>

-

missed payments of capital or interest;

>

-

the borrower notifying the Santander UK group of current or likely financial distress;

distress
>

-

request from a borrower to change contractual terms as a result of the borrower’s financial difficulty (i.e. forbearance);

>

contact from a debt management company; and

>-

changes in activity or arrears on other accounts held by the borrower.

Individual assessment

For individually assessed assets, the Santander UK group measures the amount of the loss as the difference between the carrying amount of the asset and the present value of the estimated future cash flows from the asset discounted at the asset’s original effective interest rate.

Collective assessment

In making a collective assessment for impairment, financial assets are grouped together according to their credit risk characteristics. These can include grouping by product, loan-to-value, brand, geography, type of customer and previous insolvency events. For each such portfolio or sub-segment of the portfolio, future cash flows are estimated through the use of historical loss experience. The historical loss experience is adjusted to include the effects of changes in current economic, behavioural and other conditions that cannot be successfully depicted solely from historical experience. The loss is discounted at the effective interest rate, except where portfolios meet the criteria for short-term receivables. The unwind of the discount over time is reported through interest and other similar income within the income statement, with an increase to the impairment loss allowances on the balance sheet. Loans for which evidence of potential loss have been specifically identified are group together for the purpose of calculating an allowance for observed losses. Loans for which no evidence of loss has been specifically identified on an individual basis are grouped together according to their credit risk characteristics for the purpose of calculating an allowance for incurred but nonot observed (‘IBNO’)(IBNO) losses. Such losses will only be individually identified in the future.

Observed impaired loss allowance

An impairment loss allowance for observed losses is established for all non-performing loans which are typically three months or more past due, where it is increasingly probable that some of the capital or interest will not be repaid or recovered through enforcement of any applicable security. The allowance for observed losses is determined on a collective (or ‘portfolio’)portfolio) basis for groups of loans with similar credit risk characteristics.

The length of time before an asseta loan is regarded as beingnon-performing is typically when the customer fails to make payments when contractually due for three months or longer, although there can be additional qualifying criteria depending upon the product. For additional information on the definition of non-performing loans (NPLs), see ‘Credit risk management – risk measurement and control’ in default depends on whether the assetRisk review.

For mortgages and other secured advances, the allowance for observed losses is securedcalculated as the product of the account outstanding balance (exposure) at the reporting date, the estimated proportion that will be repossessed (the loss propensity) and the naturepercentage of exposure which will result in a loss (the loss ratio). The loss propensities for the collateralobserved segment (i.e. where the loan is classified as non-performing) represents the percentage that secureswill ultimately be written off, or repossessed for secured advances. Loss propensities are based on recent historical experience, typically covering a period of no more than the advances. On advances securedmost recent twelve months in the year under review. The loss ratio is based on actual cases which have been repossessed and sold using the most recent twelve month average data, segmented by residential or commercial property,LTV, and is then discounted using the default period is three months. effective interest rate.

For advances secured by consumer goods such as cars or computers, the default period is less than three months, the exact period being dependent on the particular type of loan. On unsecured advances, such as unsecured personal term loans, the default period is generally three months. Exceptions to the general rule exist with respect to revolving facilities, such as bankcredit cards and overdrafts, which are placed on default upon a breach of the contractual terms governing the applicable account.

The allowance for observed losses is calculated as the product of the number of accounts in the portfolio, the estimated proportion of accounts that will be written off, or repossessed in the case of mortgage loans (the ‘loss propensity’), the estimated proportion of such cases that will result in a loss (the ‘loss factor’)loss factor) and the average loss incurred (the ‘lossloss per case’)case).

The loss propensities for the observed segment (i.e. where the loan is classified as non-performing) represents the percentage that will ultimately be written off. Loss propensities are based on recent historical experience, typically covering a period of no more than the most recent twelve months in the year under review.

The loss per case is based on actual cases using the most recent six month average data of losses that have been incurred, during the most recent month for which data is available in the year under review (typically December), and is then discounted using the effective interest rate.

Based on historical experience, the gross loss ratio or gross loss per case is realised in cash several months after the customer first defaults, during which time interest and fees and charges continue to accrue on the account. The future fees and charges included in the gross loss ratio or gross loss per case are removed and the balance discounted so as to calculate the present value of the loss ratio or loss per case. The discounted loss ratio or loss per case for accounts where a payment has already been missed is higher than for accounts that are up to date because the discounting effect is lower reflecting the fact that the process to recover the funds is further advanced.

IBNO impairment loss allowances

An allowance for IBNO losses is established for loans which are either:

 1.-

Performing and no evidence of loss has been specifically identified on an individual basis but because the loans that are not yet past due but are known from past experience to have deteriorated since the initial decision to lend was made (for example, where a borrower has not yet missed a payment but is experiencing financial difficulties at the reporting date, e.g. due to a loss of employment, divorce or bereavement), or

 2.-

In early arrears and not classified as non-performing.

The impairment loss calculation resembles the one explained above for the observed segment except that for the IBNO segment:

>

where-

Where the account is currently up to date, the loss propensity represents the percentage of such cases that are expected to miss a payment in the appropriate emergence period and which will ultimately be written off; and

off
>

where-

Where the account is delinquent, the loss propensity represents the percentage of such cases that will ultimately be written off.

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Financial review

 

 

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Emergence period

This is the period which the Santander UK group’s statistical analysis shows to be the period in which losses that had been incurred but have not been separately identified at the balance sheet date, become evident as the loans turn into past due. The emergence period is taken into consideration when determining the loss propensities for performing IBNO segment. Based on the Santander UK group’s statistical analysis, the emergence period is six months for unsecured lending and twelve months for secured lending. The longer emergence period for secured lending reflects the fact that a customer is more likely to default on unsecured debt before defaulting on secured lending. The factors considered in determining the length of the emergence period for unsecured lending are recent changes in customers’ debit/credit payment profiles and credit scores. The factors considered for secured lending are the frequency and duration of exceptions from adherence to the contractual payment schedule.

ii) Corporate assets

Impairment losses are assessed individually for corporate assets that are individually significant and collectively for corporate assets that are not individually significant.

Individual assessment

At each balance sheet data,date, the Santander UK group conducts impairment reviews to assess whether there is objective evidence of impairment for individually significant corporate assets. A specific observed impairment is established for all individually significant loans that have experienced a loss event such as:as where:

 

>-

where anAn asset has a payment default which has been outstanding for three months or more;

more
>-

where non-paymentNon-payment defaults have occurred but where it has become evident that a forbearance exercise will be undertaken due to the inability of the borrower to meet its current contractual repayment schedule;

schedule
>-

itIt is becoming probable that the borrower will enter bankruptcy or other financial reorganisation;

reorganisation
>-

where theThe borrower has a winding up notice issued or insolvency event;

event
>-

where theThe borrower has had event(s) occur which are likely to adversely impact upon their ability to meet their financial obligations (e.g. where a customer loses a key client or contract);

>-

where theThe borrower has regularly and persistently missed/delayed payments but where the account has been maintained below three months past due;

due
>-

where theThe customer loan is due to mature within six months and where the prospects of achieving a refinancing are considered low.

In such situations the asset is transferred to the Commercial Banking Restructuring & Recoveries team. As part of their impairment reviews, an assessment is undertaken of the expected future cash flows (including, where appropriate, cash flows through enforcement of any applicable security held) in relation to the relevant asset, discounted at the loan’s original effective interest rate. The result is compared to the current carrying value of the asset. Any shortfall evidenced as a result of such a review will be assessed and recorded as an observed specific impairment loss allowance.

Collective assessment

Observed impairment loss allowances

A collective impairment loss allowance is established for loans which are not individually significant and have suffered a loss event. These non-individually significant loans are grouped together according to their credit risk characteristics and the allowance for observed losses is determined on a collective basis by applying loss rates (i.e. estimated loss given default) derived from analysis of historical loss data of observed losses.

IBNO impairment loss allowances

Loans for which no evidence of loss has been specifically identified on an individual basis are grouped together according to their credit risk characteristics for the purpose of calculating an IBNO allowance for incurred inherent losses. Such losses will only be individually identified in the future. As soon as information becomes available which identifies incurred losses on individual loans within the group, those loans are removed from the group and assessed on an individual basis for impairment or included in the observed collective assessment above depending on their individual significance.

The allowance for IBNO losses)losses is determined on a portfolio basis using the following factors:

 

>

historical-

Historical loss experience in portfolios of similar credit risk characteristics (for example, by product);

>

the-

The estimated period between an impairment event occurring and the loss being identified and evidenced by the establishment of an observed loss allowance against the individual loan (known as the emergence period, as discussed below); and

>

management’s-

Management’s judgement as to whether current economic and credit conditions are such that the actual level of incurred inherent losses at the balance sheet date is likely to be greater or less than that suggested by historical experience.

Emergence period

This is the period in which losses that had been incurred but have not been separately identified become evident. The emergence period spans between six to twelve months according to the corporate portfolio being assessed and is estimated having regard to historic experience and loan characteristics across the portfolio. The factors considered in determining the length of the emergence period include the frequency of the management information received or any change in account utilisation behaviour.

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Financial review

iii) Assets subject to forbearance

To support Retail and Corporate customers that encounter actual or apparent financial difficulties, the Santander UK group may grant a concession, whether temporary or permanent, to amend contractual amounts or timings where a customer’s financial distress indicates a potential that satisfactory repayment may not be made within the original terms and conditions of the contract. These arrangements are known as forbearance. There are different risk characteristics associated with loans that are subject to forbearance as compared to loans that are not. A range of forbearance arrangements may be entered into by the Santander UK group, reflecting the different risk characteristics of such loans. The Santander UK group’s forbearance programmes are described in the credit risk section in the Risk Review.

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Retail assets

Mortgages

The main types of forbearance offered are capitalisation, under the forms of payment arrangements,a term extension or an interest only concession, subject to customer negotiation and vetting. SuchThese accounts are classified in the ‘collections’ category and, if they are in arrears, continue to be reported in arrears until the arrears are capitalised, at which point the accounts will be transferred to the ‘performing’ category. However, accounts which were classified as ‘non-performing’ at the point forbearance is agreed continue to be reported as ‘non-performing’ until all arrears priorthe payments received post forbearance equate to the forbearance have been paid.amount of arrears outstanding at the point of forbearance. The impairment provision on these accounts is based on the delinquency cycle in which the account was classified when it entered forbearance, unless the account’s status has further deteriorated since then, in which case the impairment provision will be based on the current status.

The impairment loss allowances on these accounts are calculated in the same manner as on any other account, using the Santander UK group’s collective assessment methodology. In making a collective assessment for impairment, loans thataccounts are subject to forbearance are grouped together according to their credit risk characteristics.

Separate assessments are performed for loans in forbearance that are performing (and have never been in arrears), performing (and previously were in arrears) and non-performing, and for each type of forbearance applied, to reflect their differing risk profiles. The loss propensities are based on recent historical experience of each sub category, typically covering a period of no more than the most recent twelve months in the year under review. For each sub category of loans, in forbearance, theaccounts are individually assigned a loss propensity factorbased on a defined behavioural scorecard which reflects any history of forbearance. The loss propensity applied in the collective assessment calculation is higher for forborne accounts than for other performing loans reflecting the higher risk of default attached to these accounts. Similarly, for each sub category of loans in forbearance the loss factor applied is higher reflecting the higher risk of loss attached to these accounts.

Unsecured personal loans (UPLs)

The main typestype of forbearance offered areis reduced repayments and reduced settlementrepayment arrangements. Where accounts undergoing forbearance are in arrears, these continue to be reported in the delinquency cycle, until all arrears are capitalised or paid up, at which point the accounts will be transferred to the ‘performing’ category. The impairment provision on these accounts is based on the delinquency cycle in which the account was classified when it entered forbearance, unless the account’s status has further deteriorated since then, in which case the impairment provision will be based on the current status. Where the accounts reside in the ‘performing’ category as a result of forbearance, the impairment allowance requirements are based on default probability that take account of the higher inherent risk in the forborne asset relative to other performing assets.

Other unsecured (credit cards &and overdrafts)

The main typestype of forbearance offered areis reduced repayment arrangements and, for credit cards, reduced settlement arrangements. Reduced settlement arrangements have no impact on the provisioning level as the agreed remaining balance is written off at the point of settlement. Reduced payment arrangements are treated for impairment purposes in the same way as UPLs above.

Corporate assets

For corporate borrowers, the main types of forbearance offered are term extensions or interest only concessions and in limited circumstances, other forms of forbearance options (including debt-for-equity swaps), subject to customer negotiation and vetting. If such accounts were classified in the ‘non-performing’ loan category prior to the forbearance, they continue to be classified as non-performing until evidence of compliance with the new terms is demonstrated (typically over a period of at least three months) before being reclassified as ‘substandard’. If the account was categorised as performing at the time the revised arrangements were agreed, the case is reclassified to ‘substandard’ upon completion of the forbearance agreement.

Once a substandard asset has demonstrated continued compliance with the new terms and the risk profile is deemed to have improved it may be reclassified as a ‘performing asset’. Until then, impairment loss allowances for such loans are assessed individually, taking into account the value of collateral held as confirmed by third party professional valuations and the available cash flow to service debt over the period of the forbearance. These impairment loss allowances are assessed and reviewed regularly. In the case of a debt for equity conversion, the converted debt is written off against the existing impairment loss allowance at the point forbearance is granted.

iv) Reversals of impairment

If in a subsequent period, the amount of an impairment loss reduces and the reduction can be related objectively to an event occurring after the impairment was recognised, the excess is written back by reducing the impairment loss allowance accordingly. The write-back is recognised in the income statement.

v) Write-off

For secured loans, a write-off is only made when all collection procedures have been exhausted and the security has been sold or from claiming on any mortgage indemnity guarantee or other insurance. In the corporate portfolio, there may be occasions where a write-off occurs for other reasons, for example, following a consensual restructure or refinancing of the debt or where the debt is sold for strategic reasons into the secondary market at a value lower than the face value of the debt.

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There is no threshold based on past due status beyond which all secured loans are written off as there can be significant variations in the time needed to enforce possession and sale of the security, especially due to the different legal frameworks that apply in different regions of the UK. For unsecured loans, a write-off is only made when all internal avenues of collecting the debt have been exhausted and the debt is passed over to external collection agencies. A past due threshold is applied to unsecured debt where accounts that are 180 days past due are written off unless there is a dispute awaiting resolution. Contact is made with customers with the aim to achieve a realistic and sustainable repayment arrangement. Litigation and/or enforcement of security is usually carried out only when the steps described above have been undertaken without success.

All write-offs are on a case-by-case basis, taking account of the exposure at the date of write-off, after accounting for the value from any collateral or insurance held against the loan. The exception to this is in cases where fraud has occurred, where the exposure is written off once full investigations have been completed and the probability of recovery is minimal. The time span between discovery and write-off will be short and may not result in an impairment loss allowance being raised. The write-off policy is regularly reviewed. Write-offs are charged against previously established impairment loss allowances.

vi) Recoveries

Recoveries of impairment losses are not included in the impairment loss allowance, but are taken to income and offset against impairment losses. Recoveries of impairment losses are classified in the income statement as ‘Impairment losses on loans and advances’.

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

b) Loans and receivables securities

Loans and receivables securities are assessed individually for impairment. An impairment loss is incurred if there is objective evidence that a loss event has occurred since initial recognition of the assets that has an impact on the estimated future cash flows of the loans and receivables securities. Potential indicators of loss events include significant financial distress of the issuer and default or delinquency in interest and principal payments (breach of contractual terms).

Loans and receivables securities are monitored for potential impairment through a detailed expected cash flow analysis taking into account the structure and underlying assets of each individual security. Once specific events give rise to a reasonable expectation that future anticipated cash flows may not be received, the asset originating these doubtful cash flows will be deemed to be impaired with the impairment loss being measured as the difference between the expected future cash flows discounted at the original effective interest rate and the carrying value of the loans and receivable securities.

c) Available-for-sale financial assets

The Santander UK group assesses at each balance sheet date whether there is objective evidence that aan available-for-sale financial asset is impaired. In addition to the criteria for loans and advances and loans and receivables securities set out above, the assessment involves reviewing the financial circumstances (including creditworthiness) and future prospects of the issuer, assessing the future cash flows expected to be realised and, in the case of equity shares, considering whether assets are impaired,there has been a significant or prolonged decline in the fair value of the security below its cost is considered evidence.cost. The cumulative loss is measured as the difference between the acquisition cost and the current fair value, less any impairment loss previously reported in the income statement and is removed from other comprehensive income and recognised in the income statement. For impaired debt instruments, further impairment losses are recognised where there has been a further negative impact on expected future cash flows.

If, in a subsequent period, the fair value of a debt instrument classified as available-for-sale increases and the increase is due to an event occurring after the impairment loss was recognised in the income statement (with objective evidence to support this), the impairment loss is reversed through the income statement.

If, in a subsequent period, the fair value of an equity instrument classified as available-for-sale increases, all such increases in the fair value are treated as a revaluation, and are recognised in other comprehensive income. Impairment losses recognised on equity instruments are not reversed through the income statement.

Impairment of non-financial assets

At each balance sheet date, or more frequently when events or changes in circumstances dictate, property plant and equipment (including operating lease assets) and intangible assets (including goodwill) are assessed for indicators of impairment. If indications are present, these assets are subject to an impairment review.

The impairment review comprises a comparison of the carrying amount of the asset or cash generating unit with its recoverable amount: the higher of the asset’s or cash-generating unit’s fair value less costs to sell and its value in use. The cash-generating unit represents the lowest level at which non-financial assets including goodwill is monitored for internal management purposes and is not larger than an operating segment.

The fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Value in use is calculated by discounting management’s expected future cash flows obtainable as a result of the asset’s continued use, including those resulting from its ultimate disposal, at a market based discount rate on a pre tax basis. The recoverable amounts of goodwill have been based on value in use calculations.

The carrying values of property, plant and equipment, goodwill and other intangible assets are written down by the amount of any impairment and the loss is recognised in the income statement in the period in which it occurs. A previously recognised impairment loss relating to property, plant and equipment may be reversed in part or in full when a change in circumstances leads to a change in the estimates used to determine the property, plant and equipment’s recoverable amount. The carrying amount of the property, plant and equipment will only be increased up to the amount that would have been had the original impairment not been recognised. Impairment losses on goodwill are not reversed. For conducting goodwill impairment reviews, cash generating units are the lowest level at which management monitors the return on investment on assets.

Leases

a) The Santander UK group as lessor

Operating lease assets are recorded at cost and depreciated over the life of the asset after taking into account anticipated residual values. Operating lease rental income and depreciation is recognised on a straight-line basis over the life of the asset. Amounts due from lessees under finance leases and hire purchase contracts are recorded as receivables at the amount of the Santander UK group’s net investment in the leases. Finance lease income is allocated to accounting periods so as to reflect a constant periodic rate of return on the Santander UK group’s net investment outstanding in respect of the leases and hire purchase contracts.

Annual Report 2014241


Financial review

b) The Santander UK group as lessee

The Santander UK group enters into operating leases for the rental of equipment or real estate. Payments made under such leases are charged to the income statement on a straight-line basis over the period of the lease. When an operating lease is terminated before the lease period has expired, any payment to be made to the lessor by way of penalty is recognised as an expense in the period in which termination takes place.

If the lease agreement transfers the risk and rewards of the asset, the lease is recorded as a finance lease and the related asset is capitalised. At inception, the asset is recorded at the lower of the present value of the minimum lease payments or fair value and depreciated over the lower of the estimated useful life and the life of the lease. The corresponding rental obligations are recorded as borrowings. The aggregate benefit of incentives, if any, is recognised as a reduction of rental expense over the lease term on a straight-line basis.

220  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

Income taxes, including deferred taxes

The tax expense represents the sum of the income tax currently payable and deferred income tax.

Income tax payable on profits, based on the applicable tax law in each jurisdiction, is recognised as an expense in the period in which profits arise. Taxable profit differs from net profit as reported in the income statement because it excludes items of income or expense that are taxable or deductible in other years and it further excludes items that are never taxable or deductible. The liability for current tax is calculated using tax rates that have been enacted or substantively enacted by the balance sheet date. Current taxes associated with the repurchase of equity instruments are reported directly in equity.

Deferred income tax is the tax expected to be payable or recoverable on income tax losses available to carry forward and on temporary differences arising between the tax bases of assets and liabilities and their carrying amounts in the Consolidated Financial Statements and is accounted for using the balance sheet liability method. Deferred tax liabilities are generally recognised for all taxable temporary differences and deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that taxable profits will be available against which the assets may be utilised as they reverse. Such deferred tax liabilities are not recognised if the temporary difference arises from the initial recognition of goodwill. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are not recognised from the initial recognition of other assets (other than in a business combination) and liabilities in a transaction that affects neither the taxable profit nor the accounting profit.

Deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset is realised based on rates enacted or substantively enacted at the balance sheet date. Deferred tax is charged or credited in the income statement, except when it relates to items recognised in other comprehensive income or directly in equity, in which case the deferred tax is also recognised in other comprehensive income or directly in equity. Deferred tax liabilities are recognised for taxable temporary differences arising on investments in subsidiaries except where the Santander UK group is able to control reversal of the temporary difference and it is probable that it will not reverse in the foreseeable future. The Santander UK group reviews the carrying amount of deferred tax assets at each balance sheet date and reduces it to the extent that it is no longer probable that sufficient taxable profits will be available to allow all or part of the asset to be recovered.

Deferred tax relating to actuarial gains and losses on defined benefits is recognised in other comprehensive income. Deferred tax relating to fair value re-measurements of available-for sale investments and cash flow hedging instruments is charged or credited directly to other comprehensive income and is subsequently recognised in the income statement when the deferred fair value gain or loss is recognised in the income statement.

Deferred and current tax assets and liabilities are only offset when they arise in the same tax reporting group and where there is both the legal right and the intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

Cash and cash equivalents

For the purposes of the cash flow statement, cash and cash equivalents comprise balances with less than three months maturity from the date of acquisition, including cash and non-restricted balances with central banks, treasury bills and other eligible bills, loans and advances to banks and short-term investments in securities.

Balances with central banks represent amounts held at the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve as part of the Santander UK group’s liquidity management activities. In addition, it includes certain minimum cash balances held for regulatory purposes required to be maintained with the Bank of England.

Provisions

Provisions are recognised for present obligations arising as consequences of past events where it is more likely than not that a transfer of economic benefits will be necessary to settle the obligation, and it can be reliably estimated.

Conduct provisions are made for the estimated cost of making redress payments with respect to the past sales of products, based on conclusions regarding the number of claims that will be received, including the number of those that will be upheld, the estimated average settlement per case and other related costs. Provision is made for the anticipated cost of restructuring, including redundancy costs, when an obligation exists. An obligation exists when the Santander UK group has a detailed formal plan for restructuring a business, has raised valid expectations in those affected by the restructuring, and has started to implement the plan or announce its main features.

When a leasehold property ceases to be used in the business, provision is made where the unavoidable costs of the future obligations relating to the lease are expected to exceed anticipated rental income. The net costs are discounted using market rates of interest to reflect the long-term nature of the cash flows.

Provision is made for irrevocable loan commitments, other than those classified as held for trading, within impairment loss allowances if it is probable that the facility will be drawn and the resulting loan will be recognised at a value less than the cash advanced.

Contingent liabilities are possible obligations whose existence will be confirmed only by certain future events or present obligations where the transfer of economic benefit is uncertain or cannot be reliably measured. Contingent liabilities are not recognised but are disclosed unless they are remote.

Financial guarantee contracts

Financial guarantee contracts are contracts that require the issuer to make specified payments to reimburse the holder for a loss it incurs because a specified debtor fails to make payments when due in accordance with the terms of a debt instrument. The Santander UK group accounts for guarantees that meet the definition of a financial guarantee contract at fair value on initial recognition. In subsequent periods, these guarantees are measured at the higher of the initial fair value less cumulative amortisation and the amount that would be recognised as a provision in accordance with IAS 37.

Share capital

a) Share issue costs

Incremental external costs directly attributable to the issue of new shares are deducted from equity net of related income taxes.

b) Dividends

Dividends on ordinary shares are recognised in equity in the period in which the right to receive payment is established.

Annual Report 2015

Financial review

 

 

242Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements

 

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND AREAS OF SIGNIFICANT MANAGEMENT JUDGEMENT

The preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements requires management to make estimates and judgements that affect the reported amount of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statementsConsolidated Financial Statements and the reported amount of income and expenses during the reporting period. Management evaluates its estimates and judgements on an ongoing basis. Management bases its estimates and judgements on historical experience and on various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

The following accounting estimates and judgements are considered important to the portrayal of the Santander UK group’s financial results and financial condition because: (i) they are highly susceptible to change from period to period as assumptions are made to calculate the estimates, and (ii) any significant difference between the estimated amounts and actual amounts could have a material impact on the Santander UK group’s future financial results and financial condition.

In calculating each estimate, a range of outcomes was calculated based principally on management’s conclusions regarding the input assumptions relative to historic experience. The actual estimates were based on what management concluded to be the most probable assumptions within the range of reasonably possible assumptions.

Valuation of financial instruments and goodwill impairment are no longer considered to be significant management judgements. In respect of financial instruments held at fair value, valuation techniques have remained constant and there would need to be a significant change in the input to fair value adjustments to cause a material misstatement. In respect of goodwill impairment, management expects the underlying businesses to which the goodwill relates to remain profitable and does not believe that the effect of changes in assumptions to those that are reasonably possible would have a material impact on the Santander UK group’s future financial results and financial condition.

a) Impairment loss allowances for loans and advances to customers

The Santander UK group estimates impairment losses for loans and advances to customers, loans and receivables securities, and loans and advances to banks as described in the accounting policy ‘Impairment of financial assets’. Management’s assumptions about impairment losses are based on past performance, past customer behaviour, the credit quality of recent underwritten business and general economic conditions, which are not necessarily an indication of future losses.

At 31 December 2014,2015, impairment allowances held against loans and advances to customers totalled £1,157m (2014: £1,439m, (2013: £1,555m, 2012: £1,802m)2013: £1,555m). The net impairment loss (i.e. after recoveries) for loans and advances to customers recognised in 20142015 was £66m (2014: £258m, (2013: £475m, 2012: £988m)2013: £475m). In calculating impairment loss allowances, a range of outcomes was calculated, either for each individual loan or by portfolio taking account of the uncertainty relating to economic conditions. For retail lending, the range was based on different management assumptions as to loss propensity loss factor and loss per caseratio relative to historic experience. For corporate lending, the range reflects different realisation assumptions in respect of collateral held.

If management had used different assumptions, a larger or smaller impairment loss allowance would have resulted that could have had a material impact on the Santander UK group’s reported profit before tax. Specifically, if management’s conclusions were different, but within the range of what management deemed to be reasonably possible, the impairment loss for loans and advances could have decreased by £221m (2014: £471m, (2013: £325m, 2012: £165m)2013: £325m), with a consequential increase in profit before tax, or increased by £167m (2014: £212m, (2013: £135m, 2012: £104m)2013: £135m), with a consequential decrease in profit before tax. Of the possible decrease in the impairment loss allowance for loans and advances to customers in 2014, £116m represents the amount that the impairment loss allowance would have decreased by had management incorporated the full effect of house price increases in that year. In determining the actual charge for

During the year, management consideredenhanced the models that are used to calculate the positive trends in 2014 house prices were unlikely to continue and, therefore, excluded their effect when assessing the level of loss propensities.

b) Valuation of financial instruments

The Santander UK group trades in a wide variety of financial instruments in the major financial markets. When estimating the value of its financial instruments, including derivatives where quoted market pricesmortgage provision. These changes, which are not available, management therefore considers a range of interest rates, volatility, exchange rates, counterparty credit ratings, valuation adjustments and other similar inputs, all of which vary across maturity bands. These are chosen to best reflect the particular characteristics of each transaction baseddiscussed on observable inputs and adjustment to these inputs for Level 2 instruments or unobservable inputs for Level 3 instruments. See Note 44 for further details.

Had management used different assumptions, a larger or smaller change in the valuation of financial instruments including derivatives where quoted market prices are not available would have resulted that could have had a material impact on the Santander UK group’s reported profit before tax.

Detailed disclosures on financial instruments, including sensitivities, can be found in Note 44. Further information about sensitivities to market risk (including VaR) arising from financial instrument trading activities can be found in the Market Risk sectionpage 65 of the Risk Review.review, significantly reduced the number and scale of model overlays that were required when applying the old models. There was no significant change to the mortgage provision under the new models as compared to the adjusted old models.

c) Goodwill impairment

No goodwill impairment was recognised in 2014, 2013 or 2012. The carrying amount of goodwill was £1,834m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £1,834m). The Santander UK group evaluates whether the carrying value of goodwill is impaired and performs impairment testing annually or more frequently if there are impairment indicators present. Details of the Santander UK group’s approach to identifying and quantifying impairment of goodwill are set out in Note 24. Assumptions about the measurement of the estimated recoverable amount of goodwill are based on management’s estimates of future cash flows, discount rates and growth rates of the cash-generating units. Assumptions about estimated future cash flows and growth rates are based on management’s view of future business prospects at the time of the assessment and are subject to a high degree of uncertainty.

Had management used different assumptions, a larger or smaller goodwill impairment loss would have resulted that could have had a material impact on the Santander UK group’s reported profit before tax. Detailed disclosures on the assumptions used, including sensitivities, can be found in Note 24.

Annual Report 2014243


Financial review

d)b) Provision for conduct remediation

The provision charge for conduct remediation relating to past activities and products sold recognised in 20142015 was a charge of £500m (2014: charge of £140m, (2013:2013: credit of £45m, 2012: charge of £232m)£45m) before tax. The balance sheet provision amounted to £637m (2014: £291m, (2013: £387m, 2012: £658m)2013: £387m). Detailed disclosures on the provision for conduct remediation can be found in Note 35.33.

The provision represents management’s best estimate of the anticipated costs of related customer contact and/or redress, including related costs. It requires significant judgement by management in determining appropriate assumptions, which include the level of complaints expected to be received, of those, the number that will be upheld and redressed, as well as the redress costs for each of the different populations of customers identified. Based on these factors, management determines its best estimate of the anticipated costs of redress and expected operating costs.

In the case of conduct risk projects where significant progress has been made in terms of customer communications sent, complaints received and redress paid, the assumptions are based on the actual data observed to date along with any expected developments. For projects which are still at an early stage, the assumptions are based on the outcomes of previous similar customer contact exercises conducted and quality control checks.

Had management used different assumptions, a larger or smaller provision charge would have resulted that could have had a material impact on the Santander UK group’s reported profit before tax. Detailed disclosures on the assumptions used, including sensitivities, can be found in Note 35.33.

e)c) Pensions

The Santander UK group operates a number of defined benefit pension schemes as described in Note 3634 and estimates their position as described in the accounting policy ‘Pensions and other post retirement benefits’.

The defined benefit pension schemes which were in a net asset position had a surplus of £315m (2013:£556m (2014: surplus of £118m)£315m) and the defined benefit pension schemes which were in a net liability position had a deficit of £199m (2013:£110m (2014: deficit of £672m)£199m).

Accounting for defined benefit pension schemes requires management to make assumptions, principally about mortality, but also about price inflation, discount rates, pension increases, and earnings growth. Management’s assumptions are based on past experience and current economic trends, which are not necessarily an indication of future experience.

Detailed disclosures on the current year service cost and deficit, including sensitivities and the date of the last formal actuarial valuations of the assets and liabilities of the schemes can be found in Note 36.

34.

 

 

244Santander UK plc

222  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

2. SEGMENTS

The principal activity of the Santander UK group is financial services. The Santander UK group’s business is managed and reported on the basis of the following segments:

 

>-

Retail Banking;

Banking
>-

Commercial Banking;

Banking
>-

Global Corporate Banking (formerly known as Corporate & Institutional Banking; and

Banking)
>-

Corporate Centre.

FollowingAs part of a strategic review,rebrand across the segmental financial information reportedBanco Santander group, Corporate & Institutional Banking (the UK segment of Santander Global Banking & Markets) has been branded as Global Corporate Banking, to reflect the Board (Santander UK’s chief operating decision maker)build out of a corporate client franchise, and the refinement of the customer centred strategy.

The internal UK transfer pricing mechanism used to calculate the cost and risks associated with funding and liquidity in each business segment was revisedrefined in the fourth quarter of 2014, and prior periods restated, principally to designate three distinct customer business segments, which reflect how we now manage and operate:2015 for Retail Banking, Commercial Banking and Corporate & Institutional Banking;Centre to reflect the current market environment and allocate indirect income, expenses and charges previously held at the Corporate Centre, which can be attributed to the other customer segments. This included a review of the internal transfer pricing policy, which resulted in a further allocation of funding and liquidity costs, central operating expenses and other provisions such as conduct, branch de-duplication, the UK Bank Levy and FSCS charges.

With the allocation of indirect income, expenses and charges from the Corporate Centre and with the other distinct customer business segments at differing stages of commercial maturity, we are now able to identify better and drive with greater granularity the key drivers of our business performance. This enables a more targeted apportionment of capital and other resources in line with the individual strategies and objectives of each business segment.rates. The segmental analyses for prior yearsRetail Banking and Corporate Centre have been adjusted to reflect these changes.changes for prior years.

The Santander UK group’s segments are strategic business units that offer different products and services. They are managed separately because each business requires different technology and marketing strategies. The Santander UK group has four segments:

 

>-

Retail Banking business activities remain broadly unchanged, offeringoffers a wide range of products and financial services to individuals and small businesses (with a turnover up to £250,000 per annum)less than two directors, owners or partners), through a network of branches and ATMs, as well as through telephony, e-commercedigital, mobile and intermediary channels. It principally serves personal banking customers, but also services small businesses with an annual turnover of up to £250,000. Retail Banking also includes Santander Consumer Finance, predominantly a vehicle finance business. Its main products includeare residential mortgage loans, savings and current accounts, credit cards (excluding the co-brand creditco-branded cards business) and personal loans as well as a range of insurance products.

policies.

 

>-

Commercial Banking provides bankingoffers a wide range of products and financial services to companies with a turnover of between £250,000 and £500m per annum through our enhanced platform, distribution capability and product suitecustomers through a network of regional business centresCBCs and through telephony and e-commerce channels,digital channels. The management of our customers is organised according to their annual turnover (£250,000 to £50m for SMEs, and commercial real estate£50m to £500m for mid corporates), enabling us to offer a differentiated service to SMEs and Social Housing.mid corporate customers. Commercial Banking products and services include loans, bank accounts, deposits, treasury services, invoice discounting, cash transmission, trade finance and asset finance.

Commercial Banking also includes specialist commercial real estate and Social Housing lending businesses.

 

>-

Global Corporate & Institutional Banking is aservices corporate clients and financial markets business focused on providing value addedinstitutions that, because of their size, complexity or sophistication, require specially-tailored services or value-added wholesale products. It offers risk management and other value-added financial services to large corporates with an annuala turnover above £500m per annum, and financial institutions, where they can be best serviced in terms of their more specialised and tailored product needs, and benefit from the Banco Santander group’s global capability. It also servesas well as to the rest of Santander UK’s business (including the Retail Bankingbusinesses. The main businesses areas include: working capital management (trade and Commercial Banking divisions). It is structured into five main product areas: Rates, Foreign exchangeexport finance and money markets, Equity, Credit and Transaction Banking. In addition, large and complex clients are covered by teams organised along industry lines. Rates covers sales and trading activity for fixed income products. Foreign exchange offers a range of foreign exchange products and money markets runs securities lending/borrowing and repo businesses. Equity covers equity derivatives, property derivatives and commodities. Equity derivatives activities include the manufacture of structured products sold to retailcash management), financing (Debt Capital Markets, and corporate customers of both Santander UK and of other financial institutions who sell them on to their customers. Credit originates loanspecialised lending) and bond transactions in primary markets as well as their intermediation in secondary markets. Transaction Banking provides lendingrisk management (foreign exchange, rates and cash management services, including deposit taking and trade finance.

liability management).

 

>-

Corporate Centre predominantly consists of the non-core corporate and treasury legacy portfolios, mark-to-market gains/losses arising from banking book activities and residual term mismatches. It includes Financial Management & Investor Relations (‘FMIR’) and the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios, as well as the co-brand credit cards business sold in 2013 which has been presented as discontinued operations. FMIRportfolios. Corporate Centre is also responsible for managing capital and funding, balance sheet composition and structure and strategic liquidity risk for the Santander UK group.risk. The non-core corporate and treasury legacy portfolios include aviation, shipping, infrastructure, commercial mortgages, Social Housing loans and structured credit assets, all of which are being run-down and/or managed for value.

In addition, the co-brand credit cards business sold in 2013 was managed in Corporate Centre prior to its sale and presented as discontinued operations.

The segment information below is presented on the basis used by the Board to evaluate performance and allocate resources. The Board reviews discrete financial information for each segment of the business, including measures of operating results, assets and liabilities. The segment information reviewed by the Board is prepared on a statutory basis of accounting.

Transactions between the business segments are on normal commercial terms and conditions. The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those described in the summary of significant accounting policies. Internal charges and internal UK transfer pricing adjustments have been reflected in the performance of each segment. Revenue sharing agreements are used to allocate external customer revenues to a business segment on a reasonable basis. Funds are ordinarily reallocated between segments, resulting in funding cost transfers disclosed in operating income. Interest charged for these funds is based on the Santander UK group’s cost of wholesale funding.

Interest income and interest expense have not been reported separately. The majority of the revenues from the segments presented below are interest income in nature and the Board relies primarily on net interest income to both assess the performance of the segment and to make decisions regarding allocation of segmental resources.

 

 

Annual Report 2014245


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

 

2014

Retail

Banking

£m

 

Commercial
Banking

£m

 

Corporate &
Institutional
Banking

£m

 

Corporate

Centre

£m

 

Total

£m

 

Net interest income/(expense)

 3,092   373   75   (106)   3,434  
2015    

Retail

Banking

£m

     

Commercial

Banking

£m

     

Global Corporate
Banking

£m

     

Corporate

Centre

£m

     

Total

£m

 

Net interest income

     2,985       460       72       58       3,575  

Non-interest income

 560   112   277   87   1,036       521       109       307       61       998  

Total operating income/(expense)

 3,652   485   352   (19)   4,470  

Administration (expenses)/recoveries

 (1,543)   (260)   (231)   119   (1,915)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (210)   (60)   (6)   (206)   (482)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (1,753)   (320)   (237)   (87)   (2,397)  

Total operating income

     3,506       569       379       119       4,573  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and (charges/(releases)

     (1,783)       (332)       (287)       2       (2,400)  

Impairment (losses)/releases on loans and advances

 (187)   (92)   4   17   (258)       (76)       (39)       13       36       (66)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (395)   (12)   (9)   -   (416)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (582)   (104)   (5)   17   (674)  

Profit/(loss) from continuing operations before tax

 1,317   61   110   (89)   1,399  

Loss from discontinued operations after tax

 -   -   -   -   -  

Provisions for other liabilities and (charges)/releases

     (727)       (24)       (14)       3       (762)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and (charges)/releases

     (803)       (63)       (1)       39       (828)  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

     920       174       91       160       1,345  

Revenue from external customers

 4,595   674   405   (1,204)   4,470       4,435       720       437       (1,019)       4,573  

Inter-segment revenue

 (943)   (189)   (53)   1,185   -       (929)       (151)       (58)       1,138       -  

Total operating income/(expense)

 3,652   485   352   (19)   4,470  

Total operating income

     3,506       569       379       119       4,573  

Customer loans

 158,515   18,637   5,224   8,276   190,652       164,830       20,943       5,470       7,391       198,634  

Total assets(1)

 163,430   18,637   38,301   55,609   275,977       171,847       20,943       36,593       52,023       281,406  

Customer deposits

 129,584   15,327   2,325   5,174   152,410       137,332       18,102       3,013       3,808       162,255  

Total liabilities

 132,541   15,327   36,359   77,557   261,784       140,131       18,102       32,290       75,224       265,747  

Average number of staff(2)

 17,564   1,834   709   156   20,263       17,495       2,005       898       7       20,405  
2013(3)            
2014                                   

Net interest income

     2,947       373       75       39       3,434  

Non-interest income

     560       89       300       87       1,036  

Total operating income

     3,507       462       375       126       4,470  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (1,753)       (297)       (260)       (87)       (2,397)  

Impairment (losses)/releases on loans and advances

     (187)       (92)       4       17       (258)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

     (395)       (12)       (9)       -       (416)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and (charges)/releases

     (582)       (104)       (5)       17       (674)  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

     1,172       61       110       56       1,399  

Revenue from external customers

     4,537       620       432       (1,119)       4,470  

Inter-segment revenue

     (1,030)       (158)       (57)       1,245       -  

Total operating income

     3,507       462       375       126       4,470  

Customer loans

     158,515       18,637       5,224       8,276       190,652  

Total assets(1)

     163,430       18,637       38,301       55,609       275,977  

Customer deposits

     129,584       15,327       2,325       5,174       152,410  

Total liabilities

     132,541       15,327       36,359       77,557       261,784  

Average number of staff(2)

     17,682       1,849       724       8       20,263  
2013                                   

Net interest income/(expense)

 2,738   284   65   (124)   2,963       2,663       284       65       (49)       2,963  

Non-interest income

 599   113   280   74   1,066       599       91       302       74       1,066  

Total operating income/(expense)

 3,337   397   345   (50)   4,029  

Administration expenses

 (1,555)   (231)   (160)   (1)   (1,947)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (195)   (49)   (4)   -   (248)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (1,750)   (280)   (164)   (1)   (2,195)  

Total operating income

     3,262       375       367       25       4,029  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (1,750)       (258)       (186)       (1)       (2,195)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

 (359)   (107)   -   (9)   (475)       (359)       (107)       -       (9)       (475)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (226)   (17)   (7)   -   (250)       (226)       (17)       (7)       -       (250)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (585)   (124)   (7)   (9)   (725)       (585)       (124)       (7)       (9)       (725)  

Profit/(loss) from continuing operations before tax

 1,002   (7)   174   (60)   1,109       927       (7)       174       15       1,109  

Loss from discontinued operations after tax

 -   -   -   (8)   (8)       -       -       -       (8)       (8)  

Revenue from external customers

 4,546   532   386   (1,435)   4,029       4,488       487       408       (1,354)       4,029  

Inter-segment revenue

 (1,209)   (135)   (41)   1,385   -       (1,226)       (112)       (41)       1,379       -  

Total operating income/(expense)

 3,337   397   345   (50)   4,029  

Total operating income

     3,262       375       367       25       4,029  

Customer loans

 155,613   16,933   5,142   9,360   187,048       155,613       16,933       5,142       9,360       187,048  

Total assets(1)

 160,512   16,934   37,851   54,989   270,286       160,512       16,934       37,851       54,989       270,286  

Customer deposits

 123,189   13,788   2,637   6,830   146,444       123,189       13,788       2,637       6,830       146,444  

Total liabilities

 128,106   13,838   35,797   79,955   257,696       128,106       13,838       35,797       79,955       257,696  

Average number of staff(2)

 17,764   1,525   615   160   20,064       17,779       1,587       692       8       20,066  
(1)

Includes customer loans, net of impairment loss allowances.

(2)

Full-time equivalents.

(3)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

246Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements

    2012(3)

Retail

Banking

£m

 

Commercial
Banking

£m

 

Corporate &
Institutional
Banking

£m

 

Corporate
Centre

£m

 

Total

£m

 

Net interest income/(expense)

 2,519   228   29   (42)   2,734  

Non-interest income

 632   179   417   721   1,949  

Total operating income

 3,151   407   446   679   4,683  

Administration expenses

 (1,504)   (187)   (180)   (2)   (1,873)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (192)   (45)   (4)   -   (241)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (1,696)   (232)   (184)   (2)   (2,114)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

 (420)   (109)   -   (459)   (988)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (312)   (47)   (8)   (62)   (429)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (732)   (156)   (8)   (521)   (1,417)  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

 723   19   254   156   1,152  

Profit from discontinued operations after tax

 -   -   -   62   62  

Revenue from external customers

 4,174   883   501   (875)   4,683  

Inter-segment revenue

 (1,023)   (476)   (55)   1,554   -  

Total operating income

 3,151   407   446   679   4,683  

Customer loans

 164,126   15,390   4,215   11,002   194,733  

Total assets(1)

 168,305   15,390   48,373   60,950   293,018  

Customer deposits

 127,178   10,464   2,348   8,582   148,572  

Total liabilities

 128,404   10,464   42,263   98,845   279,976  

Average number of staff(2)

 18,264   1,872   646   165   20,947  
(1)

Includes customer loans, net of impairment loss allowances.

(2)

Full-time equivalents.

(3)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

Revenue by products and services

Details of revenue by product or service are disclosed in Notes 3 to 5.

Geographical information

A geographical analysis of total operating income is presented below:

 Group 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

United Kingdom

 4,437   3,988   4,640  

Other

 33   41   43  
  4,470   4,029   4,683  

A geographical analysis of total assets other than financial instruments, current and deferred tax assets and post-employment benefit assets is presented below:

 

  

     

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

United Kingdom

 3,913   3,936  

Other

    3   2  
           3,916         3,938  

Geographical analysis of total operating income:    

        2015

£m

     

        2014

£m

     

        2013

£m

 

United Kingdom

     4,561       4,437       3,988  

Other

     12       33       41  
      4,573       4,470       4,029  

Geographical analysis of total assets other than financial instruments, current and deferred tax assets, post-employment

benefit assets and other assets (excluding prepayments):

           

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

United Kingdom

         3,963       3,913  

Other

            -       3  
             3,963       3,916  

 

 

224  Santander UK plc


Annual Report 2014247
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financial statements    


Financial statements

 

3. NET INTEREST INCOME

 

Group     Group 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Interest and similar income:

            

Loans and advances to banks

 141   150   177       115       141       150  

Loans and advances to customers

 6,548   6,940   7,177       6,491       6,548       6,940  

Other interest-earning financial assets

 108   80   78       89       108       80  

Total interest and similar income

 6,797   7,170   7,432       6,695       6,797       7,170  

Interest expense and similar charges:

            

Deposits by banks

 (81)   (188)   (187)       (63)       (81)       (188)  

Deposits by customers

 (2,072)   (2,658)   (2,924)       (1,979)       (2,072)       (2,658)  

Debt securities in issue

 (1,032)   (1,230)   (1,399)       (926)       (1,032)       (1,230)  

Subordinated liabilities

 (151)   (106)   (174)       (138)       (151)       (106)  

Other interest-bearing financial liabilities

 (27)   (25)   (14)       (14)       (27)       (25)  

Total interest expense and similar charges

 (3,363)   (4,207)   (4,698)       (3,120)       (3,363)       (4,207)  

Net interest income

 3,434   2,963   2,734       3,575       3,434       2,963  

Interest and similar income includes £81m (2014: £103m, 2013: £115m) on impaired loans.

4. NET FEE AND COMMISSION INCOME

 

Group     Group 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Fee and commission income:

            

Retail and corporate products

 960   894   861       1,043       1,021       966  

Insurance products

 74   92   135       72       74       92  

Asset management

 61   72   90  

Total fee and commission income

 1,095   1,058   1,086       1,115       1,095       1,058  

Fee and commission expense:

            

Other fees paid

 (356)   (300)   (225)       (400)       (356)       (300)  

Total fee and commission expense

 (356)   (300)   (225)       (400)       (356)       (300)  

Net fee and commission income

 739   758   861       715       739       758  

5. NET TRADING AND OTHER INCOME

 

Group     Group 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Net trading and funding of other items by the trading book

 310   247   513       252       310       247  

Net income from operating lease assets

 42   42   54       46       42       42  

Net gains on assets designated at fair value through profit or loss

 267   43   271       33       267       43  

Net losses on liabilities designated at fair value through profit or loss

 (123)   (139)   (180)       (65)       (123)       (139)  

Net (losses)/gains on derivatives managed with assets/liabilities held at fair value through profit or loss

 (203)   155   (439)  

Net share of profit/(loss) from associates and joint ventures

 6   4   (4)  

Net gains/(losses) on derivatives managed with assets/liabilities held at fair value through profit or loss

     26       (203)       155  

Net share of profit from associates and joint ventures

     10       6       4  

Net profit on sale of available-for-sale assets

 4   46   24       2       4       46  

Net gains/(losses) on sale of property, plant and equipment and intangible fixed assets

 2   (2)   -  

Net (losses)/gains on sale of property, plant and equipment and intangible fixed assets

     (4)       2       (2)  

Hedge ineffectiveness and other

 (8)   (121)   144       (17)       (8)       (121)  

Profit on repurchase of debt issuance

 -   33   705       -       -       33  
 297   308   1,088       283       297       308  

‘Net trading and funding of other items by the trading book’ includes fair value losses of £5m (2014: £22m, (2013: £58m, 2012: £149m)2013: £58m) on embedded derivatives bifurcated from certain equity index-linked deposits, as described in the derivative financial instruments section of the Accounting Policies.derivatives accounting policy in Note 1. The embedded derivatives are economically hedged internally with the equity derivatives trading desk. These transactions are managed as part of the overall positions of the equity derivatives trading desk, the results of which are also included in this line item, and amounted to gains of £7m (2014: £24m, (2013: £59m, 2012: £150m)2013: £59m). As a result, the net fair value movements recognised on the equity index-linked deposits and the related economic hedges were net gains of £2m (2013: £1m, 2012:(2014: £2m, 2013: £1m).

In July 2012,June 2015, as part of a capital management exercise, Santander UK plc purchased certain of its debt capital instruments pursuant to a tender offer. The netThis had no significant impact ofon the purchase and crystallisation of mark-to-market positions on associated derivatives resulted in a pre-tax gain of £705m.income statement. A further but smallersimilar capital management exercise was carried out in 2013, generating a pre-tax gain of £33m.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

248Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements

 

6. ADMINISTRATIONOPERATING EXPENSES BEFORE IMPAIRMENT LOSSES, PROVISIONS AND CHARGES

 

Group                   Group 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Staff costs:

            

Wages and salaries

 689   631   643       723       689       631  

Performance-related payments: - cash

 147   124   131       142       147       124  

- shares

 22   16   19       21       22       16  

Social security costs

 90   78   82       92       90       78  

Pensions costs: - defined contribution plans

 52   38   34       50       52       38  

- defined benefit plans:

            

- past service credit

 (230)   -   -       2       (230)       -  

- other

 26   29   29       27       26       29  

Other share-based payments

 6   5   1       (5)       6       5  

Other personnel costs

 58   57   52       63       58       57  
 860   978   991       1,115       860       978  

Other administration expenses:

            

Information technology expenses

     351       430       418  

Property, plant and equipment expenses

 189   177   179       176       189       177  

Information technology expenses

 430   418   341  

Other administration expenses

 436   374   362  

Other

     463       436       374  
 1,915           1,947           1,873       2,105       1,915       1,947  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment:

            

Depreciation and impairment of property, plant and equipment

     254       221       198  

Amortisation and impairment of intangible assets

     41       261       50  
     295       482       248  
     2,400       2,397       2,195  

During the year,In 2014, a net gain of £218m arose as a result of scheme changes that limit future defined benefit pension entitlements and provide for the longer term sustainability of our staff pension arrangement, as set out in Note 36.34. The net gain comprised a past service credit of £230m, partially offset by a one-off contribution to the defined contribution scheme for affected members of £10m, both classified in pensions costs, and implementation costs of £2m classified in other administration expenses.

’Performance-related‘Performance-related payments – shares’ consist of bonuses paid in the form of shares and awards granted under the Long-Term Incentive Plan, as described in Note 41.40. Included in ’performance-related payments – shares’ is £21m (2014: £22m, (2013: £16m, 2012: £19m)2013: £16m) which arose from equity-settled share-based payments, none of which related to option-based schemes. ’Other share-based payments’ consist of options granted under the Employee Sharesave scheme, as described in Note 41,40, which comprise the Santander UK group’s cash-settled share-based payments.

Performance-related payments above include amounts related to deferred performance awards as follows:

 

Costs recognised in 2014  Costs expected to be recognised in 2015 or later     Costs recognised in 2015        Costs expected to be recognised in 2016 or later 

Arising from awards

in current year

 

Arising from awards

in prior year

 Total  

Arising from awards

in current year

 

Arising from awards

in prior year

 Total     

Arising from awards

in current year

     

Arising from awards

in prior year

     Total        

Arising from awards

in current year

     

Arising from awards

in prior year

     Total 
£m £m £m  £m £m £m     £m     £m     £m       £m     £m     £m 

Cash

 6   8   14   12   6   18       4       12       16         8       7       15  

Shares

 5   6   11   12   3   15       5       7       12         11       6       17  
 11   14   25   24   9   33       9       19       28         19       13       32  

The following table shows the amount of bonus awarded to employees for the performance year 2014.2015. In the case of deferred cash and share awards, the final amount paid to an employee is influenced by forfeiture provisions and any performance conditions to which these awards are subject. The deferred share award amount is based on the fair value of these awards at the date of grant.

 

Expenses charged in the year Expenses deferred to future periods Total     Expenses charged in the year     Expenses deferred to future periods     Total 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

        2014

£m

 

        2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Cash award - not deferred

 133   116   -   -   133   116       126       133       -       -       126       133  

- deferred

 14   8   18   15   32   23       16       14       15       18       31       32  

Shares award - not deferred

 11   5   -   -   11   5       9       11       -       -       9       11  

- deferred

 11   11   15   9   26   20       12       11       17       15       29       26  

Total discretionary bonus

 169   140   33   24   202   164       163       169       32       33       195       202  

7. DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION AND IMPAIRMENT

 Group 
  

2014

£m

 

        2013

£m

 

        2012

£m

 

Depreciation of property, plant and equipment

 221   198   210  

Amortisation and impairment of intangible assets

 261   50   31  
  482   248   241  

AmortisationThere was no impairment in 2015 and 2013. In 2014, amortisation and impairment of intangible assets in 2014 included £206m in respect of the impairment of software, as set out in Note 24. There was no impairment in 2013 and 2012.

22.

 

 

226  Santander UK plc


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Financial statements

 

8.7. AUDIT AND OTHER SERVICES

The fees for audit and other services payable to the Company’s auditor, Deloitte LLP, are analysed as follows:

 

Group     Group 

2014

£m

 

        2013

£m

 

        2012

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Audit fees:

            

Fees payable to the Company’s auditor and its associates for the audit of the Santander UK group’s annual accounts

 3.5   3.4   3.0       3.6       3.5       3.4  

Fees payable to the Company’s auditor and its associates for other services to the Santander UK group:

            

- The audit of the Santander UK group’s subsidiaries

 1.8   1.7   1.8       1.8       1.8       1.7  

Total audit fees

 5.3   5.1   4.8       5.4       5.3       5.1  

Non-audit fees:

            

Audit-related assurance services

 2.5   2.5   1.7  

Audit-related services

     2.7       2.5       2.5  

Other taxation advisory services

 0.3   0.3   0.1       0.2       0.3       0.3  

Other assurance services

 1.2   0.8   1.9  

Other services

     1.7       1.2       0.8  

Total non-audit fees

 4.0   3.6   3.7       4.6       4.0       3.6  

Audit-related assurance services of relate to services performed in connection with the statutory and regulatory filings of the Company and its associates. Of this category £1.2m (2014: £1.3m, (2013: £1.3m, 2012: £0.5m)2013: £1.3m) accords with the definition of ‘Audit fees’ per US Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’)(SEC) guidance. The remaining £1.5 m (2014: £1.2m, (2013: £1.2m, 2012:2013: £1.2m) accords with the definition of ‘Audit related fees’ per that guidance and relates to services performed in connection with securitization, debt issuance and related work and assurance reporting to prudential and conduct regulators which is in accordance with the definition ‘Audit related fees’ per SEC guidance. Taxation compliance services accord with the SEC definition of ‘Tax fees’ and relate to compliance services performed in respect of Foreign Account Tax complianceCompliance Act (‘FATCA’)(FATCA) and other similar tax compliance services. Other assurance services accord with the SEC definition of ‘All other fees’ and include assurance services performed in respect of Santander UK’s preparation for MiFiDII and IFRS 9 implementation. 2014 included services in relation to the ECB’s asset quality review.

No information technology, internal audit, valuation and actuarial, litigation, recruitment and remuneration or corporate finance services were provided by the external auditor during these years. A framework for ensuring auditor’s independence has been adopted which defines unacceptable non-audit assignments, pre-approval of acceptable non-audit assignments and procedures for approval of acceptable non-audit assignments by the Santander UK plc Board Audit Committee. Services provided by the Santander UK group’s external auditor are subject to approval by the Santander UK plc Board Audit Committee. No services were provided pursuant to contingent fee arrangements.

9.8. IMPAIRMENT LOSSES AND PROVISIONS

 

 Group 
  

2014

£m

 

        2013(1)

£m

 

        2012(1)

£m

 

Impairment losses on loans and advances:

- loans and advances to customers (Note 18)

 369   576   1,053  

- loans and advances to banks (Note 17)

 -   -   -  

- loans and receivables securities (Note 21)

 -   -   -  

Recoveries of loans and advances (Note 18)

 (111)   (101)   (65)  
  258   475   988  

Impairment losses on available-for-sale financial assets (Note 22)

 -   -   -  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges: (Note 35)

- New and increased allowances

 416   295   432  

- Provisions released

 -   (45)   (3)  
  416   250   429  

Total impairment losses and provisions charged to the income statement

 674   725   1,417  
(1)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

     Group 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Impairment losses on loans and advances:

            

- loans and advances to customers (Note 16)

     156       369       576  

- loans and advances to banks (Note 15)

     -       -       -  

- loans and receivables securities (Note 19)

     -       -       -  

Recoveries of loans and advances (Note 16)

     (90)       (111)       (101)  
      66       258       475  

Impairment losses on available-for-sale financial assets (Note 20)

     -       -       -  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges: (Note 33)

            

- New and increased allowances

     762       416       295  

- Provisions released

     -       -       (45)  
      762       416       250  

Total impairment losses and provisions charged to the income statement

     828       674       725  

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

250Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements

 

10.9. TAXATION

 

 Group 
  

            2014

£m

 

        2013(1)

£m

 

            2012(1)

£m

 

Current tax:

UK corporation tax on profit for the year

 273   143   151  

Adjustments in respect of prior years

 (16)   (70)   (113)  

Total current tax

 257   73   38  

Deferred tax:

Origination and reversal of temporary differences

 41   113   126  

Change in rate of UK corporation tax

 (4)   (15)   4  

Adjustments in respect of prior years

 (5)   40   103  

Total deferred tax

 32   138   233  

Tax on profit on continuing operations

 289   211   271  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

     Group 
Grio    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Current tax:

            

UK corporation tax on profit for the year

     346       273       143  

Adjustments in respect of prior years

     (16)       (16)       (70)  

Total current tax

     330       257       73  

Deferred tax:

            

Origination and reversal of temporary differences

     45       41       113  

Change in rate of UK corporation tax

     9       (4)       (15)  

Adjustments in respect of prior years

     (3)       (5)       40  

Total deferred tax

     51       32       138  

Tax on profit from continuing operations

     381       289       211  

UK corporation tax is calculated at 20.25% (2014: 21.5% (2013: 23.25%, 2012: 24.5%2013: 23.25%) of the estimated assessable profits for the year. The standard rate of UK corporation tax was reduced from 23%21% to 21%20% with effect from 1 April 2014.2015. Taxation for other jurisdictions is calculated at the rates prevailing in the relevant jurisdictions.

The Finance Act 2013, which provides for a reduction in the main rate of UK corporation tax to 21% effective from 1 April 2014 and 20% effective from 1 April 2015 was enacted on 17 July 2013. As the changes in rates were substantively enacted prior to 31 December 2014, they have been reflected in the deferred tax balance sheet position at 31 December 2014. The Finance (No.2) Act 2015 introduces further reductions in the corporation tax rate from 20% to 19% by 2017 and to 18% by 2020. In addition, an 8% surcharge will apply to banking companies from 1 January 2016 and there will be a reduction in the rate of the UK Bank Levy applicable in future periods. These changes were substantively enacted on 26 October 2015. As these changes were substantively enacted prior to 31 December 2015, the effects are included in the deferred tax balances at 31 December 2015.

The effective tax rate for 2014,2015, based on profit before tax, was 28.3% (2014: 20.7% (2013: 19.0%, 2012: 23.5%2013: 19.0%). The tax on profit before tax differs from the theoretical amount that would arise using the basic corporation tax rate of the Company as follows:

 

 Group 
  

            2014

£m

 

        2013(1)

£m

 

            2012(1)

£m

 

Profit on continuing operations before tax

 1,399   1,109   1,152  

Tax calculated at a tax rate of 21.5% (2013: 23.25%, 2012: 24.5%)

 301   258   282  

Non deductible preference dividends paid

 7   7   7  

Non deductible UK Bank Levy

 16   14   12  

Other non-equalised items

 (6)   (17)   (12)  

Effect of non-UK profits and losses

 (1)   (3)   (4)  

Utilisation of capital losses for which credit was not previously recognised

 (3)   (3)   (8)  

Effect of change in tax rate on deferred tax provision

 (4)   (15)   4  

Adjustment to prior year provisions

 (21)   (30)   (10)  

Tax expense

 289   211   271  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

     Group 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Profit from continuing operations before tax

     1,345       1,399       1,109  

Tax calculated at a tax rate of 20.25% (2014: 21.5%, 2013: 23.25%)

     272       301       258  

Non-deductible preference dividends paid

     6       7       7  

Non-deductible UK Bank Levy

     20       16       14  

Non-deductible conduct remediation

     90       -       -  

Other non-equalised items

     8       (6)       (17)  

Effect of non-UK profits and losses

     (1)       (1)       (3)  

Utilisation of capital losses for which credit was not previously recognised

     (4)       (3)       (3)  

Effect of change in tax rate on deferred tax provision

     9       (4)       (15)  

Adjustment to prior year provisions

     (19)       (21)       (30)  

Tax charge

     381       289       211  

In addition to the corporation tax expense charged to profit or loss, tax of £97m (2014: £132m, (2013: £151m, 2012: £45m)2013: £151m) has been charged in other comprehensive income in the year, as follows:

 

    Group 
20152015    

Before tax amount

£m

   

Total tax

£m

   

After tax amount

£m

 

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

     319     (89)     230  

Movements in available-for-sale financial assets:

 - Gains due to changes in fair value     14     6     20  
 - Losses transferred to profit or loss     42     (8)     34  

Movements in cash flow hedge:

 - Losses due to changes in fair value     (307)     56     (251)  
 - Losses transferred to profit or loss     305     (62)     243  

Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations

      (5)     -     (5)  

Other comprehensive income

Other comprehensive income

     368     (97)     271  
Group 
2014 2014

Before tax amount

£m

 

Total tax

£m

 

After tax amount

£m

 2014                 

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

 132   (27)   105  

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

     132     (27)     105  

Movements in available-for-sale financial assets:

- Gains due to changes in fair value (208)   45   (163)   - Gains due to changes in fair value     235     (51)     184  
- Gains transferred to profit or loss on sale 235   (51)   184   - Gains transferred to profit or loss     (208)     45     (163)  

Movements in cash flow hedge

 471   (99)   372  

Movements in cash flow hedge:

 - Gains due to changes in fair value     44     (9)     35  
 - Losses transferred to profit or loss     427     (90)     337  

Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations

  (4)   -   (4)        (4)     -     (4)  

Other comprehensive income

Other comprehensive income

 626   (132)   494  

Other comprehensive income

     626     (132)     494  
2013 2013                             

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

 (564)   113   (451)  

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

     (564)     113     (451)  

Movements in available-for-sale financial assets:

- Gains due to changes in fair value 15   (4)   11   - Gains due to changes in fair value     15     (4)     11  
- Gains transferred to profit or loss on sale (46)   11   (35)   - Losses transferred to profit or loss     (46)     11     (35)  

Movements in cash flow hedge

  (141)   31   (110)  

Other comprehensive income

  (736)   151   (585)  
2012         

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

 (183)   42   (141)  

Movements in available-for-sale financial assets:

- Gains due to changes in fair value 6   (1)   5  

Movements in cash flow hedge:

 - Losses due to changes in fair value     (207)     46     (161)  
- Gains transferred to profit or loss on sale (17)   4   (13)   - Losses transferred to profit or loss     66     (15)     51  

Other comprehensive income

Other comprehensive income

 (194)   45   (149)        (736)     151     (585)  

The total tax charge included above for 2015 includes £13m in respect of the impact of changes in the UK corporation tax rate.

 

 

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Current tax assets and liabilities

Movements on current tax assets and liabilities during the year were as follows:

 

   Group    Company            Group            Company 

2014

£m

 2013
£m
 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Assets

 114   50   423   240       -       114       208       423  

Liabilities

 (4)   (4)   -   -       (69)       (4)       -       -  

At 1 January

 110   46   423   240       (69)       110       208       423  

Income statement

 (257)   (73)   (248)   46       (330)       (257)       (175)       (248)  

Other comprehensive income

 (78)   31   (6)   -       10       (78)       10       (6)  

Corporate income tax paid

 149   118   59   87       419       149       132       59  

Other movements

 7   (12)   (20)   50       18       7       23       (20)  
 (69)   110   208   423       48       (69)       198       208  

Assets

 -   114   208   423       49       -       198       208  

Liabilities

 (69)   (4)   -   -       (1)       (69)       -       -  

At 31 December

 (69)   110   208   423       48       (69)       198       208  

The Santander UK group has proactively engaged with HM Revenue & Customs to resolve a number of outstanding legacy tax matters. It has not however been possible to satisfactorily resolve all of these matters through this engagement and as a result litigation proceedings have commenced in 2014 in relation to a small number of remaining issues. The litigation was concluded during 2015. All of these items relate to periods prior to Santander UK’s adoption of the Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks in 2010. A provision for the full amount of tax insubject to dispute hasas part of this litigation had been made through the tax charge in previous years.

Further information about deferred tax is presented in Note 26.24.

11.10. DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS

Santander UK plc sold its co-brand credit cards business in 2013. The results, and loss on sale,from discontinued operations after tax of £8m in 2013 comprised the profit before tax of the discontinued operations were as follows:of £nil, a loss on sale before tax of £10m, and a tax credit of £2m.

       Group 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Total operating income

 -   76   218  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 -   (39)   (108)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

 -   (12)   (21)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 -   (25)   (5)  

Profit of discontinued operations before tax

 -   -   84  

Taxation charge on discontinued operations

 -   -   (22)  

Loss on sale of discontinued operations

 -   (10)   -  

Taxation credit on loss on sale on discontinued operations

 -   2   -  

(Loss)/profit from discontinued operations (after tax)

 -   (8)   62  

12.11. DIVIDENDS

a) Ordinary dividendsshare capital

Dividends on ordinary shares declared and authorised during the year were as follows:

 

 Group and Company Group and Company 
  

2014

Pence per

share

 

2013

Pence per

share

 

2012

Pence per

share

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Ordinary shares (equity):

In respect of current year – first interim

 0.76   0.69   -   237   215   -  

In respect of current year – second interim

 0.81   0.68   1.45   250   210   450  
  1.57   1.37   1.45   487   425   450  
     Group and Company     Group and Company 
      

2015

Pence per

share

     

2014

Pence per

share

     

2013

Pence per

share

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

In respect of current year – first interim

     1.05       0.76       0.69       325       237       215  

                                          – second interim

     0.33       0.81       0.68       102       250       210  
      1.38       1.57       1.37       427       487       425  

In addition,b) Other equity instruments

The annual dividend of £21m (2014: £21m, 2013: £21m) on the Step-Up Callable Perpetual Reserve Capital Instruments was paid on 14 February 2015; the annual dividend of £0.4m (2014: £0.4m, 2013: £17m) on the £300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Preferred Securities was paid on 22 March 2015; and the annual dividend of £2m (2014: £19m, (2013: £19m, 2012:2013: £19m) of dividends were declared and paid on the £300m fixed/floating rate non-cumulative callable preference shares £21m (2013: £21m, 2012: £21m)was paid on 24 May 2015.

The quarterly dividends of dividends£24m, £8m, £8m and £8m (2014: £nil) on the £500m Perpetual Capital Securities were declared and paid on 24 March, 24 June, 24 September and 24 December 2015, respectively; the £300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Reserve Capital Instrumentsquarterly dividends of £7m, £6m, £6m, and £0.4m (2013: £17m, 2012: £17m) of dividends were declared and paid£6m, (2014: £nil) on the £300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Preferred Securities.

Capital Securities were declared paid on 24 March, 24 June 2015, 24 September and 24 December 2015 respectively and the quarterly dividend of £16m and £14m (2014: £nil) on the £750m Perpetual Capital Securities was paid on 24 September and 24 December 2015 respectively.

 

 

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13. CASH AND BALANCES AT CENTRAL BANKS

 

 Group Company 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Cash in hand

 1,458   1,214   1,458   1,150  

Balances with central banks

 21,104   25,160   16,644   20,249  
  22,562   26,374   18,102   21,399  

Balances with central banks above represent amounts held at the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve as part of the Santander UK group’s liquidity management activities. This is described further in the Risk Review. In addition, it includes certain minimum cash balances held for regulatory purposes required to be maintained with the Bank of England. At 31 December 2014, these amounted to £318m (2013: £315m) for the Santander UK group and £281m (2013: £277m) for the Company.

14.12. TRADING ASSETS

 

 Group 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Loans and advances to banks - securities purchased under resale agreements

 785   4,219  

- other(1)

 5,151   5,107  

Loans and advances to customers - securities purchased under resale agreements

 2,200   4,210  

- other(1)

 807   194  

Debt securities

 7,981   7,859  

Equity securities

 4,776   705  
  21,700   22,294  

    (1) Total ‘other’ comprises short-term loans of £816m (2013: £195m) and cash collateral of £5,142m (2013: £5,106m).

     Group 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Loans and advances to banks         - securities purchased under resale agreements

     992       785  

                                                          - other(1)

     4,441       5,151  

Loans and advances to customers  - securities purchased under resale agreements

     4,352       2,200  

                                                          - other(1)

     1,608       807  

Debt securities

     5,462       7,981  

Equity securities

     7,106       4,776  
      23,961       21,700  
(1)Total ‘other’ comprises short-term loans of £665m (2014: £816m) and cash collateral of £5,384m (2014: £5,142m).

Debt securities can be analysed by type of issuer as follows:

 

 Group 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Issued by public bodies:

- Government securities

 7,002   6,631  

Issued by other issuers:

- Fixed and floating rate notes(1):- Government guaranteed

 979   1,081  

- Other

 -   147  
  7,981   7,859  

    (1) The FRNs are rated 43% AA+, 57% AA- (2013: 25% AAA, 39% AA+ and 36% AA-).

     Group 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Issued by public bodies:

        

- Government securities

     4,494       7,002  

Issued by other issuers:

        

- Fixed and floating rate notes(1): - Government guaranteed

     968       979  
      5,462       7,981  
(1)The FRNs are rated 43% AA+ and 57% AA- (2014: 43% AA+, and 57% AA-).

Debt securities and equity securities can be analysed by listing status as follows:

 

 Group 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Debt securities:

- Listed in the UK

 1,315   1,489  

- Listed elsewhere

 1,906   1,582  

- Unlisted(1)

 4,760   4,788  
  7,981   7,859  

Equity securities:

- Listed in the UK

 3,169   642  

- Listed elsewhere

 1,607   63  
  4,776   705  

    (1) These largely represent Japanese Treasury bonds for which there is no financial listing.

     Group 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Debt securities:

        

- Listed in the UK

     966       1,315  

- Listed elsewhere

     1,818       1,906  

- Unlisted(1)

     2,678       4,760  
      5,462       7,981  

Equity securities:

        

- Listed in the UK

     3,144       3,169  

- Listed elsewhere

     3,962       1,607  
      7,106       4,776  
(1)These largely represent Japanese Treasury bonds for which there is no financial listing.

At 31 December 20142015 and 2013,2014, the Company had no trading assets. Included in the above balances are amounts owed to the Santander UK group bydue from Banco Santander S.A.SA and other subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA outside the Santander UK group of £48m (2013: £80m)£126m (2014: £48m) and £73m (2013: £32m)£91m (2014: £73m) respectively.

 

 

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15.13. DERIVATIVE FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

Derivatives are financial instruments whose value is derived from the price of one or more underlying items such as equities, equity indices, interest rates, foreign exchange rates, property indices, commodities and credit spreads. Derivatives enable users to manage exposure to credit or market risks. The Santander UK group sells derivatives to its customers and uses derivatives to manage its own exposure to credit and market risks.

a) Use of derivatives

The Santander UK group transacts derivatives for four primary purposes:

->toTo create risk management solutions for customers;customers
->toTo manage the portfolio risks arising from customer business;business
->toTo manage and hedge the Santander UK group’s own risks; andrisks
->toTo generate profits through sales activities.

Under IAS 39, all derivatives are classified as ‘held for trading’ (except for derivatives which are designated as effective hedging instruments in accordance with the detailed requirements of IAS 39) even if this is not the purpose of the transaction. The held for trading classification therefore includes two types of derivatives:

 

->thoseThose used in sales activities; andactivities
->thoseThose used for risk management purposes but, for various reasons, either the Santander UK group does not elect to claim hedge accounting for or they do not meet the qualifying criteria for hedge accounting. These consist of:
 >-

non-qualifyingNon-qualifying hedging derivatives (known as ‘economic hedges’)(economic hedges), whose terms match other on-balance sheet instruments but do not meet the technical criteria for hedge accounting, or which use natural offsets within other on-balance sheet instruments containing the same risk features as part of an integrated approach to risk management, and hence do not require the application of hedge accounting to achieve a reduction in income statement volatility;

volatility
 >-

derivativesDerivatives managed in conjunction with financial instruments designated at fair value (known as the ‘fair(the fair value option’)option). The fair value option is described more fully in the Accounting Policy ‘Financial assets’ and Notes 1614 and 31.29. The Santander UK group’s business model is primarily structured to maximise use of the fair value option, rather than electing to apply hedge accounting, in order to reduce the administrative burden on the Santander UK group associated with complying with the detailed hedge accounting requirements of IAS 39;

39
 >-

derivativesDerivatives that do not meet the qualifying criteria for hedge accounting, including ineffective hedging derivatives and any components of hedging derivatives that are excluded from assessing hedge effectiveness; and

effectiveness
 >-

derivativeDerivative contracts that represent the closing-out of existing positions through the use of matching deals.

The following table summarises the activities undertaken, the related risks associated with such activities and the types of derivatives used in managing such risks. These risks may also be managed using on-balance sheet instruments as part of an integrated approach to risk management.

 

ActivityRiskType of derivative

Management of the return on variable rate assets financed by shareholders’ funds and net non-interest-bearing liabilities.

Reduced profitability due to falls in interest rates.Receive fixed interest rate swaps.

Management of the basis between administered rate assets and liabilities and wholesale market rates.

Reduced profitability due to adverse changes in the basis spread.Basis swaps.

Management of repricing profile of wholesale funding.

Reduced profitability due to adverse movement in wholesale interest rates when large volumes of wholesale funding are repriced.Forward rate agreements.

Fixed rate lending and investments.

Sensitivity to increases in interest rates.Pay fixed interest rate swaps.

Fixed rate retail and wholesale funding.

Sensitivity to falls in interest rates.Receive fixed interest rate swaps.

Equity-linked retail funding.

Sensitivity to increases in equity market indices.Receive equity swaps.

Management of other net interest income on retail activities.

Sensitivity of income to changes in interest rates.Interest rate swaps.

Issuance of products with embedded equity options.

Sensitivity to changes in underlying index and index volatility causing option exercise.Interest rate swaps combined with equity options.

Lending and investments.

Sensitivity to weakening credit quality.Purchase credit default swaps and total return swaps.

Borrowing funds in foreign currencies

currencies.
Sensitivity to changes in foreign exchange ratesrates.Cross currency swapsswaps.

Lending and issuance of products with embedded interest rate options.

Sensitivity to changes in underlying rate and rate volatility causing option exercise.Interest rate swaps plus caps/floors.

Investment in, and issuance of, bonds with put/call features.

Sensitivity to changes in rates causing option exercise.Interest rate swaps combined with swaptions(1) and other matched options.
Management of the cost of offering sharesave schemes to employees.Reduced profitability due to increases in the Banco Santander SA share price.Equity options and equity forwards.
(1)A swaption is an option on a swap that gives the holder the right but not the obligation to buy or sell a swap.

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The Santander UK group’s derivative activities do not give rise to significant open positions in portfolios of derivatives. Any residual position is managed to ensure that it remains within acceptable risk levels, with matching deals being utilised to achieve this where necessary. When entering into derivative transactions, the Santander UK group employs the same credit risk management procedures to assess and approve potential credit exposures that are used for traditional lending.

The hedging classification consists of derivatives that the Santander UK group has chosen to designate as in a hedging relationship because they meet the specific criteria in IAS 39.

All derivatives are required to be held at fair value through profit or loss, and shown in the balance sheet as separate totals of assets and liabilities. A description of how the fair values of derivatives are derived is set out in Note 44. This is described in more detail in the accounting policies ‘Derivative financial instruments’ and ‘Hedge accounting’. Derivative assets and liabilities on different transactions are only set off if the transactions are with the same counterparty, a legal right of set-off or netting exists and the cash flows are intended to be settled on a net basis.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

b) Trading derivatives

Most of the Santander UK group’s derivative transactions relate to sales activities and derivative contracts that represent the closing-out of existing positions through the use of matching deals. Sales activities include the structuring and marketing of derivative products to customers to enable them to take, transfer, modify or reduce current or expected risks. Limited positions may be traded actively or be held over a period of time to benefit from expected changes in exchange rates, interest rates, equity prices or other market parameters. Trading includes market-making, positioning and arbitrage activities. Market-making entails quoting bid and offer prices to other market participants for the purpose of generating revenues based on spread and volume; positioning means managing market risk positions in the expectation of benefiting from favourable movements in prices, rates or indices; arbitrage involves identifying and profiting from price differentials between markets and products.

Trading derivatives include interest rate, cross currency, equity, property and other index related swaps, forwards, caps, floors, swaptions, as well as credit default and total return swaps, equity index contracts and exchange traded interest rate futures and options and equity index options.

Commercial Banking and Global Corporate & Institutional Banking deal with customers who wish to enter into derivative contracts. Any market risk arising from such transactions is hedged by Global Corporate & Institutional Banking. Global Corporate & Institutional Banking is responsible for implementing Santander UK group derivative hedging with the external market together with its own trading activities. For trading activities, its objectives are to gain value by:

 

>-

Marketing derivatives to end users and hedging the resulting exposures efficiently; and

efficiently
>-

The management of trading exposure reflected on the Santander UK group’s balance sheet.

As mentioned above, other derivatives classified as held for trading include non-qualifying hedging derivatives (economic hedges), ineffective hedging derivatives and any components of hedging derivatives that are excluded from assessing hedge effectiveness, derivatives managed in conjunction with financial instruments designated at fair value and derivative contracts that represent the closing-out of existing positions through the use of matching deals.

c) Hedging derivatives

The Santander UK group uses derivatives (principally interest rate swaps and cross-currency swaps) for hedging purposes in the management of its own asset and liability portfolios, including fixed-rate lending, fixed-rate asset purchases, medium-term note issues, capital issues, and structural positions. This enables the Santander UK group to optimise the overall cost to it of accessing debt capital markets, and to mitigate the market risk which would otherwise arise from structural imbalances in the maturity and other profiles of its assets and liabilities.

The accounting for these derivatives is described in the accounting policy ‘Hedge accounting’ in Note 1. Such risks may also be managed using natural offsets within other on-balance sheet instruments as part of an integrated approach to risk management.

Derivative products which are combinations of more basic derivatives (such as swaps with embedded option features), or which have leverage features, may be used in circumstances where the underlying position being hedged contains the same risk features. In such cases, the derivative used will be structured to match the risks of the underlying asset or liability. Exposure to market risk on such contracts is therefore hedged.

The fair values of derivative instruments classified as held for trading and hedging purposes are set out in the following tables. The tables show the contract or underlying principal amounts, and positive and negative fair values of derivatives analysed by contract. The contract/notional amounts of derivatives in the tables below indicate the nominal value of transactions outstanding at the balance sheet date; they do not represent actual exposures. The fair values represent the price that would be received to sell the derivative asset or paid to transfer the derivative liability in an orderly transaction in the principal (or most advantageous) market at the measurement date under current market conditions.

As described above, derivatives classified as held for trading consist of those used in sales and trading activities, and those used for risk management purposes, either for which the Santander UK group does not elect to claim hedge accounting or which do not meet the qualifying criteria for hedge accounting. Derivatives classified as held for hedging in the table below consist of those that have been designated as in a hedging relationship in accordance with IAS 39.

 

Annual Report 2014255


Financial statements

                   Group 
     2015        2014 
           Fair value              Fair value 
Derivatives held for trading    

Notional amount

£m

     

Assets

£m

     

Liabilities

£m

        

Notional amount

£m

     

Assets

£m

     

Liabilities

£m

 

Exchange rate contracts:

                          

- Cross-currency swaps

     124,025       3,907       4,364         113,977       2,227       3,077  

- Foreign exchange swaps, options and forwards

     37,879       358       572         44,786       1,097       542  
      161,904       4,265       4,936         158,763       3,324       3,619  

Interest rate contracts:

                          

- Interest rate swaps

     579,985       10,828       10,584         589,182       12,782       12,341  

- Caps, floors and swaptions

     49,325       1,943       1,712         53,341       2,087       1,996  

- Futures (exchange traded)

     38,633       -       1         68,434       4       8  

- Forward rate agreements

     70,328       3       47         91,353       3       42  
      738,271       12,774       12,344         802,310       14,876       14,387  

Equity and credit contracts:

                          

- Equity index swaps and similar products

     19,547       1,377       1,621         26,667       1,859       2,451  

- Equity index options (exchange traded)

     17,742       88       2         10,681       149       1  

- Credit default swaps and similar products

     56       5       2         66       25       2  
      37,345       1,470       1,625         37,414       2,033       2,454  

Commodity contracts:

                          

- Swaps

     -       -       -         18       2       2  
      -       -       -         18       2       2  

Total derivatives held for trading

     937,520       18,509       18,905         998,505       20,235       20,462  
Derivatives held for hedging                                             

Derivatives designated as fair value hedges:

                          

Exchange rate contracts:

                          

- Cross-currency swaps

     3,213       78       113         2,405       80       82  

Interest rate contracts:

                          

- Interest rate swaps

     68,905       1,234       1,288         80,976       1,600       1,564  
      72,118       1,312       1,401         83,381       1,680       1,646  

Derivatives designated as cash flow hedges:

                          

Exchange rate contracts:

                          

- Cross-currency swaps

     22,727       989       1,146         20,047       1,008       577  

Interest rate contracts:

                          

- Interest rate swaps

     8,407       97       56         6,987       98       47  

Equity derivative contracts:

                          

- Equity derivatives

     21       4       -         -       -       -  
      31,155       1,090       1,202         27,034       1,106       624  

Total derivatives held for hedging

     103,273       2,402       2,603         110,415       2,786       2,270  

Total derivatives

     1,040,793       20,911       21,508         1,108,920       23,021       22,732  

 

 

232  Santander UK plc

 Group 
 2014  2013 
   Fair value    Fair value 
    Derivatives held for trading

Notional amount

£m

 

        Assets

£m

 

    Liabilities

£m

   Notional amount
£m
 

        Assets

£m

 

    Liabilities

£m

 

Exchange rate contracts:

- Cross-currency swaps

 113,977   2,227   3,077   110,425   1,282   2,027  

- Foreign exchange swaps, options and forwards

 44,786   1,097   542   41,849   1,133   417  
  158,763   3,324   3,619   152,274   2,415   2,444  

Interest rate contracts:

- Interest rate swaps

 589,182   12,782   12,333   512,101   10,739   9,972  

- Caps, floors and swaptions

 53,341   2,087   1,996   56,230   1,912   1,891  

- Futures (exchange traded)

 68,434   4   16   31,137   11   36  

- Forward rate agreements

 91,353   3   42   29,379   1   1  
  802,310   14,876   14,387   628,847   12,663   11,900  

Equity and credit contracts:

- Equity index swaps and similar products

 26,667   1,859   2,451   32,196   2,009   2,947  

- Equity index options (exchange traded)

 10,681   149   1   13,115   312   1  

- Credit default swaps and similar products

 66   25   2   158   32   3  
  37,414   2,033   2,454   45,469   2,353   2,951  

Commodity contracts:

- OTC swaps

 18   2   2   54   2   2  
  18   2   2   54   2   2  

Total derivative assets and liabilities held for trading

 998,505   20,235   20,462   826,644   17,433   17,297  

Derivatives held for hedging

                  

Derivatives designated as fair value hedges:

Exchange rate contracts:

- Cross-currency swaps

 2,405   80   82   2,524   46   47  

Interest rate contracts:

- Interest rate swaps

 80,976   1,600   1,564   105,138   1,578   1,066  
  83,381   1,680   1,646   107,662   1,624   1,113  

Derivatives designated as cash flow hedges:

Exchange rate contracts:

- Cross-currency swaps

 20,047   1,008   577   15,507   990   445  

Interest rate contracts:

- Interest rate swaps

 6,987   98   47   3,856   2   8  
  27,034   1,106   624   19,363   992   453  

Total derivative assets and liabilities held for hedging

 110,415   2,786   2,270   127,025   2,616   1,566  

Total recognised derivative assets and liabilities

 1,108,920   23,021   22,732   953,669   20,049   18,863  
 Company 
 2014  2013 
   Fair value    Fair value 
    Derivatives held for trading

Notional amount

£m

 

Assets

£m

 

Liabilities

£m

   Notional amount
£m
 

Assets

£m

 

Liabilities

£m

 

Exchange rate contracts:

- Cross-currency swaps

 2,239   804   771   2,460   574   549  

- Foreign exchange swaps, options and forwards

 2,451   37   38   1,729   23   24  
  4,690   841   809   4,189   597   573  

Interest rate contracts:

- Interest rate swaps

 51,832   1,908   789   60,652   1,226   793  

- Caps, floors and swaptions

 1,328   5   13   1,323   8   25  

- Futures (exchange traded)

 -   -   8   -   -   -  
  53,160   1,913   810   61,975   1,234   818  

Equity and credit contracts:

- Equity index swaps and similar products

 731   45   222   673   69   235  
  731   45   222   673   69   235  
                   

Total derivative assets and liabilities held for trading

 58,581   2,799   1,841   66,837   1,900   1,626  

Derivatives held for hedging

                  

Derivatives designated as fair value hedges:

Exchange rate contracts:

- Cross-currency swaps

 1,414   301   -   1,354   184   59  

Interest rate contracts:

- Interest rate swaps

 7,593   312   313   4,214   377   118  

Total derivative assets and liabilities held for hedging

 9,007   613   313   5,568   561   177  

Total recognised derivative assets and liabilities

 67,588   3,412   2,154   72,405   2,461   1,803  

The Company has no derivatives designated as cash flow hedges.

256Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          
Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

                   Company 
     2015        2014 
           Fair value              Fair value 
Derivatives held for trading    

Notional amount

£m

     

Assets

£m

     

Liabilities

£m

        

Notional amount

£m

     

Assets

£m

     

Liabilities

£m

 

Exchange rate contracts:

                          

- Cross-currency swaps

     6,301       966       1,340         2,239       804       771  

- Foreign exchange swaps, options and forwards

     2,550       40       39         2,451       37       38  
      8,851       1,006       1,379         4,690       841       809  

Interest rate contracts:

                          

- Interest rate swaps

     61,936       1,474       795         51,832       1,908       789  

- Caps, floors and swaptions

     1,930       4       13         1,328       5       13  

- Futures (exchange traded)

     -       -       -         -       -       8  
      63,866       1,478       808         53,160       1,913       810  

Equity and credit contracts:

                          

- Equity index swaps and similar products

     607       41       236         731       45       222  
      607       41       236         731       45       222  

Total derivatives held for trading

     73,324       2,525       2,423         58,581       2,799       1,841  
Derivatives held for hedging                                             

Derivatives designated as fair value hedges:

                          

Exchange rate contracts:

                          

- Cross-currency swaps

     1,284       321       -         1,414       301       -  

Interest rate contracts:

                          

- Interest rate swaps

     46,330       337       592         7,593       312       313  
      47,614       658       592         9,007       613       313  

Derivatives designated as cash flow hedges:

                          

Exchange rate contracts:

                          

- Cross-currency swaps

     2,493       97       -         -       -       -  

Interest rate contracts:

                          

- Interest rate swaps

     2,229       18       13         -       -       -  

Equity derivative contracts:

                          

- Equity derivatives

     21       4       -         -       -       -  
      4,743       119       13         -       -       -  

Total derivatives held for hedging

     52,357       777       605         9,007       613       313  

Total derivatives

     125,681       3,302       3,028         67,588       3,412       2,154  

Included in the above balances are amounts owed to the Santander UK group bydue from Banco Santander S.A.SA and other subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA outside the Santander UK group of £2,063m (2013 £2,058m)£1,320m (2014: £2,063m) and £475m (2013: 166m)£458m (2014: 475m), respectively, and amounts owed by the Santander UK groupdue to Banco Santander S.A.SA and other subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA outside the Santander UK group of £1,730m (2013: £1,950m)£1,502m (2014: £1,730m) and £485m (2013: £191m)£427m (2014: £485m), respectively. The net exposures after collateral to the ultimate parent undertaking and fellow subsidiaries at 31 December 20142015 amounted to £nil (2013:(2014: £nil) and £nil (2013:(2014: £nil) respectively, with collateral held exceeding the net position.

Derivative assets and liabilities are reported on a gross basis on the balance sheet unless there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis, or to realise the assets and settle the liability simultaneously. Further information about offsetting is presented in Note 44.

In addition, in the ordinary course of business, the Santander UK group entered into long-term interest rate contracts as economic hedges with fivetwo investment vehicles whose underlying assets comprise debt securities, bank loans and energy and infrastructure financings. Although the vehicles themselves are not externally rated, the counterparty exposure ranks super-senior to the most senior notes issued by the vehicles and these notes are rated AAA or AA. The total mark-to-market exposure at 31 December 20142015 was £18m (2013: £34m)£11m (2014: £18m). These long-term interest rate contracts are included within ‘derivatives held for trading - interest rate contracts’ shown above.

The table below analyses the notional and fair values of derivatives by trading and settlement method.

 

Notional  Asset  Liability   Notional      Asset      Liability 
      Traded over the counter                           
2015  

Traded on

recognised

exchanges

£m

   

Settled by

central

counterparties

£m

   

Not settled

by central

counterparties

£m

   

Total

£m

   

Traded on

recognised

exchanges

£m

   

Traded

over the

counter

£m

   

Traded on

recognised

exchanges

£m

   

Traded

over the

counter

£m

 

Exchange rate contracts

   -     -     187,844     187,844       -     5,333       -     6,195  

Interest rate contracts

   38,633     529,471     247,479     815,583       -     14,105       1     13,687  

Equity and credit contracts

   17,742     -     19,624     37,366       88     1,385       2     1,623  

Commodity contracts

   -     -     -     -        -     -        -     -  
  Traded over the counter                56,375     529,471     454,947     1,040,793        88     20,823        3     21,505  
Traded on
recognised
exchanges
 Settled by
central
counterparties
 

Not settled

by central
counterparties

 Total  Traded on
recognised
exchanges
 

Traded

over the
counter

  Traded on
recognised
exchanges
 

Traded

over the
counter

 
2014£m £m £m £m   £m £m   £m £m                                         

Exchange rate contracts

 -   -   181,215   181,215   -   4,412   -   4,278     -     -     181,215     181,215       -     4,412       -     4,278  

Interest rate contracts

 68,434   519,273   302,566   890,273   4   16,570   16   15,982     68,434     519,273     302,566     890,273       4     16,570       8     15,990  

Equity and credit contracts

 10,681   -   26,733   37,414   149   1,884   1   2,453     10,681     -     26,733     37,414       149     1,884       1     2,453  

Commodity contracts

 -   -   18   18    -   2    -   2     -     -     18     18        -     2        -     2  
 79,115   519,273   510,532   1,108,920    153   22,868    17   22,715     79,115     519,273     510,532     1,108,920        153     22,868        9     22,723  
2013                            

Exchange rate contracts

 -   -   170,305   170,305   -   3,451   -   2,936  

Interest rate contracts

 31,137   307,814   398,890   737,841   11   14,232   36   12,938  

Equity and credit contracts

 13,115   -   32,354   45,469   312   2,041   1   2,950  

Commodity contracts

 -   -   54   54    -   2    -   2  
 44,252   307,814   601,603   953,669    323   19,726    37   18,826  

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

Net gains or losses arising from fair value and cash flow hedges included in net trading and other income

 

      Group                   Group                   Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Fair value hedging:

                        

- Losses on hedging instruments

 (297)   (281)   (294)  

- Gains on hedged items attributable to hedged risks

 379   350   464  

- Gains/(losses) on hedging instruments

     (26)       (297)       (281)       14       (125)       (244)  

- Gains/(losses) on hedged items attributable to hedged risks

     87       379       350       (14)       118       299  

Fair value hedging ineffectiveness

 82   69   170       61       82       69       -       (7)       55  

Cash flow hedging ineffectiveness

 (94)   (176)   -       (81)       (94)       (176)       13       -       -  
 (12)   (107)   170       (20)       (12)       (107)       13       (7)       55  

The Santander UK group hedges its exposures to various risks, including interest rate risk and foreign currency risk, in connection with certain mortgage assets, covered bond issuances, and subordinated and senior debt securities in issue. The gains or losses arising on these assets and liabilities are presented in the table above on a combined basis.

Hedged cash flows

The following tables show when the Santander UK group’s hedged cash flows are expected to occur and when they will affect income for designated cash flow hedges.

 

                     Group                                           Group 
2015  

Up to 1

year

£m

   

1 - 2

years

£m

   

2 - 3

years

£m

   

3 - 4

years

£m

   

4 - 5

years

£m

   

5 - 10

years

£m

   

10 - 20

years

£m

   

20 - 30
years

£m

   

Total

£m

 

Hedged forecast cash flows expected to occur:

                  

Forecast receivable cash flows

   303     354     355     335     285     696     213     149     2,690  

Forecast payable cash flows

   (4,260)     (3,446)     (2,308)     (3,158)     (3,936)     (6,321)     (493)     (358)     (24,280)  

Hedged forecast cash flows affect profit or loss:

                  

Forecast receivable cash flows

   307     357     350     330     273     675     211     148     2,651  

Forecast payable cash flows

   (4,249)     (3,438)     (2,278)     (3,134)     (3,914)     (6,234)     (488)     (353)     (24,088)  

Up to 1

year

 

1 - 2

years

 

2 - 3

years

 

3 - 4

years

 

4 - 5

years

 

5 - 10

years

 

10 - 20

years

 Total 
2014£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m                                              

Hedged forecast cash flows expected to occur:

                  

Forecast receivable cash flows

 201   235   258   229   192   456   60   1,631     201     235     258     229     192     456     60     -     1,631  

Forecast payable cash flows

 (2,169)   (3,319)   (1,854)   (2,034)   (2,844)   (6,324)   (332)   (18,876)     (2,169)     (3,319)     (1,854)     (2,034)     (2,844)     (6,324)     (332)     -     (18,876)  

Hedged forecast cash flows affect profit or loss:

                  

Forecast receivable cash flows

 183   235   258   229   192   456   60   1,613     183     235     258     229     192     456     60     -     1,613  

Forecast payable cash flows

 (2,018)   (3,312)   (1,854)   (2,034)   (2,844)   (6,324)   (332)   (18,718)     (2,018)     (3,312)     (1,854)     (2,034)     (2,844)     (6,324)     (332)     -     (18,718)  
2013                        
                                          Company 
2015  

Up to 1

year

£m

   

1 - 2

years

£m

   

2 - 3

years

£m

   

3 - 4

years
£m

   

4 - 5

years

£m

   

5 - 10

years
£m

   

10 - 20

years

£m

   

20 - 30

years

£m

   

Total

£m

 

Hedged forecast cash flows expected to occur:

                  

Forecast receivable cash flows

 177   211   267   283   229   681   97   1,945     42     50     57     61     62     241     165     149     827  

Forecast payable cash flows

 (3,305)   (4,229)   (1,924)   (1,180)   (2,017)   (4,834)   (367)   (17,856)     (716)     (72)     (89)     (72)     (897)     (592)     (190)     (358)     (2,986)  

Hedged forecast cash flows affect profit or loss:

                  

Forecast receivable cash flows

 177   210   266   279   224   671   96   1,923     42     51     57     61     62     240     165     148     826  

Forecast payable cash flows

 (3,300)   (4,182)   (1,913)   (1,174)   (1,985)   (4,776)   (362)   (17,692)     (716)     (72)     (89)     (71)     (893)     (582)     (189)     (353)     (2,965)  

In 2014, the Company had no derivatives designated as cash flow hedges.

There was one cash flow hedge of equity price risk for which hedge accounting ceased during the year ended 31 December 2015 as a result of the cash flows no longer being expected to occur. There were no transactions for which cash flow hedge accounting had to be ceased during the yearsyear ended 31 December 2014 and 2013 as a result of the highly probable cash flows no longer being expected to occur.

During the year, gains and losses transferred from the cash flow hedging reserve to net interest income were a net gain of £112m (2013:£157m (2014: gain of £47m, 2012: £nil)£112m, 2013: gain of £47m) and to net trading and other income were a net loss of £539m (2013:£462m (2014: loss of £113m, 2012:£539m, 2013: loss of £113m).

During the year, the Company transferred gains from the cash flow hedging reserve to net interest income of £5m (2014: £nil) and to net trading and other income of £76m (2014: £nil).

 

 

234  Santander UK plc


Annual Report 2014257
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    


Financial statements

 

16.14. FINANCIAL ASSETS DESIGNATED AT FAIR VALUE

 

    Group    Company 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Loans and advances to customers

 2,259   2,219   -   1  

Debt securities

 622   528   83   -  
  2,881   2,747   83   1  

Financial assets are designated at fair value through profit or loss where this results in more relevant information because it significantly reduces a measurement inconsistency that would otherwise arise from measuring the assets or liabilities or recognising gains or losses on them on a different basis, or where the assets are managed and their performance evaluated on a fair value basis, or where a contract contains one or more embedded derivatives which would otherwise require bifurcation and separate recognition as derivatives.

            Group            Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Loans and advances to customers

     1,891       2,259       -       -  

Debt securities

     507       622       60       83  
      2,398       2,881       60       83  

The following assets have been designated at fair value through profit or loss:

 

>-

Loans and advances to customers, representing loans to housing associations secured on residential property of £1,826m (2013: £1,848m)£1,453m (2014: £1,826m) and other loans of £433m (2013: £371m)£438m (2014: £433m):

 >-

Loans to housing associations secured on residential property of £1,826m (2013: £1,848m)£1,453m (2014: £1,826m) which, at the date of their origination, were managed, and their performance evaluated, on a fair value basis in accordance with a documented investment strategy, and information about them was provided on that basis to management. Since 2009, the Santander UK group’s policy has been not to designate similar new loans at fair value through profit or loss.

 >-

Other loans of £433m (2013: £371m)£438m (2014: £433m), representing a portfolio of roll-up mortgages, are managed, and their performance evaluated, on a fair value basis in accordance with a documented investment strategy, and information about them is provided on that basis to management.

>-

Debt securities, representing holdings of asset-backed securities of £360m (2013: £316m)£271m (2014: £360m) and other debt securities of £262m (2013: £212m)£236m (2014: £262m):

 >-

Mortgage-backed securities of £226m (2013: £229m)£209m (2014: £226m), other asset-backed securities of £78m (2013: £29m)£62m (2014: £78m), and other debt securities of £262m (2013: £212m)£236m (2014: £262m) principally representing reversionary UK property securities. These securities are managed and their performance evaluated on a fair value basis in accordance with a documented investment strategy, and information about them is provided on that basis to management.

 >-

Other asset-backed securities of £56m (2013: £58m)£nil (2014: £56m) which were issued by Banco Santander entities in Spain. At the date of their acquisition, they were managed, and their performance evaluated, on a fair value basis in accordance with a documented investment strategy, and information about them was provided on that basis to management. Almost all of these securities are now managed on an accruals basis, but are not eligible for reclassification under IAS 39.

Included in the above balances are amounts owed to the Santander UK group bydue from Banco Santander S.A.SA and other subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA outside the Santander UK group of £nil (2013:(2014: £nil) and £54m (2013: £56m)£nil (2014: £54m) respectively.

The maximum exposure to credit risk on loans and advances designated as held at fair value through profit or loss at the balance sheet date was mitigated by the Santander UK group having a charge over the residential properties in respect of lending to housing associations. See ‘Maximum exposure and net exposure to credit risk’ in the ‘Credit Risk Review’risk review’ section of the Risk Review.review.

The net gain during the year attributable to changes in credit risk for loans and advances designated at fair value was £39m (2014: net gain of £10m, (2013:2013: net loss of £98m, 2012: net loss of £99m)£98m). The cumulative net loss attributable to changes in credit risk for loans and advances designated at fair value at 31 December 20142015 was £248m (2013:£209m (2014: cumulative net loss of £258m)£248m).

Debt securities can be analysed by type of issuer as follows:

 

Group Company            Group            Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Mortgage-backed securities

 226   229   -   -       209       226       -       -  

Other asset-backed securities

 134   87   42   -       62       134       30       42  
 360   316   42   -       271       360       30       42  

Other securities

 262   212   41   -       236       262       30       41  
 622   528   83   -       507       622       60       83  

Debt securities can be analysed by listing status as follows:

 

 Group Company 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Listed in the UK

 302   218   83   -  

Listed elsewhere

 92   88   -   -  

Unlisted(1)

 228   222   -   -  
  622   528   83   -  

    (1)
     Group     Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Listed in the UK

     263       302       60       83  

Listed elsewhere

     31       92       -       -  

Unlisted(1)

     213       228       -       -  
      507       622       60       83  
(1)Includes Social Housing.

258Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements

 

Asset-backed securities can be analysed by the geographical location of the issuer or counterparty as follows:

Annual Report 2015

 31 December 2014  31 December 2013  Income statement 
  Nominal
value
 Book
value
 

Fair

value

 

Fair value as

% of nominal

   Nominal
value
 Book
value
 

Fair

value

 

Fair value as

% of nominal

   2014 2013 
    Country£m £m £m %   £m £m £m %   £m £m 

UK

                                

ABS

 18   42   42   233   -   -   -   -   (3)   -  

MBS

 170   218   218   128    171   218   218   127    (18)   2  
  188   260   260   138    171   218   218   127    (21)   2  

US

MBS

 7   8   8   114    7   10   10   143    1   -  
  7   8   8   114    7   10   10   143    1   -  

Rest of Europe

ABS

 84   92   92   110   96   87   87   91   (17)   (13)  

MBS

 -   -   -   -    1   1   1   100    -   -  
  84   92   92   110    97   88   88   91    (17)   (13)  

Total

 279   360   360   129    275   316   316   115    (37)   (11)  

Asset-backed securities can be analysed by the credit rating of the issuer or counterparty as follows:

  
 31 December 2014  31 December 2013  Income statement 
  Nominal
value
 Book
value
 

Fair

value

 

Fair value as

% of nominal

   Nominal
value
 Book
value
 

Fair

value

 

Fair value as

% of nominal

   2014 2013 
    Credit rating(1)£m £m £m %   £m £m £m %   £m £m 

AAA

MBS

 157   199   199   127    157   203   203   129    (13)   1  
  157   199   199   127    157   203   203   129    (13)   1  

AA

ABS

 14   13   13   93   54   51   51   94   (3)   (4)  

MBS

 20   27   27   135    20   24   24   120    (4)   1  
  34   40   40   118    74   75   75   101    (7)   (3)  

A

ABS

 73   96   96   132   40   34   34   85   (15)   (9)  

MBS

 -   -   -   -    1   1   1   100    -   -  
  73   96   96   132    41   35   35   85    (15)   (9)  

BBB

ABS

 15   25   25   167   2   2   2   100   (2)   -  

MBS

 -   -   -   -    1   1   1   100    -   -  
  15   25   25   167    3   3   3   100    (2)   -  

Total

 279   360   360   129    275   316   316   115    (37)   (11)  

    (1) All exposures are internally rated. External ratings are taken into consideration in the rating process, where available.

Annual Report 2014259


Financial statements

 

 

 

17.15. LOANS AND ADVANCES TO BANKS

 

Group Company            Group     Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Placements with other banks - securities purchased under resale agreements

 273   273   -   -       1,247       273       -       -  

- other

 1,781   2,013   561   499       2,293       1,781       1,330       561  

Amounts due from Banco Santander - securities purchased under resale agreements

 -   50   -   -  

- other

 3   11   -   11  

Amounts due from Banco Santander - other

     8       3       -       -  

Amounts due from Santander UK group undertakings - securities purchased under resale agreements

 -   -   972   1,005       -       -       -       972  

- other

 -   -   4,540   107,752       -       -       17,632       4,540  
 2,057   2,347   6,073   109,267       3,548       2,057       18,962       6,073  

As part of the banking reform programme,In 2015, the intercompany funding arrangements between Santander UK plc and its subsidiary Abbey National Treasury Services plc have beenwere amended so that onlymanagement of the net funding requirement of the commercial bank is passed between Santander UK plc andgroup was transferred from Abbey National Treasury Services plc rather thanto Santander UK plc. These steps were taken as part of a programme that began in 2014 and is still ongoing, to facilitate the gross funding requirements as previously. In preparation for this change, a rationalisationorderly implementation of the current booking model was carried out in 2014. Following this, the legal agreements between Santander UK plc and Abbey National Treasurygroup strategy to transition into a ring-fenced structure in due course pursuant to the requirements of the Financial Services plc were changed. As a result, only trades that generate the actual net funding requirement are reported. The intercompany balances between Santander UK plc and Abbey National Treasury Services plc reduced by £100bn predominantly due to this change.(Banking Reform) Act 2013.

During the years ended 31 December 2015, 2014 2013 and 20122013 no impairment losses were incurred.

Loans and advances to banks are repayable as follows:

 

Group Company            Group     Company 
Repayable:

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

On demand

 734   1,237   2,767   18,191       1,561       734       5,608       2,767  

In not more than 3 months

 360   72   1,447   31,615       171       360       8,073       1,447  

In more than 3 months but not more than 1 year

 73   1   362   10,247       33       73       3,513       362  

In more than 1 year but not more than 5 years

 266   23   982   43,045       1,284       266       1,150       982  

In more than 5 years

 624   1,014   515   6,169       499       624       618       515  
 2,057   2,347   6,073   109,267       3,548       2,057       18,962       6,073  

Loans and advances to banks can be analysed by the geographical location of the issuer or counterparty as follows:

 

Group     Group 
Country

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

UK

 1,311   1,530       1,984       1,311  

Spain

 7   68       11       7  

France

 -   62  

Rest of Europe

 40   110       42       40  

US

 644   527       534       644  

Rest of world

 55   50       977       55  
 2,057   2,347       3,548       2,057  

Loans and advances to banks can be analysed by the credit rating of the issuer or counterparty as follows:

 

 Group 
    Credit rating(1)

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

AAA

 9   -  

AA

 68   172  

AA-

 252   428  

A+

 4   2  

A

 1,353   569  

A-

 289   1,024  

BBB

 78   152  

BB+

 4   -  
  2,057   2,347  

    (1) All exposures are internally rated. External ratings are taken into consideration in the rating process, where available.

            Group 
Credit rating(1)    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

AAA

     -       9  

AA

     414       68  

AA-

     1,049       252  

A+

     706       4  

A

     1,239       1,353  

A-

     65       289  

BBB

     75       78  

BB+

     -       4  
      3,548       2,057  
(1)All exposures are internally rated. External ratings are taken into consideration in the rating process, where available.

 

 

260Santander UK plc

236  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

18.16. LOANS AND ADVANCES TO CUSTOMERS

 

 Group Company 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Advances secured on residential properties

 150,440   148,418   150,431   148,408  

Corporate loans:

- Commercial Business Centre loans

 12,603   11,623   10,544   9,718  

- Social housing

 5,857   5,748   -   44  

- Real estate

 2,800   3,363   314   147  

- Large Corporates

 5,045   4,790   413   567  

- Other

 2,123   612   2,315   1,511  

- Securities acquired under resale agreement

 150   -   -   -  

- Legacy portfolios in run-off:

- Commercial Mortgages

 941   1,153   941   1,154  

- Aviation

 214   375   83   113  

- Shipping

 161   260   35   39  

- Other

 109   260   85   131  
  30,003   28,184   14,730   13,424  

Finance leases:

- Consumer finance

 2,220   2,048   -   -  

- Other corporate

 314   942   -   -  

- Legacy portfolios in run-off: Other

 105   168   -   -  
  2,639   3,158   -   -  

Secured advances

 15   -   -   -  

Other unsecured loans:

- Overdrafts

 877   994   877   993  

- UPLs

 3,053   2,859   2,318   2,066  

- Other loans

 2,306   1,716   2,307   48  
  6,236   5,569   5,502   3,107  

Amounts due from fellow Banco Santander group subsidiaries and joint ventures

 797   813   10   11  

Amounts due from subsidiaries

 -   -   944   832  

Loans and advances to customers

 190,130   186,142   171,617   165,782  

Less: impairment loss allowances

 (1,439)   (1,555)   (1,406)   (1,389)  

Loans and advances to customers, net of impairment loss allowances

 188,691   184,587   170,211   164,393  
    Repayable:            

On demand

 925   1,324   939   1,072  

In no more than 3 months

 2,800   4,594   1,662   3,498  

In more than 3 months but not more than 1 year

 4,234   7,590   2,325   5,453  

In more than 1 year but not more than 5 years

 26,031   34,669   17,643   25,858  

In more than 5 years

 156,140   137,965   149,048   129,901  

Loans and advances to customers

 190,130   186,142   171,617   165,782  

Less: impairment loss allowances

 (1,439)   (1,555)   (1,406)   (1,389)  

Loans and advances to customers, net of impairment loss allowances

 188,691   184,587   170,211   164,393  

Re-categorisation of loans and loan loss allowances

During 2014, loans and loan loss allowances were re-categorised to align definitions with industry practices and which also conform to changes in regulatory definitions. There was no change in the total amount of impairment loss allowances, and the change did not reflect any change in credit quality of the assets. The information for previous years presented in the tables that follow has been adjusted for comparability. Details of the re-categorisation by portfolio are as follows:

Advances secured on residential property and other unsecured advances which are in arrears are regarded as impaired where they are three months or more past due i.e. when there is sufficient reliable evidence of a loss event. Such loans are classified as individually impaired and the associated loan loss allowances are presented as part of the observed provision. Previously, advances were also classified as individually impaired where they were in early arrears (i.e. more than one month but less than three months past due) with the associated loan loss allowances presented as part of the observed provision (collective). Impairment loss allowances on advances in early arrears are now presented as part of the IBNO provision.

Corporate loans and other secured advances in arrears are also regarded as impaired where they are three months or more past due, or if they are individually assessed sub-standard loans. Such loans are classified as individually impaired and are assessed as part of the observed provision. Previously, corporate loans and other secured advances which were exhibiting earlier signs of stress (i.e. included on the Watchlist or collectively assessed sub-standard loans) were also classified as individually impaired and the associated loan loss allowances presented as part of the observed provision (collective). Impairment loss allowances on advances in early arrears are now presented as part of the IBNO provision.

The impact of the change on the analysis of loan loss allowance balances at 31 December 2014 was:

             Group 
  

Loans secured

on residential

property

£m

 

Corporate

Loans

£m

 

Finance

leases

£m

 

Other

unsecured

advances

£m

 

Total

£m

 

Re-categorisation at 31 December 2014:

- Observed

- Individual

 -   -   -   -   -  

- Collective

 (64)   (21)   -   (33)   (118)  

- Incurred but not yet observed

 64   21   -   33   118  
  -   -   -   -   -  

Annual Report 2014261


Financial statements

            Group            Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Advances secured on residential properties

     153,261       150,440       153,255       150,431  

Corporate loans

     31,910       30,003       15,603       14,730  

Finance leases

     6,306       2,639       -       -  

Secured advances

     13       15       -       -  

Other unsecured loans

     6,343       6,236       6,153       5,502  

Amounts due from fellow Banco Santander group subsidiaries and joint ventures

     1,367       797       10       10  

Amounts due from Santander UK Group Holdings plc

     2       -       2       -  

Amounts due from subsidiaries

     -       -       7,759       944  

Loans and advances to customers

     199,202       190,130       182,782       171,617  

Less: impairment loss allowances

     (1,157)       (1,439)       (1,174)       (1,406)  

Loans and advances to customers, net of impairment loss allowances

     198,045       188,691       181,608       170,211  
Repayable:                            

On demand

     1,243       925       1,096       939  

In no more than 3 months

     4,684       2,800       3,810       1,662  

In more than 3 months but not more than 1 year

     5,687       4,234       4,823       2,325  

In more than 1 year but not more than 5 years

     28,783       26,031       21,262       17,643  

In more than 5 years

     158,805       156,140       151,791       149,048  

Loans and advances to customers

     199,202       190,130       182,782       171,617  

Less: impairment loss allowances

     (1,157)       (1,439)       (1,174)       (1,406)  

Loans and advances to customers, net of impairment loss allowances

     198,045       188,691       181,608       170,211  

Movement in impairment loss allowances:

 

                                Group 
2015    

Loans secured

on residential

property

£m

     

Corporate

Loans

£m

     

Finance

leases

£m

     

Other

unsecured

advances

£m

     

Total

£m

 

At 1 January 2015:

                    

- Observed

                    

- Individual

     27       354       -       -       381  

- Collective

     221       58       7       85       371  

- Incurred but not yet observed

     331       146       47       163       687  
     579       558       54       248       1,439  

Charge/(release) to the income statement:

                    

- Observed

                    

- Individual

     (1)       39       -       -       38  

- Collective

     (56)       (15)       12       248       189  

- Incurred but not yet observed

     (66)       (30)       8       17       (71)  
     (123)       (6)       20       265       156  

Write offs and other items(1)

     (32)       (157)       (5)       (244)       (438)  

At 31 December 2015:

                    

- Observed

                    

- Individual

     26       237       -       -       263  

- Collective

     133       45       12       78       268  

- Incurred but not yet observed

     265       113       57       191       626  
     424       395       69       269       1,157  
            Group 
2014

Loans secured

on residential

property

£m

 

Corporate

Loans

£m

 

Finance

leases

£m

 

Other

unsecured

advances

£m

 

Total

£m

                                    

At 1 January 2014:

                    

- Observed

                    

- Individual

 39   388   -   -   427       39       388       -       -       427  

- Collective

 264   94   8   80   446       264       94       8       80       446  

- Incurred but not yet observed

 290   151   36   205   682       290       151       36       205       682  
 593   633   44   285   1,555       593       633       44       285       1,555  

Charge/(release) to the income statement:

                    

- Observed

                    

- Individual

 (12)   116   -   -   104       (12)       116       -       -       104  

- Collective

 13   (36)   6   277   260       13       (36)       6       277       260  

- Incurred but not yet observed

 41   (5)   11   (42)   5       41       (5)       11       (42)       5  
 42   75   17   235   369       42       75       17       235       369  

Write offs and other items(1)

 (56)   (150)   (7)   (272)   (485)       (56)       (150)       (7)       (272)       (485)  

At 31 December 2014:

                    

- Observed

                    

- Individual

 27   354   -   -   381       27       354       -       -       381  

- Collective

 221   58   7   85   371       221       58       7       85       371  

- Incurred but not yet observed

 331   146   47   163   687       331       146       47       163       687  
 579   558   54   248   1,439       579       558       54       248       1,439  
2013               

At 1 January 2013:

- Observed

- Individual

 58   624   -   11   693  

- Collective

 241   110   6   135   492  

- Incurred but not yet observed

 253   162   34   168   617  
 552   896   40   314   1,802  

Charge/(release) to the income statement:

- Observed

- Individual

 (19)   146   -   (11)   116  

- Collective

 112   (16)   12   327   435  

- Incurred but not yet observed

 37   (11)   2   (3)   25  
 130   119   14   313   576  

Write offs and other items(1)

 (89)   (382)   (10)   (342)   (823)  

At 31 December 2013:

- Observed

- Individual

 39   388   -   -   427  

- Collective

 264   94   8   80   446  

- Incurred but not yet observed

 290   151   36   205   682  
 593   633   44   285   1,555  
2012               

At 1 January 2012:

- Observed

- Individual

 59   407   -   -   466  

- Collective

 260   -   6   185   451  

- Incurred but not yet observed

 159   127   31   195   512  
 478   534   37   380   1,429  

Charge/(release) to the income statement:

- Observed

- Individual

 (1)   432   -   11   442  

- Collective

 56   110   12   327   505  

- Incurred but not yet observed

 94   35   4   (27)   106  
 149   577   16   311   1,053  

Write offs and other items

 (75)   (215)   (13)   (377)   (680)  

At 31 December 2012:

- Observed

- Individual

 58   624   -   11   693  

- Collective

 241   110   6   135   492  

- Incurred but not yet observed

 253   162   34   168   617  
 552   896   40   314   1,802  

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

                                 Group 
2013    

Loans secured

on residential

property

£m

     

Corporate

Loans

£m

     

Finance

leases

£m

     

Other

unsecured

advances

£m

     

Total

£m

 

At 1 January 2013:

                    

- Observed

                    

- Individual

     58       624       -       11       693  

- Collective

     241       110       6       135       492  

- Incurred but not yet observed

     253       162       34       168       617  
      552       896       40       314       1,802  

Charge/(release) to the income statement:

                    

- Observed

                    

- Individual

     (19)       146       -       (11)       116  

- Collective

     112       (16)       12       327       435  

- Incurred but not yet observed

     37       (11)       2       (3)       25  
      130       119       14       313       576  

Write offs and other items(1)

     (89)       (382)       (10)       (342)       (823)  

At 31 December 2013:

                    

- Observed

                    

- Individual

     39       388       -       -       427  

- Collective

     264       94       8       80       446  

- Incurred but not yet observed

     290       151       36       205       682  
      593       633       44       285       1,555  
(1)

Mortgage write-offs exclude the effect of the unwind over time of the discounting in estimating losses, as described in the accounting policy ‘Impairment of financial assets’ in Note 1. Mortgage write-offs including this effect were £68m (2013: £103m)£40m (2014: £68m).

Loans and advances to customers have the following interest rate structures:

 

Group Company            Group            Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Fixed rate

 95,454   69,038   87,992   61,260       104,501       95,454       96,472       87,992  

Variable rate

 94,676   117,104   83,625   104,522       94,701       94,676       86,310       83,625  

Less: impairment loss allowances

 (1,439)   (1,555)   (1,406)   (1,389)       (1,157)       (1,439)       (1,174)       (1,406)  
 188,691   184,587   170,211   164,393       198,045       188,691       181,608       170,211  

 

                                 Company 
      

Loans secured

on residential

property

£m

     

Amounts

due from

subsidiaries

£m

     

Corporate

Loans

£m

     

Other

unsecured

advances

£m

     

Total

£m

 

At 1 January 2015

     579       232       388       207       1,406  

Charge to the income statement

     (122)       -       33       191       102  

Write offs and other items

     (31)       -       (100)       (203)       (334)  

At 31 December 2015

     426       232       321       195       1,174  

At 1 January 2014

     593       232       402       162       1,389  

Charge to the income statement

     42       -       92       213       347  

Write offs and other items

     (56)       -       (106)       (168)       (330)  

At 31 December 2014

     579       232       388       207       1,406  

At 1 January 2013

     551       232       347       185       1,315  

Charge to the income statement

     131       -       222       241       594  

Write offs and other items

     (89)       -       (167)       (264)       (520)  

At 31 December 2013

     593       232       402       162       1,389  

Recoveries:

                                 Group 
      

Loans secured

on residential

property

£m

     

Corporate

Loans

£m

     

Finance

leases

£m

     

Other

unsecured

advances

£m

     

Total

£m

 

2015

     2       3       2       83       90  

2014

     3       4       2       102       111  

2013

     4       8       2       87       101  

 

 

262Santander UK plc

238  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

             Company 
  

Loans secured

on residential

property

£m

 

Amounts

due from

subsidiaries

£m

 

Corporate

Loans

£m

 

Other

unsecured

advances

£m

 

Total

£m

 

At 1 January 2014

 593   232   402   162   1,389  

Charge to the income statement

 42   -   92   213   347  

Write offs and other items

 (56)   -   (106)   (168)   (330)  

At 31 December 2014

 579   232   388   207   1,406  

At 1 January 2013

 551   232   347   185   1,315  

Charge to the income statement

 131   -   222   241   594  

Write offs and other items

 (89)   -   (167)   (264)   (520)  

At 31 December 2013

 593   232   402   162   1,389  

At 1 January 2012

 477   244   241   249   1,211  

Charge to the income statement

 149   -   204   233   586  

Write offs and other items

 (75)   (12)   (98)   (297)   (482)  

At 31 December 2012

 551   232   347   185   1,315  

 

Recoveries:

 

             Group 
  

Loans secured

on residential

property

£m

 

Corporate

Loans

£m

 

Finance

leases

£m

 

Other

unsecured

advances

£m

 

Total

£m

 

2014

 3   4   2   102   111  

2013

 4   8   2   87   101  

2012

 2   6   2   55   65  

Finance lease and hire purchase contract receivables may be analysed as follows:

 

Group Company     Group 
Gross investment:

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Within 1 year

 1,190   1,436   -   -       3,264       1,190  

Between 1-5 years

 1,591   1,840   -   -       3,405       1,591  

In more than 5 years

 277   363   -   -       253       277  
 3,058   3,639   -   -       6,922       3,058  

Less: unearned future finance income

 (419)   (481)   -   -       (616)       (419)  

Net investment

 2,639   3,158   -   -           6,306           2,639  

The net investment in finance leases and hire purchase contracts represents amounts recoverable as follows:

 

Group Company     Group 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Within 1 year

 1,056   1,259   -   -       2,937       1,056  

Between 1-5 years

 1,403   1,651   -   -       3,191       1,403  

In more than 5 years

 180   248   -   -       178       180  
 2,639   3,158   -   -           6,306           2,639  

At 31 December 2015 and 2014, the Company had no finance lease and hire purchase contract receivables. The Santander UK group enters into finance leasing arrangements primarily for the financing of motor vehicles and a range of assets to its corporate customers. Included in the carrying value of net investment in finance leases and hire purchase contracts is £47m (2013: £49m)£38m (2014: £47m) of unguaranteed residual value at the end of the current lease terms, which is expected to be recovered through re-letting or sale. Contingent rent income of £4m (2014: £5m, (2013: £11m, 2012: £14m)2013: £11m) was earned during the year, which was classified in ‘Interest and similar income’.

Finance lease receivable balances are secured over the asset leased. The Santander UK group is not permitted to sell or repledge the asset in the absence of default by the lessee. The Directors consider that the carrying amount of the finance lease receivables approximates to their fair value.

Included within loans and advances to customers are advances assigned to bankruptcy remote structured entities and Abbey Covered Bonds LLP. These loans provide security to issues of covered bonds and asset or mortgage backed securities made by the Santander UK group. See Note 1917 for further details.

 

 

Annual Report 2014263


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

19.17. SECURITISATIONS AND COVERED BONDS

The Santander UK group uses Structured Entitiesstructured entities to securitise some of the mortgage and other loans to customers that it originated. The Santander UK group also issues covered bonds, which are guaranteed by a pool of the Santander UK group’s mortgage loans that it has transferred into Abbey Covered Bonds LLP. The Santander UK group issues mortgage-backed securities, other asset-backed securities and covered bonds mainly in order to obtain diverse, low cost funding, but also to be used as collateral for raising funds via third party bilateral secured funding transactions or for creating collateral which could in the future be used for liquidity purposes. The Santander UK group has successfully used bilateral secured transactions as an additional form of medium term funding; this has allowed the Santander UK group to further diversify its medium term funding investor base. The Santander UK group’s principal securitisation programmes and covered bond programme, together with the balances of the advances subject to securitisation and the carrying value of the notes in issue at 31 December 20142015 and 20132014 are listed below. The related notes in issue are set out in Note 32.30.

Loans and advances to customers include portfolios of residential mortgage loans, and receivables derived from credit agreements with retail customers for the purchases of financed vehicles, which are subject to non-recourse finance arrangements. These loans and receivables have been purchased by, or assigned to, structured entities or Abbey Covered Bonds LLP, and have been funded primarily through the issue of mortgage-backed securities, asset backedother asset-backed securities or covered bonds. No gain or loss has been recognised as a result of these sales. The structured entities and Abbey Covered Bonds LLP are consolidated in the Santander UK group financial statements as subsidiaries. The Company and its subsidiaries do not own directly, or indirectly, any of the share capital of any of the structured entities.

a) Securitisations

The balances of loans and advances to customers subject to securitisation at 31 December 20142015 and 20132014 under the structures described below were:

 

2014 2013     2015     2014 

Gross assets

securitised

£m

 

Gross assets

securitised

£m

     

Gross assets

securitised

£m

     

Gross assets

securitised

£m

 

Master Trust Structures:

        

- Holmes

 9,088   12,389       7,045       9,088  

- Fosse

 11,195   14,482       8,902       11,195  

- Langton

 8,127   9,647       6,683       8,127  

Other securitisation structures:

        

- Motor

 1,151   1,055       1,069       1,151  

- Auto ABS UK Loans

     1,138       -  
 29,561   37,573       24,837       29,561  

i) Master Trust Structures

The Santander UK group makes use of a type of securitisation known as a master trust structure. In this structure, a pool of assets is assigned to a trust company by the asset originator. A funding entity acquires a beneficial interest in the pool of assets held by the trust company with funds borrowed from qualifying structured entities, which at the same time issue asset-backed securities to third-party investors or the Santander UK group. The trust company holds the pool of assets on trust for the funding entity and the originator. The originator holds a beneficial interest over the share of the pool of assets not purchased by the funding entity, known as the seller share.

The Company and its subsidiaries are under no obligation to support any losses that may be incurred by the securitisation companies or holders of the securities and do not intend to provide such further support. Holders of the securities are only entitled to obtain payment of principal and interest to the extent that the resources of the securitisation companies are sufficient to support such payments, and the holders of the securities have agreed in writing not to seek recourse in any other form.

Santander UK plc and its subsidiaries receive payments from the securitisation companies in respect of fees for administering the loans, and payment of deferred consideration for the sale of the loans. Santander UK plc and its subsidiaries have no right or obligation to repurchase any securitised loan, except if certain representations and warranties given by Santander UK plc or its subsidiaries at the time of transfer are breached and, in certain cases, if there is a product switch.

264Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements

Holmes

Outstanding balances of assets securitised and notes in issue (non-recourse finance) under the Holmes securitisation structure at 31 December 20142015 and 20132014 were:

 

                                                                                                                                                                        
        2014       2013                        2015                   2014 
Securitisation company

Closing date

of securitisation

 

    Gross assets

securitised

£m

 

            Notes in
issue

£m

 

Issued to
      Santander
UK plc as
collateral

£m

 

        Gross assets

securitised

£m

 

            Notes in
issue

£m

 

Issued to
      Santander
UK plc as
collateral

£m

     

Closing date

of securitisation

    

Gross assets

securitised

£m

     

Notes in
issue

£m

     

Issued to
Santander UK
plc as
collateral

£m

     

Gross assets

securitised

£m

     

Notes in

issue

£m

     

Issued to
Santander UK
plc as
collateral

£m

 

Holmes Master Issuer plc – 2010/1

 12 November 2010   1,425   875   601   1,934   1,395   601      12 November 2010     1,199       674       601       1,425       875       601  

Holmes Master Issuer plc – 2011/1

 9 February 2011   1,064   652   451   1,692   1,295   451      9 February 2011     809       409       451       1,064       652       451  

Holmes Master Issuer plc – 2011/2

 24 March 2011   -   -   -   161   166   -  

Holmes Master Issuer plc – 2011/3

 21 September 2011   1,288   1,335   -   1,706   1,760   -      21 September 2011     599       637       -       1,288       1,335       -  

Holmes Master Issuer plc – 2012/1

 24 January 2012   1,670   1,119   612   2,176   1,633   612      24 January 2012     778       216       612       1,670       1,119       612  

Holmes Master Issuer plc – 2012/2

 17 April 2012   947   805   176   905   758   176      17 April 2012     960       845       176       947       805       176  

Holmes Master Issuer plc – 2012/3

 7 June 2012   618   640   -   615   635   -      7 June 2012     606       645       -       618       640       -  

Holmes Master Issuer plc – 2012/4

 24 August 2012   385   218   181   702   543   181      24 August 2012     -       -       -       385       218       181  

Holmes Master Issuer plc – 2013/1

 30 May 2013   579   500   100   1,021   954   100      30 May 2013     443       386       85       579       500       100  

Beneficial interest in mortgages held by Holmes Trustees Ltd

  1,112   -   -   1,477   -   -            1,651       -       -       1,112       -       -  
 9,088   6,144   2,121   12,389   9,139   2,121           7,045       3,812       1,925       9,088       6,144       2,121  

Less: Held by the Santander UK group

  -  

Less: Held by the Santander UK group

         -               -      

Total securitisations (See Note 32)

 6,144   9,139  

Total securitisations (See Note 30)

             3,812               6,144      

240  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

Using a master trust structure, Santander UK plc has assigned portfolios of residential mortgages and their related security to Holmes Trustees Limited, a trust company that holds the portfolios of mortgages on trust for Santander UK plc and Holmes Funding Limited. Proceeds from notes issued to third party investors or the Santander UK group by SPE’sstructured entities under the Holmes master trust structure have been loaned to Holmes Funding Limited, which in turn used the funds to purchase its referred beneficial interests in the portfolio of assets held by Holmes Trustees Limited. The minimum value of assets required to be held by Holmes Trustees Limited is a function of the notes in issue under the Holmes master trust structure and Santander UK plc’s required minimum share. The Holmes securitisation companies have placed cash deposits totalling £552m (2013: £553m)£303m (2014: £552m), which have been accumulated to finance the redemption of a number of securities issued by the Holmes securitisation companies. The share of Holmes Funding Limited in the trust assets is therefore reduced by this amount.

Holmes Funding Limited has a beneficial interest of £8bn (2013: £10.9bn)£5.4bn (2014: £8.0bn) in the residential mortgage loans held by Holmes Trustees Limited, the remaining share of the beneficial interest in residential mortgage loans held by Holmes Trustees Limited belongs to Santander UK plc.

In 2014,2015, there were no mortgage-backed notes issued from Holmes Master Issuer plc (2013: £1.1bn)(2014: £nil). Mortgage-backed securities totalling £3.1bn (2013: £1.7bn)£2.7bn (2014: £3.1bn) equivalent were redeemed during the year.

Fosse

Outstanding balances of assets securitised and notes in issue (non-recourse finance) under the Fosse securitisation structure at 31 December 20142015 and 20132014 were:

 

                                                                                                                                                                        
        2014       2013                        2015                   2014 
Securitisation company

Closing date

of securitisation

 

    Gross assets

securitised

£m

 

            Notes in
issue

£m

 

Issued to
          Santander
UK plc as
collateral

£m

 

        Gross assets

securitised

£m

 

            Notes in
issue

£m

 

Issued to
      Santander
UK plc as
collateral

£m

     

Closing date

of securitisation

    

Gross assets

securitised

£m

     

Notes
in
issue

£m

     

Issued to
Santander
UK plc as
collateral

£m

     

Gross assets

securitised

£m

     

Notes
in
issue

£m

     

Issued to
Santander UK
plc as
collateral

£m

 

Fosse Master Issuer plc – 2010/1

 12 March 2010   1,340   1,017   390   1,633   1,264   390      12 March 2010     494       535       -       1,340       1,017       390  

Fosse Master Issuer plc – 2010/3

 27 July 2010   2,332   1,945   501   2,661   2,194   501      27 July 2010     742       803       -       2,332       1,945       501  

Fosse Master Issuer plc – 2011/1

 25 May 2011   1,483   590   967   3,527   2,605   967      25 May 2011     1,256       392       967       1,483       590       967  

Fosse Master Issuer plc – 2011/2

 6 December 2011   942   754   235   1,064   842   235      6 December 2011     513       320       235       942       754       235  

Fosse Master Issuer plc – 2012/1

 22 May 2012   1,941   1,752   286   2,238   1,980   286      22 May 2012     812       774       105       1,941       1,752       286  

Fosse Master Issuer plc – 2014/1

 19 June 2014   996   1,046   -   -   -   -      19 June 2014     463       501       -       996       1,046       -  

Fosse Master Issuer plc – 2015/1

    24 March 2015     805       871       -       -       -       -  

Beneficial interest in mortgages held by Fosse Master Trust Ltd

  2,161   -   -   3,359   -   -            3,817       -       -       2,161       -       -  
 11,195   7,104   2,379   14,482   8,885   2,379           8,902       4,196       1,307       11,195       7,104       2,379  

Less: Held by the Santander UK group

 -   -  

Less: Held by the Santander UK group

  

     -               -      

Total securitisations (See Note 32)

 7,104   8,885  

Total securitisations (See Note 30)

             4,196               7,104      

The Fosse Master Trust securitisation structure was established in 2006. Notes were issued by Fosse Master Issuer plc to third party investors and the proceeds loaned to Fosse Funding (No. 1) Limited, which in turn used the funds to purchase beneficial interests in mortgages held by Fosse Trustee Limited.

Both Fosse Funding (No. 1)(No.1) Limited and Santander UK plc have a beneficial interest in the mortgages held in trust by Fosse Trustee Limited. The minimum value of assets required to be held by Fosse Trustee Limited is a function of the notes in issue under the Fosse master trust structure and Santander UK plc’s required minimum share.

Fosse Master Issuer plc has cash deposits totalling £702m (2013: £351m)£439m (2014: £702m), which have been accumulated to finance the redemption of a number of securities issued by Fosse Master Issuer plc. Fosse Funding (No.1) Limited’s beneficial interest in the assets held by Fosse Trustee Limited is therefore reduced by this amount.

In 2014,2015, £1bn (2013: £nil)(2014: £1bn) of mortgage-backed notes were issued from Fosse Master Issuer plc. Mortgage-backed notes totalling £2.9bn (2013: £4.9bn)£5.1bn (2014: £2.9bn) equivalent were redeemed during the year.

Annual Report 2014265


Financial statements

Langton

Outstanding balances of assets securitised and notes in issue (non-recourse finance) under the Langton securitisation structure at 31 December 20142015 and 20132014 were:

 

                                                                                                                                                                        
        2014       2013                  2015             2014 
Securitisation company

Closing date

of securitisation

 

Gross assets

securitised

£m

 

Notes in
issue

£m

 

Issued to
Santander
UK plc as
collateral

£m

 

Gross assets

securitised

£m

 

Notes in
issue

£m

 

Issued to
            Santander
UK plc as
collateral

£m

     

Closing date

of securitisation

  

Gross assets

securitised

£m

   

Notes in

issue

£m

   

Issued to
Santander UK
plc as
collateral

£m

   

Gross assets

securitised

£m

   

Notes in

issue

£m

   

Issued to
Santander UK
plc as
collateral

£m

 

Langton Securities (2010-1) plc (1)

 1 October 2010   1,606   -   1,599   1,618   -   1,599      1 October 2010   1,363     -     1,384     1,606     -     1,599  

Langton Securities (2010-1) plc (2)

 12 October 2010   1,288   -   1,282   1,299   -   1,282      12 October 2010   876     -     889     1,288     -     1,282  

Langton Securities (2010-2) plc (1)

 12 October 2010   778   -   775   796   -   786      12 October 2010   601     -     610     778     -     775  

Langton Securities (2008-1) plc (2)

 23 March 2011   1,839   -   1,831   2,198   -   2,171      23 March 2011   1,352     -     1,372     1,839     -     1,831  

Langton Securities (2010-2) plc (2)

 28 July 2011   1,542   -   1,535   1,470   -   1,452      28 July 2011   1,580     -     1,604     1,542     -     1,535  

Beneficial interest in mortgages held by Langton Master Trust Ltd

  1,074   -   -   2,266   -   -          911     -     -     1,074     -     -  
  8,127   -   7,022   9,647   -   7,290          6,683     -     5,859     8,127     -     7,022  

The Langton Master Trust securitisation structure was established on 25 January 2008. Notes were issued by the Langton Securities (2008-1) plc, Langton Securities (2010-1) plc and Langton Securities (2010-2) plcentities to Santander UK plc for the purpose of creating collateral to be used for funding and liquidity. Each entity loaned the proceeds of the Notes issued to Langton Funding (No.1) Limited, which in turn used the funds to purchase a beneficial interest in the mortgages held by Langton Mortgages Trustee Limited.

Both Langton Funding (No. 1)(No.1) Limited and Santander UK plc have a beneficial interest in the mortgages held in trust by Langton Mortgages Trustee Limited. The minimum value of assets required to be held by Langton Mortgages Trustee Limited is a function of the notes in issue under the Langton master trust structure and Santander UK plc’s required minimum share.

In 20142015 and 2013,2014, there were no issuances from any of the Langton issuing companies. Mortgage-backed notes totalling £0.3bn (2013: £0.8bn)£1.3bn (2014: £0.3bn) equivalent were redeemed during the year.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

ii) Other securitisation structures

Motor

In 2014, theThe Santander UK group issued £1bnissues notes (2013: £0.9bn) through pass-through stand-alone vehicles for the securitisation of receivables derived from credit agreements with retail customers for the purchases of financed vehicles.

Motor

Outstanding balances of assets securitised and notes in issue (non-recourse finance) under the Motor securitisation structure at 31 December 20142015 and 20132014 were:

 

                                                                                                                                                                        
        2014       2013                        2015                 2014 
Securitisation company

Closing date

of securitisation

 

Gross assets

securitised

£m

 

Notes in issue

£m

 

Issued to
Santander
Consumer
(UK) plc as
collateral

£m

 

Gross assets

securitised

£m

 

Notes in
issue

£m

 

Issued to
Santander
Consumer (UK)

plc as collateral

£m

     

Closing date

of securitisation

    

Gross assets

securitised

£m

     

Notes in

issue

£m

     

Issued to
Santander
Consumer (UK)
plc as collateral

£m

     

Gross assets

securitised

£m

     

Notes in

issue

£m

   

Issued to
Santander
Consumer (UK)
plc as collateral

£m

 

Motor 2012 plc

 19 September 2012   140   -   154   409   346   221      19 September 2012     -       -       -       140       -     154  

Motor 2013 plc

 19 June 2013   328   173   176   646   498   176  

Motor 2014 plc

 16 April 2014   683   573   163   -   -   -  

Motor 2013-1 plc

    19 June 2013     -       -       -       328       173     176  

Motor 2014-1 plc

    16 April 2014     343       213       163       683       573     163  

Motor 2015-1 plc

    02 March 2015     726       628       136       -       -     -  
 1,151   746   493   1,055   844   397           1,069       841       299       1,151       746     493  

Less: Held by the Santander UK group

 -   -  

Less: Held by the Santander UK group

  

     -               -    

Total securitisations (See Note 32)

 746   844  

Total securitisations (See Note 30)

             841               746    

In 2015, £0.8bn (2014: £1bn) of asset-backed notes were issued from Motor 2015 plc. Asset-backed notes totalling £0.9bn (2014: £1bn) equivalent were redeemed during the year.

Auto ABS Loans UK

As part of the acquisition of PSA Finance UK Limited in the first half of 2015, as described in Note 46, the Santander UK group recognised £1.2bn notes issued through Auto ABS Loans UK plc.

Outstanding balances of assets securitised and notes in issue (non-recourse finance) at 31 December 2015 and 2014 were:

                        2015                   2014 
Securitisation company    

Closing date

of securitisation

    

Gross assets

securitised

£m

     

Notes in

issue

£m

     

Issued to PSA
Finance UK
Limited as
collateral

£m

     

Gross assets

securitised

£m

     

Notes in

issue

£m

     

Issued to PSA
Finance UK
Limited as
collateral

£m

 

Auto ABS Loans UK plc

    21 December 2012     1,138       996       188       -       -       -  
         1,138       996       188       -       -       -  

Less: Held by the Santander UK group

  

     -               -      

Total securitisations (See Note 30)

         996               -      

In 2015, £35m of asset-backed notes were issued from Auto ABS Loans UK plc. No asset-backed notes were redeemed during the year.

b) Covered Bonds

The Santander UK group also issues covered bonds. In this structure, Abbey National Treasury Services plc (the ‘Issuer’)Issuer) issues covered bonds, which are a direct, unsecured and unconditional obligation of the Issuer. The covered bonds benefit from a guarantee from Santander UK plc and Abbey Covered Bonds LLP. The Issuer makes a term advance to Abbey Covered Bonds LLP equal to the sterling proceeds of each issue of covered bonds. Abbey Covered Bonds LLP uses the proceeds of the term advance to purchase portfolios of residential mortgage loans and their security from Santander UK plc. Under the terms of the guarantee, Abbey Covered Bonds LLP has agreed to pay an amount equal to the guaranteed amounts when the same shall become due for payment but which would otherwise be unpaid by the Issuer or Santander UK plc.

Outstanding balances of loans and advances assigned to the covered bond programme at 31 December 2015 and 2014 and 2013 were:

                                                                                                                                                                        
       2014       2013                   2015                   2014 
  

Gross assets

assigned

£m

 

        Notes in issue

£m

 

Issued to
Santander UK

plc as
collateral

£m

 

Gross assets

assigned

£m

 

Notes in issue

£m

 

Issued to
Santander UK

plc as collateral

£m

     

Gross assets

assigned

£m

     

Notes in

issue

£m

     

Issued to
Santander UK

plc as collateral

£m

     

Gross assets

assigned

£m

     

Notes in

issue

£m

     

Issued to
Santander UK
plc as collateral

£m

 

Euro 35bn Global Covered Bond Programme

  25,598   18,379   -   21,215   18,379   -       23,613       17,760       -       25,598       18,379       -  

Less: Held by the Santander UK group

 -   -           (1,720)               -      

Total Covered Bonds (See Note 32)

 18,379   18,379  

Total Covered Bonds (See Note 30)

         16,040               18,379      

For further information on the Euro 35bn Global Covered Bond Programme, see Note 32.

30.

 

 

266Santander UK plc

242  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

20.18. TRANSFERS OF FINANCIAL ASSETS NOT QUALIFYING FOR DERECOGNITION

The Santander UK group enters into transactions in the normal course of business by which it transfers recognised financial assets directly to third parties or to structured entities. These transfers may give rise to the full or partial derecognition of the financial assets concerned.

 

>-

Full derecognition occurs when the Santander UK group transfers its contractual right to receive cash flows from the financial assets, or retains the right but assumes an obligation to pass on the cash flows from the asset, and transfers substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership. The risks include credit, interest rate, currency, prepayment and other price risks.

risks
>-

Partial derecognition occurs when the Santander UK group sells or otherwise transfers financial assets in such a way that some but not substantially all of the risks and rewards of ownership are transferred but control is retained. These financial assets are recognised on the balance sheet to the extent of the Santander UK group’s continuing involvement. There are no assets subject to partial derecognition.

Financial assets that do not qualify for derecognition consist of (i) securities held by counterparties as collateral under repurchase agreements, (ii) securities lent under securities lending agreements, and (iii) loans that have been securitised under arrangements by which the Santander UK group retains a continuing involvement in such transferred assets.

As the substance of the sale and repurchase and securities lending transactions is secured borrowings, the asset collateral continues to be recognised in full and the related liability reflecting the Santander UK group’s obligation to repurchase the transferred assets for a fixed price at a future date is recognised in deposits from banks or customers, as appropriate. As a result of these transactions, the Santander UK group is unable to use, sell or pledge the transferred assets for the duration of the transaction. The Santander UK group remains exposed to interest rate risk and credit risk on these pledged instruments. The counterparty’s recourse is not limited to the transferred assets.

The Santander UK group securitisation transfers do not qualify for derecognition. The Santander UK group remains exposed to credit risks arising from the mortgage loans and has retained control of the transferred assets. Circumstances in which the Santander UK group has continuing involvement in the transferred assets may include retention of servicing rights over the transferred assets, entering into a derivative transaction with the securitisation vehicle, retaining an interest in the securitisation vehicle or providing a cash reserve fund. Where the Santander UK group has continuing involvement it continues to recognise the transferred assets to the extent of its continuing involvement and recognises an associated liability. The net carrying amount of the transferred assets and associated liabilities reflects the rights and obligations that the Santander UK group has retained.

The following table analyses the carrying amount of financial assets that did not qualify for derecognition and their associated financial liabilities:

 

                                                                                                
 Group 
  2014 2014 2013 2013 
     Nature of transaction

Carrying
amount of
transferred
assets

£m

 

Carrying
amount of
associated
liabilities

£m

 

Carrying
amount of
transferred
assets

£m

 

Carrying
amount of
associated
liabilities

£m

 

Sale and repurchase agreements

 6,851   5,829   1,177   1,073  

Securities lending agreements

 626   474   5,196   5,144  

Securitisations (See Notes 19 and 32)

 21,434   13,994   37,573   18,868  
  28,911   20,297   43,946   25,085  
 Company 
  2014 2014 2013 2013 
     Nature of transaction

Carrying
amount of
transferred
assets

£m

 Carrying
amount of
associated
liabilities
£m
 

Carrying
amount of
transferred
assets

£m

 

Carrying
amount of
associated
liabilities

£m

 

Sale and repurchase agreements

 956   902   1,628   1527  

Securities lending agreements

 -   -   -   -  

Securitisations (See Notes 19 and 32)

 -   -   -   -  
  956   902   1,628   1527  

     Group 
      2015     2015     2014     2014 
     Carrying
amount of
transferred
assets
     Carrying
amount of
associated
liabilities
     Carrying
amount of
transferred
assets
     Carrying
amount of
associated
liabilities
 
Nature of transaction    £m     £m     £m     £m 

Sale and repurchase agreements

     3,856       3,564       6,851       5,829  

Securities lending agreements

     650       600       626       474  

Securitisations (See Notes 17 and 30)

     18,049       9,844       21,434       13,994  
      22,555       14,008       28,911       20,297  
     Company 
      2015     2015     2014     2014 
     Carrying
amount of
transferred
assets
     Carrying
amount of
associated
liabilities
     Carrying
amount of
transferred
assets
     Carrying
amount of
associated
liabilities
 
Nature of transaction    £m     £m     £m     £m 

Sale and repurchase agreements

     -       -       956       902  

 

 

Annual Report 2014267


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

21.19. LOANS AND RECEIVABLES SECURITIES

 

                                                                                
 Group Company 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Floating rate notes

 -   125   -   125  

Asset-backed securities

 118   880   4,597   5,253  

Collateralised loan obligations

 -   75   -   75  

Other(1)

 -   27   1   27  

Loans and receivables securities

 118   1,107   4,598   5,480  

Less: Impairment allowances

 -   (6)   -   (6)  

Loans and receivables securities, net of impairment allowances

 118   1,101   4,598   5,474  

    (1) Comprises mainly of £nil principal protected notes (2013: £25m).

These assets were acquired as part of the transfer of Alliance & Leicester plc to the Santander UK group in 2008 and as part of an alignment of portfolios across the Banco Santander group in 2010 and are being run down. Detailed analysis of these securities is set out below. During the year there was a release of impairment allowance of £6m (2013: £nil).

     Group     Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Asset-backed securities

     52       118       4,990       4,597  

Other

     -       -       1       1  

Loans and receivables securities

     52       118       4,991       4,598  

Less: Impairment allowances

     -       -       -       -  

Loans and receivables securities, net of impairment allowances

     52       118       4,991       4,598  

Included in the above balances are amounts owed to the Santander UK group by Banco Santander S.A.SA and other subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA outside the Santander UK group of £nil (2013:(2014: £nil) and £7m (2013: £23m)£nil (2014: £7m) respectively.

Floating rate notesThe Company’s loans and receivables securities consist of investments in debt securities issued by Santander UK group entities.

Floating rate notes can be analysed by the geographical location of the issuer or counterparty as follows:20. AVAILABLE-FOR-SALE SECURITIES

 

 31 December 2014  31 December 2013  Income statement 
          Nominal
value
 

Book

                value

 

Fair

                value

 

Fair value as

        % of nominal

                 Nominal
value
 

Book

                value

 

Fair

                value

 

Fair value as

        % of nominal

                         2014                 2013 
Country£m £m £m %   £m £m £m %   £m £m 

Italy

 -   -   -   -   76   76   76   100   -   -  

Spain

 -   -   -   -   27   27   24   89   -   -  

Rest of Europe

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   2  

US

 -   -   -   -    22   22   21   95    -   (1)  
  -   -   -   -    125   125   121   97    -   1  

 

Floating rate notes can be analysed by the credit rating of the issuer or counterparty as follows:

 

  

 31 December 2014  31 December 2013  Income statement 
  Nominal
value
 

Book

value

 

Fair

value

 

Fair value as

% of nominal

   Nominal
value
 

Book

value

 

Fair

value

 

Fair value as

% of nominal

   2014 2013 
Credit
rating(1)
£m £m £m %   £m £m £m %   £m £m 

AA

 -   -   -   -   48   48   48   100   -   -  

A

 -   -   -   -   66   66   63   95   -   1  

Below BBB

 -   -   -   -    11   11   10   91    -   -  
  -   -   -   -    125   125   121   97    -   1  

(1) All exposures are internally rated. External ratings are taken into consideration in the rating process, where available.

 

Asset-backed securities

Asset-backed securities can be analysed by the geographical location of the issuer or counterparty as follows:

 

  

  

  

 31 December 2014  31 December 2013  Income statement 
  Nominal
value
 

Book

value

 

Fair

value

 

Fair value as

% of nominal

   Nominal
value
 

Book

value

 

Fair

value

 

Fair value as

% of nominal

   2014 2013 
Country£m £m £m %   £m £m £m %   £m £m 

UK

ABS

 -   -   -   -   42   42   42   100   -   -  

MBS

 48   42   47   98    161   151   138   86    2   3  
  48   42   47   98    203   193   180   89    2   3  

US

ABS

 13   11   14   108   309   284   270   87   1   3  

MBS

 -   -   -   -    21   19   17   81    -   -  
  13   11   14   108    330   303   287   87    1   3  

Rest of Europe

ABS

 57   58   70   123   85   116   110   129   -   1  

MBS

 -   -   -   -    260   249   226   87    1   14  
  57   58   70   123    345   365   336   97    1   15  

Rest of world

ABS

 8   7   4   50   9   8   6   67   -   -  

MBS

 -   -   -   -    11   11   10   91    -   -  
  8   7   4   50    20   19   16   80    -   -  
  126   118   135   107    898   880   819   91    4   21  

                 Group     Company 
                    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Debt securities

             8,883       8,919       7,716       6,394  

Equity securities

                   129       25       112       11  
                    9,012       8,944       7,828       6,405  

 

Debt securities and equity securities can be analysed by listing status as follows:

 

  

                 Group     Company 
                    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Debt securities:

                        

- Listed in the UK

             4,867       5,843       3,786       3,405  

- Listed elsewhere

             3,843       2,629       3,757       2,542  

- Unlisted

                   173       447       173       447  
                    8,883       8,919       7,716       6,394  

Equity securities:

                        

- Listed in the UK

             17       22       2       9  

- Listed elsewhere

             2       1       -       -  

- Unlisted

                   110       2       110       2  
                    129       25       112       11  

 

Debt securities can be analysed by contractual maturity and the related weighted average yield for the year as follows:

 

  

                                  Group 
2015           

Within 1 year

£m

     

1-5

years

£m

     

5-10

years

£m

     

Over 10

years

£m

     

Total

£m

 

Issued by public bodies:

                        

- UK Government

         617       837       1,510       -       2,964  

- Other Government

         -       157       259       -       416  

Banks, Building societies and Other issuers

            281       2,156       2,431       635       5,503  
             898       3,150       4,200       635       8,883  

Weighted average yield

            2.55%       1.78%       2.44%       1.56%       2.16%  
2014                                          

Issued by public bodies:

                        

- UK Government

         -       2,437       1,726       -       4,163  

Banks, Building societies and Other issuers

            212       1,825       2,141       578       4,756  
             212       4,262       3,867       578       8,919  

Weighted average yield

            2.64%       2.28%       2.77%       2.33%       2.52%  

 

The movement in available-for-sale securities can be summarised as follows:

 

  

      Group     Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

At 1 January

     8,944       5,005       5,483       6,405       2,029       357  

Additions

     2,021       4,236       2,904       2,021       4,236       1,680  

Redemptions and maturities

     (1,926)       (561)       (3,344)       (613)       (146)       -  

Amortisation of (premium)/discount

     (67)       22       (55)       (20)       22       (10)  

Exchange adjustments

     26       7       2       25       7       -  

Movement in fair value

     14       235       15       10       257       2  

At 31 December

     9,012       8,944       5,005       7,828       6,405       2,029  

 

 

268Santander UK plc

244  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
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IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          

Asset-backed securities can be analysed by the credit rating of the issuer or counterparty as follows:

 31 December 2014  31 December 2013  Income statement 
  Nominal
value
 

Book

        value

 

Fair

        value

 

Fair value as

        % of nominal

   

Nominal

value

 

Book

        value

 

Fair

        value

 

Fair value as

        % of nominal

   2014 2013 
Credit rating(1)£m £m £m %   £m £m £m %   £m £m 

AAA

ABS

 19   16   14   74   318   299   280   88   -   4  

MBS

 4   4   4   100    302   287   267   88    1   12  
  23   20   18   78    620   586   547   88    1   16  

AA+

ABS

 2   2   2   100   -   -   -   -   -   -  

MBS

 -   -   -   -    10   10   9   90    -   1  
  2   2   2   100    10   10   9   90    -   1  

AA

ABS

 2   2   4   200   7   6   5   71   -   -  

MBS

 3   3   2   67    109   102   89   82    -   3  
  5   5   6   120    116   108   94   81    -   3  

A

ABS

 8   8   8   100   13   10   10   77   -   -  

MBS

 -   -   -   -    25   24   21   84    -   1  
  8   8   8   100    38   34   31   82    -   1  

BBB

ABS

 2   2   2   100   57   52   52   91   -   -  

MBS

 41   35   41   100    3   3   2   67    -   -  
  43   37   43   100    60   55   54   90    -   -  

Below BBB

ABS

 45   46   58   129   50   83   81   162   1   -  

MBS

 -   -   -   -    4   4   3   75    2   -  
  45   46   58   129    54   87   84   156    3   -  
  126   118   135   107    898   880   819   91    4   21  
(1)

All exposures are internally rated. External ratings are taken into consideration in the rating process, where available.

Asset-backed securities above include the following:

>

ALT-A US asset-backed securities – securities with book values of £nil (2013: £14m) and fair values of £nil (2013: £13m).

>

Monoline insurer exposures – The Santander UK group has a £nil (2013: £54m) exposure to corporate bonds and securitisations which are wrapped by monoline insurers. The principal risk exposures are recorded against the securitisations, with the monoline wraps being viewed as secondary sources of repayment.

Annual Report 2014269


Financial statements

22. AVAILABLE-FOR-SALE SECURITIES

             Group Company 
                    

              2014

£m

 

              2013

£m

 

              2014

£m

 

              2013

£m

 

Debt securities

 8,919   4,981   6,394   2,019  

Equity securities

                   25   24   11   10  
                    8,944   5,005   6,405   2,029  

 

Debt securities and equity securities can be analysed by listing status as follows:

 

  

             Group Company 
                    

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Debt securities:

- Listed in the UK

 5,843   3,403   3,405   739  

- Listed elsewhere

 2,629   1,106   2,542   808  

- Unlisted

                   447   472   447   472  
                    8,919   4,981   6,394   2,019  

Equity securities:

- Listed in the UK

 22   21   9   8  

- Listed elsewhere

 1   1   -   -  

- Unlisted

                   2   2   2   2  
                    25   24   11   10  

 

Debt securities can be analysed by contractual maturity and the related weighted average yield for the year as follows:

 

  

   2014

On

      demand

£m

 

      Within 1

month

£m

 

1-3

      months

£m

 

3-6

      months

£m

 

6-9

      months

£m

 

      9 months

to 1 year

£m

 

1-2

    years

£m

 

2-5

    years

£m

 

    Over 5

years

£m

 

    Total

£m

 

Issued by public bodies:

- UK Government

 -   -   -   -   -   -   1,459   978   1,726   4,163  

Banks

 -   45   -   -   55   112   277   1,548   2,719   4,756  
  -   45   -   -   55   112   1,736   2,526   4,445   8,919  

Weighted average yield

 -   2.07%   -   -   3.14%   2.63%   2.66%   2.03%   2.61%   2.52%  

   2013

 

                              

Issued by public bodies:

- UK Government

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   2,284   628   2,912  

- Other OECD

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   201   97   298  

Banks

 -   -   -   -   -   -   189   745   791   1,725  

Building societies

 -   -   -   -   -   -   46   -   -   46  
  -   -   -   -   -   -   235   3,230   1,516   4,981  

Weighted average yield

 -   -   -   -   -   -   2.61%   2.18%   2.44%   2.28%  

The movement in available-for-sale securities can be summarised as follows:

  
              Group Company 
              

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

At 1 January

 5,005   5,483   46   2,029   357   34  

Additions

 4,236   2,904   6,338   4,236   1,680   348  

Redemptions and maturities

 (561)   (3,344)   (877)   (146)   -   (25)  

Amortisation of discount

 22   (55)   (18)   22   (10)   -  

Exchange adjustments

 7   2   (12)   7   -   (2)  

Movement in fair value

             235   15   6   257   2   2  

At 31 December

             8,944   5,005   5,483   6,405   2,029   357  

270Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
     Auditor’s Report  statements 

financial statements    

 

23.21. INTERESTS IN OTHER ENTITIES

 

    Group    Company 
  

              2014

£m

 

              2013

£m

 

              2014

£m

 

              2013

£m

 

Subsidiaries

 -   -   5,366   6,176  

Associates

 2   4   -   -  

Joint ventures

 36   23   -   -  
  38   27   5,366   6,176  

 

a) Interests in subsidiaries

 

Interests in subsidiaries are eliminated during the preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements. Interests in subsidiaries in the Company unconsolidated financial statements are held at cost subject to impairment. The movement in interests in subsidiaries in the Company unconsolidated financial statements was as follows:

 

  

    

         Company 
      2014   

                Cost

£m

 

                Impairment

£m

 

        Net book value

£m

 

At 1 January

 6,339   (163)   6,176  

Additions

 307   (128)   179  

Transfer from investment in Santander Cards (UK) Limited (see Note 24)

 (456)   -   (456)  

Dissolution

 (174)   174   -  

Capital reduction of subsidiaries

    -   (533)   (533)  

At 31 December

    6,016   (650)   5,366  
      2013            

At 1 January

 7,302   (333)   6,969  

Additions

 1,023   (29)   994  

Reversal

 -   199   199  

Capital reduction of subsidiaries

    (1,986)   -   (1,986)  

At 31 December

    6,339   (163)   6,176  
            Group            Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Subsidiaries

     -       -       5,200       5,366  

Associates

     -       2       -       -  

Joint ventures

     48       36       3       -  
      48       38       5,203       5,366  

a) Interests in subsidiaries

Interests in subsidiaries are eliminated during the preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements. Interests in subsidiaries in the Company unconsolidated financial statements are held at cost subject to impairment. The movement in interests in subsidiaries in the Company unconsolidated financial statements was as follows:

                   Company 
2015    

Cost

£m

     

Impairment

£m

     

Net book value

£m

 

At 1 January

     6,016       (650)       5,366  

Additions

     -       (4)       (4)  

Reversal

     -       77       77  

Dissolution/Disposal

     (48)       23       (25)  

Capital reduction of subsidiaries

     (214)       -       (214)  

At 31 December

     5,754       (554)       5,200  

2014

            

At 1 January

     6,339       (163)       6,176  

Additions

     307       (128)       179  

Transfer from investment in Santander Cards (UK) Limited (see Note 21)

     (456)       -       (456)  

Dissolution

     (174)       174       -  

Capital reduction of subsidiaries

     -       (533)       (533)  

At 31 December

     6,016       (650)       5,366  

On 3 February 2015, the Santander UK group through Santander Consumer (UK) plc (SCUK) purchased 50% of the shares of PSA Finance UK Limited, a company that offers a range of consumer finance and insurance products and services for individuals, businesses and distribution networks in the automotive industry. For further details on the acquisition, see Note 46. PSA Finance UK Limited has been consolidated as SCUK has obtained control through its ability to direct the activities that most significantly affect SCUK’s return.

In 20142015 and 2013,2014, the movements on interests in subsidiaries principally represented changes in the capital invested in certain subsidiaries as a result of an internal reorganisation within the Santander UK group. During 2014, Santander Cards (UK) Limited transferred its business to Santander UK plc. In addition, in December 2013, Santander UK entered into a share purchase agreement with its wholly owned subsidiary Abbey National Treasury Services plc, and acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Abbey National Treasury Services Overseas Holdings.

Principal subsidiariesSubsidiaries

The Santander UK group consists of a parent company, Santander UK plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom and a number of subsidiaries and associates held directly and indirectly by Santander UK plc. The principal subsidiaries of the Company that comprise related undertakings under the UK Companies Act 2006 (and so exclude certain securitisation companies) at 31 December 2014 are shown below. The Directors consider that to give full particulars of all subsidiary undertakings would lead to a statement of excessive length. In accordance with Section 410(2) of the UK Companies Act 2006, the following information relates to those subsidiary undertakings whose results or financial position, in the opinion of the Directors, principally affect the results of the Santander UK group. Full particulars of all subsidiary undertakings will be annexed to the Company’s next annual return in accordance with Section 410(3)(b) of the UK Companies Act 2006.

  % Interest held 

        Country of incorporation

or registration

 
     Principal subsidiaryNature of business            2014             2013 

Abbey National International Limited

Offshore deposit taking 100   100   Jersey  

Abbey National North America LLC*

Commercial paper issue             100   100   United States  

Abbey National Treasury Services plc

Treasury operations 100   100   England and Wales  

Cater Allen Limited*

Bank, deposit taker 100   100   England and Wales  

Abbey National Treasury Services Overseas Holdings

Investment 100   100   England and Wales  

    *   Held indirectly through subsidiary companies.

Santander UK holds directly or indirectly 100% of the issued ordinary share capital of its principal subsidiaries. All companies operate principally in their country of incorporation or registration. Abbey National Treasury Services plc also has a branch office in the US and the Cayman Islands. Santander UK plc has branches in the Isle of Man and in Jersey.

On 1 June 2015, the deposit taking business of Abbey National International Limited (ANIL) was transferred to Santander UK plc Jersey branch. This followed the sanctioning by the Royal Court of Jersey on 8 May 2015 of a transfer scheme prepared under Article 48D of, and the Schedule to the Banking Business (Jersey) Law 1991. From that date, ANIL was no longer considered a principal subsidiary. Details of subsidiary undertakings, joint ventures and associates are set out in the Shareholder Information section and form an integral part of the financial statements.

Subsidiaries with significant non-controlling interests

The only subsidiary with significant non-controlling interests is PSA Finance UK Limited. For more information see Note 46.

2015
PSA Finance UK Limited

Proportion of ownership interests and voting rights held by non-controlling interests

50%

Place of business

UK
£m

Profit attributable to non-controlling interests

25

Accumulated non-controlling interests of the subsidiary

135

Dividends paid to non-controlling interests

-

Summarised financial information:

-total assets

3,448

-total liabilities

3,399

-profit for the year

50

-total comprehensive income for the year

52

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

Interests in consolidated structured entities

Structured entities are formed by Santander UK to accomplish specific and well-defined objectives. Santander UK consolidates these structured entities when the substance of the relationship indicates control, as described in Note 1. In addition to the structured entities disclosed in Note 1917 which are used for securitisation and covered bond programmes, the only other structured entities consolidated by the Santander UK group are described below. All the external assets in these entities are included in the financial statements and in relevant Notes of these Consolidated Financial Statements. Other than as set out below, no significant judgements were required with respect to control or significant influence.

Annual Report 2014271


Financial statements

i) Guaranteed Investment Products 1 PCC (‘GIP’)(GIP)

GIP is a Guernsey-incorporated, closed-ended, protected cell company. The objective of each cell is to achieve capital growth for retail investors. In order to achieve the investment objective, GIP, on behalf of the respective cells, has entered into transactions with Santander UK. Santander Guarantee Company, a Santander UK group company, also guarantees the shareholders of cells a fixed return on their investment and/or the investment amount. GIP has no third party assets. Although the share capital is owned by the retail investors, Santander UK continues to have exposure to variable risks and returns through Santander Guarantee Company’s guarantee and has therefore consolidated this entity.

ii) Santander UK Foundation Limited

Santander UK Foundation Limited supports disadvantaged people throughout the UK through the charitable priorities of education and financial capability. The entity was set up by Santander UK and all its revenue arise through donations from Santander UK, and its third party assets are minimal, comprising of available-for-sale assets of £14m (2013: £12m)£15m (2014: £14m). This entity has been consolidated as Santander UK directs its activities.

b) Interests in associates

Santander UK does not have any individually material interests in associates. As set out in the accounting policies in Note 1, interests in associates are accounted for using the equity method. In the year ended 31 December 2014,2015, Santander UK’s share in the profit after tax of its associates was £nil (2013:(2014: £nil). At 31 December 2014,2015, the carrying amount of Santander UK’s interests was £2m (2013: £4m)£nil (2014: £2m) and its shares of its associates’ commitments and contingent liabilities were £nil (2013: £18m)(2014: £nil) and £nil (2013:(2014: £nil), respectively. Certain of the associates have also invested in structured entities. The amounts are not significant. Management has concluded that the carrying value of the associates represents the maximum exposure to loss after taking into account any interest the associates may have in structured entities.

c) Interests in joint ventures

Santander UK does not have any individually material interests in joint ventures. As set out in the accounting policies in Note 1, interests in joint ventures are accounted for using the equity method. In the year ended 31 December 2014,2015, Santander UK’s share in the profit after tax of its joint ventures was £7m (2013: £3m)£9m (2014: £7m) before elimination of transactions between Santander UK and the joint ventures. At 31 December 2014,2015, the carrying amount of Santander UK’s interest was £36m (2013: £23m)£48m (2014: £36m). At 31 December 20142015 and 2013,2014, the joint ventures had no commitments and contingent liabilities.liabilities

d) Interests in unconsolidated structured entities

Structured entities sponsored by the Santander UK group

Santander UK has interests in structured entities which it sponsors but does not control. Santander UK considers itself a sponsor of a structured entity when it facilitates the establishment of the structured entity. The structured entities sponsored but not consolidated by Santander UK are as follows. Other than as set out below, no significant judgements were required with respect to control or significant influence.

i) Structured entities which issue shares that back retail structured products

At 31 December 2014, the total value of products issued by these entities was £nil (2013: £11m). Santander UK’s arrangements with these entities comprise the provision of equity derivatives and a secondary market-making service to those retail customers who wish to exit early from these products. The maximum exposure to these structured entities consists of trading assets (Repurchases held by Santander UK) of £nil (2013: £9m). Santander UK holds no interest in these vehicles, nor does it have any control over, or exposure to the variable returns, and therefore these entities have not been consolidated.

ii) Santander (UK) Common Investment Fund

In 2008, a common investment fund was established to hold the assets of the Santander UK Group Pension Scheme. The Santander (UK) Common Investment Fund is not consolidated by Santander UK, but its assets of £9,393m (2013: £7,878m)£9,359m (2014: £9,393m) are accounted for as part of the defined benefit assets and obligations recognised on Santander UK’s balance sheet. See Note 3634 for further information about the entity. As this entity holds the assets of the pension scheme it is outside the scope of IFRS 10. Santander UK’s maximum exposure to loss is equal to the sum of the carrying amount of the assets held.

iii)ii) Trust preferred entities

The trust preferred entities, Abbey National Capital Trust I and Abbey National Capital LP I are 100% owned finance subsidiaries (as defined in Regulation S-X under the US Securities Act 1933, as amended) of Santander UK plc which were set up by Santander UK solely for the issuance of trust preferred securities to third parties and lend the funds on to other Santander UK companies. On 7 February 2000, Abbey National Capital Trust I issued US$1bn of 8.963% Non-cumulative Trust Preferred Securities, which have been registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Abbey National Capital Trust I serves solely as a passive vehicle holding the partnership preferred securities issued by Abbey National Capital LP I and each has passed all the rights relating to such partnership preferred securities to the holders of trust preferred securities issued by Abbey National Capital Trust I. All of the trust preferred securities and the partnership preferred securities have been fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a subordinated basis by Santander UK plc. The terms of the securities do not include any significant restrictions on the ability of Santander UK plc to obtain funds, by dividend or loan, from any subsidiary. The trust preferred entities are not consolidated by Santander UK as Santander UK plc is not exposed to variability of returns from the entities.

Structured entities not sponsored by the Santander UK group

The Santander UK group also has interests in structured entities which it does not sponsor or control. These largely relate to the legacy Treasury asset portfolio and consist of holdings of mortgage and other asset-backed securities issued by entities that were established and/or sponsored by other unrelated financial institutions. Details of these securities are set out in Note 16 ‘Financial assets designated at fair value’ and Note 21 ‘Loans and receivables securities’.19. Management has concluded that the Santander UK group has no control or significant influence over these entities and that the carrying value of the interests held in these entities represents the maximum exposure to loss.

 

 

272Santander UK plc

246  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
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      IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

24.22. INTANGIBLE ASSETS

     Group     Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Goodwill

     1,834       1,834       1,650       1,650  

Other intangibles

     397       353       367       336  
      2,231       2,187       2,017       1,986  

a) Goodwill

 

  Group   Company     Group     Company 
  

            2014

£m

   

            2013

£m

   

            2014

£m

   

            2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Cost

                        

At 1 January

   1,916     1,916     1,194     1,194       1,916       1,916       1,650       1,194  

Transfer

   -     -     456     -       -       -       -       456  

31 December

   1,916     1,916     1,650     1,194  

At 31 December

     1,916       1,916       1,650       1,650  

Accumulated impairment

                        

At 1 January

   82     82     -     -  

At 1 January/ 31 December

     82       82       -       -  

Net book value

   1,834     1,834     1,650     1,194       1,834       1,834       1,650       1,650  

Impairment of goodwill

During 20142015 and 2013,2014, no impairment of goodwill was recognised. Impairment testing in respect of goodwill allocated to each cash-generating unit (‘CGUs’)(CGUs) is performed annually or more frequently if there are impairment indicators present. For the purpose of impairment testing, the CGUs are based on customer groups within the relevant business divisions.

The cash flow projections for each CGU are based on the five year plan prepared for regulatory purposes, based on Santander UK’s 3-Year Plan and approved by the Santander UK plc Board. The assumptions included in the expected future cash flows for each CGU take into consideration the UK economic environment and financial outlook within which the CGU operates. Key assumptions include projected GDP growth rates, the level of interest rates and the level and change in unemployment rates in the UK. The discount rate used to discount the cash flows is based on a pre-tax rate that reflects the weighted average cost of capital allocated by Santander UK to investments in the business division in which the CGUs operates. The growth rate used reflects management’s five-year forecasts, with a terminal growth rate for each year applied thereafter, in line with the estimated long-term average UK GDP growth rate.

Based on the conditions at the balance sheet date, management determined that a reasonably possible change in any of the key assumptions described above would not cause an impairment of goodwill to be recognised.

The following CGUs include in their carrying values goodwill that comprises the goodwill reported by Santander UK. The CGUs do not carry on their balance sheets any other intangible assets with indefinite useful lives.

2015

    2014                    
     Business Division     Cash-Generating Unit  

            Goodwill

£m

   Basis of valuation  

            Discount

rate

   

            Growth

rate(1)

 

Retail Banking

   Personal financial services   1,625    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.7%     2%  

Retail Banking

   Consumer finance   175    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.7%     1%  

Retail Banking

   Private banking   30    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.7%     3%  

Retail Banking

    Other   4    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.7%     2%  
         1,834               
    2013                          

Retail Banking

   Personal financial services   1,169    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.8%     2%  

Retail Banking

   Credit cards   456    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.8%     3%  

Retail Banking

   Consumer finance   175    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.8%     1%  

Retail Banking

   Private banking   30    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.8%     3%  

Retail Banking

    Other   4    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.8%     2%  
         1,834               

 (1) Average growth rate based on the five year plan for the first five years and a growth rate of 2.2% (2013: 2.2%) applied thereafter.

Business Division  Cash-Generating Unit  

Goodwill

£m

   Basis of valuation  

Discount

rate

   

Growth

rate(1)

 

Retail Banking

  Personal financial services   1,625    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   10.4%     3%  

Retail Banking

  Consumer finance   175    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   10.4%     1%  

Retail Banking

  Private banking   30    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   10.4%     1%  

Retail Banking

  Other   4    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   10.4%     3%  
       1,834               

2014

 

                     

Retail Banking

  Personal financial services   1,625    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.7%     2%  

Retail Banking

  Consumer finance   175    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.7%     1%  

Retail Banking

  Private banking   30    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.7%     3%  

Retail Banking

  Other   4    Value in use: cash flow based on 5 year plan   11.7%     2%  
       1,834               
(1)Average growth rate based on the five year plan for the first five years and a growth rate of 2.3% (2014: 2.2%) applied thereafter.

In 2014, following the integration of the credit cards business within Santander UK plc its results are no longer separately identified, reviewed or managed and are instead included in the Retail Banking – personal financial services CGU. In 2014,2015, the discount rate decreased by 0.11.3 percentage points to 10.4% (2014: 11.7% (2013: 11.8%). The decrease reflected changes in current market and economic conditions. In 2014,2015, the change in growth rates reflected Santander UK’s updated strategic priorities in the context of forecast economic conditions.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

b) Other intangibles

 

       Group        Company     Group     Company 
  

            2014

£m

   

                2013

£m

   

                2014

£m

   

                2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Cost

                        

At 1 January

   814     762     811     732       516       619       560       636  

Additions

   136     81     128     79       85       136       70       128  

Disposals

   (33)     (29)     (32)     -       -       (239)       -       (238)  

Transfers

   -     -     34     -       -       -       -       34  

At 31 December

   917     814     941     811       601       516       630       560  

Accumulated amortisation / impairment

                        

At 1 January

   313     271     327     279       163       118       224       152  

Charge for the year

   261     50     261     48       41       261       39       261  

Disposals

   (10)     (8)     (9)     -       -       (216)       -       (215)  

Transfers

   -     -     26     -       -       -       -       26  

At 31 December

   564     313     605     327       204       163       263       224  

Net book value

   353     501     336     484       397       353       367       336  

Other intangible assets consist of computer software. The assessment of whether an asset is exhibiting indicators of impairment as well as the calculation of impairment, which requires the estimate of future cash flows and fair values less costs to sell, also requires the preparation of cash flow forecasts and fair values for assets that may not be regularly bought and sold. In 2014, an impairment charge of £206m was recognised in respect of software write-offs. The write-offs were for the decommissioning of redundant systems following the implementation of our new digital platform and the completion of our product simplification programme.

Annual Report 2014273


Financial statements

25.23. PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

 

 Group 
  

                Property

£m

 

Office fixtures

                and equipment

£m

 

                Computer

software

£m

 

            Operating lease
assets

£m

 

                Total

£m

 

Cost:

At 1 January 2014

 1,214   845   390   106   2,555  

Additions

 38   229   1   102   370  

Disposals

 (13)   (76)   -   (66)   (155)  

At 31 December 2014

 1,239   998   391   142   2,770  

Accumulated depreciation:

At 1 January 2014

 150   524   343   17   1,034  

Charge for the year

 35   116   34   36   221  

Disposals

 (10)   (54)   -   (45)   (109)  

At 31 December 2014

 175   586   377   8   1,146  

Net book value

 1,064   412   14   134   1,624  
                

Cost:

At 1 January 2013

 1,143   782   390   118   2,433  

Additions

 109   81   -   68   258  

Disposals

 (38)   (18)   -   (80)   (136)  

At 31 December 2013

 1,214   845   390   106   2,555  

Accumulated depreciation:

At 1 January 2013

 130   447   303   12   892  

Charge for the year

 33   91   40   34   198  

Disposals

 (13)   (14)   -   (29)   (56)  

At 31 December 2013

 150   524   343   17   1,034  

Net book value

 1,064   321   47   89   1,521  
   Company 
     

Property

£m

 

Office fixtures

and equipment

£m

 

Computer

software

£m

 

Total

£m

 

Cost:

At 1 January 2014

 1,136   988   322   2,446  

Additions

 25   219   -   244  

Disposals

 (13)   (76)   -   (89)  

Other

    188   (145)   -   43  

At 31 December 2014

    1,336   986   322   2,644  

Accumulated depreciation:

At 1 January 2014

 299   676   275   1,250  

Charge for the year

 31   111   34   176  

Disposals

 (10)   (53)   -   (63)  

Other

    21   -   -   21  

At 31 December 2014

    341   734   309   1,384  

Net book value

    995   252   13   1,260  
                

Cost:

At 1 January 2013

 1,009   928   322   2,259  

Additions

 165   76   -   241  

Disposals

    (38)   (16)   -   (54)  

At 31 December 2013

    1,136   988   322   2,446  

Accumulated depreciation:

At 1 January 2013

 267   600   235   1,102  

Charge for the year

 29   88   40   157  

Disposals

 (1)   (12)   -   (13)  

Other

    4   -   -   4  

At 31 December 2013

    299   676   275   1,250  

Net book value

    837   312   47   1,196  

 

At 31 December 2014, capital expenditure contracted but not provided for in respect of property, plant and equipment was £nil (2013: £14m). Of the carrying value at the balance sheet date, £209m (2013: £279m) related to assets under construction.

 

Operating lease assets

The Santander UK group’s operating lease assets consist of motor vehicles and other assets leased to its corporate customers. The Company has no operating lease assets. Future minimum lease receipts under non-cancellable operating leases are due over the following periods:

 

   

  

   

       Group 
           

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

 

In no more than 1 year

 32   30  

In more than 1 year but no more than 5 years

 58   46  

In more than 5 years

          2   1  
           92   77  

Contingent rent income of £5m (2013: £11m) was recognised in the year.

     Group 
      

Property

£m

   

Office fixtures

and equipment

£m

   

Computer

software

£m

   

Operating lease
assets

£m

   

Total

£m

 

Cost:

            

At 1 January 2015

     1,099     1,136     434     143     2,812  

Additions

     19     230     1     21     271  

Disposals

     (47)     (50)     (1)     (58)     (156)  

At 31 December 2015

     1,071     1,316     434     106     2,927  

Accumulated depreciation:

            

At 1 January 2015

     172     591     417     8     1,188  

Charge for the year

     36     134     18     39     227  

Disposals

     (25)     (41)     (1)     (45)     (112)  

Impairment during the year

     14     13     -     -     27  

At 31 December 2015

     197     697     434     2     1,330  

Net book value

     874     619     -     104     1,597  
                            

Cost:

            

At 1 January 2014

     1,074     983     433     107     2,597  

Additions

     38     229     1     102     370  

Disposals

     (13)     (76)     -     (66)     (155)  

At 31 December 2014

     1,099     1,136     434     143     2,812  

Accumulated depreciation:

            

At 1 January 2014

     147     529     383     17     1,076  

Charge for the year

     35     116     34     36     221  

Disposals

     (10)     (54)     -     (45)     (109)  

At 31 December 2014

     172     591     417     8     1,188  

Net book value

     927     545     17     135     1,624  

 

 

274Santander UK plc

248  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
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          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

26.

     Company 
      

Property

£m

     

Office fixtures

and equipment

£m

     

Computer

software

£m

     

Total

£m

 

Cost:

                

At 1 January 2015

     1,053       1,271       361       2,685  

Additions

     18       224       1       243  

Disposals

     (47)       (49)       -       (96)  

At 31 December 2015

     1,024       1,446       362       2,832  

Accumulated depreciation:

                

At 1 January 2015

     340       739       346       1,425  

Charge for the year

     33       129       16       178  

Disposals

     (25)       (39)       -       (64)  

Impairment during the year

     14       13       -       27  

At 31 December 2015

     362       842       362       1,566  

Net book value

     662       604       -       1,266  
                             

Cost:

                

At 1 January 2014

     998       1,128       361       2,487  

Additions

     25       219       -       244  

Disposals

     (13)       (76)       -       (89)  

Other

     43       -       -       43  

At 31 December 2014

     1,053       1,271       361       2,685  

Accumulated depreciation:

                

At 1 January 2014

     298       681       312       1,291  

Charge for the year

     31       111       34       176  

Disposals

     (10)       (53)       -       (63)  

Other

     21       -       -       21  

At 31 December 2014

     340       739       346       1,425  

Net book value

     713       532       15       1,260  

At 31 December 2015, capital expenditure contracted but not provided for in respect of property, plant and equipment was £46m (2014: £23m). Of the carrying value at the balance sheet date, £98m (2014: £209m) related to assets under construction.

Operating lease assets

The Santander UK group’s operating lease assets consist of motor vehicles and other assets leased to its corporate customers. The Company has no operating lease assets. Future minimum lease receipts under non-cancellable operating leases are due over the following periods:

     Group 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

In no more than 1 year

     25       32  

In more than 1 year but no more than 5 years

     39       58  

In more than 5 years

     -       2  
      64       92  

Contingent rent income of £4m (2014: £5m) was recognised in the year.

24. DEFERRED TAX

Deferred taxes are calculated on temporary differences under the liability method using the tax rates expected to apply when the liability is settled or the asset is realised. The movement on the deferred tax account was as follows:

                                                                                        
 Group Company 
  

2014

£m

 

2013(1)

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013(1)

£m

 

At 1 January

 16   34   54   46  

Income statement charge

 (32)   (138)   (53)   (105)  

(Charged)/credited to other comprehensive income:

- retirement benefit obligations

 (27)   113   (27)   113  

- cash flow hedges

 (27)   7   -   -  
 (54)   120   (27)   113  

Eliminated on disposal

 11   -   -   -  

At 31 December

 (59)   16   (26)   54  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

Deferred tax balances are presented in the balance sheet after offsetting assets and liabilities where the Santander UK group and Company has the legal right to off setoffset and intends to settle on a net basis. The table below shows the deferred tax assets and liabilities are attributable toincluding the following items:movement in the deferred tax account during the year:

 

                                                                                        
 Group Company 
  

2014

£m

 

2013(1)

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013(1)

£m

 

Deferred tax assets/(liabilities)

Pensions and other post retirement benefits

 (25)   108   (25)   108  

Accelerated book depreciation

 (9)   (20)   10   12  

IFRS transitional adjustments

 22   33   9   15  

Other temporary differences

 (58)   (105)   (20)   (81)  

Tax losses carried forward

 11   -   -   -  
  (59)   16   (26)   54  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

     Group     Company 
     

Pensions

and other

retirement

benefits

     

Accelerated

tax

depreciation

     Tax losses
carried
forward
     Other
temporary
differences
     Total     Pensions
and other
retirement
benefits
     Accelerated
tax
depreciation
     Other
temporary
differences
     Total 
      £m     £m     £m     £m     £m     £m     £m     £m     £m 

At 1 January 2015

     (26)       (9)       11       (35)       (59)       (25)       10       (11)       (26)  

Income statement charge

     1       17       (3)       (66)       (51)       1       7       (59)       (51)  

Charged to other comprehensive income

     (89)       -       -       (18)       (107)       (89)       -       (10)       (99)  

Arising on acquisition

     (1)       (5)       -       -       (6)       -       -       -       -  

At 31 December 2015

     (115)       3       8       (119)       (223)       (113)       17       (80)       (176)  
                                                                

At 1 January 2014

     108       (20)       -       (72)       16       108       12       (66)       54  

Income statement charge

     (107)       -       11       64       (32)       (106)       (2)       55       (53)  

Charged to other comprehensive income

     (27)       -       -       (27)       (54)       (27)       -       -       (27)  

Eliminated on disposal

     -       11       -       -       11       -       -       -       -  

At 31 December 2014

     (26)       (9)       11       (35)       (59)       (25)       10       (11)       (26)  

The deferred tax (liabilities)/assets scheduled above have been recognised in both Santander UK plc and the Santander UK group on the basis that sufficient future taxable profits are forecast within the foreseeable future, in excess of the profits arising from the reversal of existing taxable temporary differences, to allow for the utilisation of the assets as they reverse. Based on the conditions at the balance sheet date, management

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

determined that a reasonably possible change in any of the key assumptions underlying the estimated future taxable profits in the Santander UK group’s five year plan (described in Note 23)22) would not cause a reduction in the deferred tax assets recognised.

The Santander UK group and Santander UK plc recognised deferred tax assets in respect of trading losses relating toIn 2015, the former Alliance & Leicester plc business which was transferred to Santander UK plc in May 2010 under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. HM Revenue & Customs confirmed in 2010 that the availability of losses was unaffected by the transfer. The tax losses were fully utilised during 2013. The Santander UK group and a trading subsidiary Santander Lending Limited have recognised a deferred tax asset of £11m£8m (2014: £11m) in respect of prior year trading losses which had not been previously recognised. Santander Lending Limited has returned to profitability during 2014 and futurelosses. Future profit forecasts are such that recognition criteria under IAS 12 have been met. These tax losses do not time expire.

At 31 December 2014,2015, the Santander UK group hadhas recognised UK capital losses carried forward of £50m (2014: £18m (2013: £17m)unrecognised). These losses are available for offset against future UK chargeable gains and under current UK tax legislation do not time expire. No deferred tax asset has been recognisedIt is considered probable that certain assets held as available-for-sale will be disposed of in respect2016 and these losses may be used against part of these capital losses on the basis that future capital gains required to utilise the losses are not considered probable.arising gain.

The deferred tax charge in respect of continuing and discontinued operations in the income statement comprises the following temporary differences:

                                                                  
 Group 
  

2014

£m

 

2013(1)

£m

 

2012(1)

£m

 

Accelerated tax depreciation

 -   13   (39)  

Pensions and other post-retirement benefits

 (107)   (14)   (28)  

IFRS transition adjustments

 (11)   (20)   (20)  

Tax losses carried forward

 -   (63)   (93)  

Other temporary differences

 75   (54)   (63)  

Tax losses carried forward

 11   -   -  
  (32)   (138)   (243)  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

Annual Report 2014275


Financial statements

27.25. OTHER ASSETS

 

 Group Company 
  

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

 

Trade and other receivables

 772   737   694   684  

Prepayments

 67   55   59   49  

Accrued income

 14   22   7   7  

General insurance assets

 23   68   23   68  
  876   882   783   808  

 

Included in the above balances are amounts due to the Santander UK group by Banco Santander, S.A. and other subsidiaries of Banco Santander, S.A. outside the Santander UK group of £5m (2013: £2m) and £19m (2013: £27m) respectively.

 

28. DEPOSITS BY BANKS

 

   

  

 Group Company 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Items in the course of transmission

 308   614   288   604  

Deposits by banks - securities sold under repurchase agreements

 4,797   5,465   783   1,301  

Amounts due to Santander UK subsidiaries

 -   -   9,989   112,076  

Amounts due to Banco Santander

- securities sold under repurchase agreements

 -   50   -   -  

- other

 966   636   945   629  

Amounts due to fellow Banco Santander subsidiaries

- securities sold under repurchase agreements

 -   -   -   -  

- other

 129   1   129   1  

Deposits held as collateral

 758   1,047   59   222  

Other deposits

 1,256   883   360   385  
  8,214   8,696   12,553   115,218  

Repayable:

On demand

 2,708   2,929   9,277   17,946  

In not more than 3 months

 336   658   1,690   21,115  

In more than 3 months but not more than 1 year

 911   176   722   23,259  

In more than 1 year but not more than 5 years

 4,142   4,375   841   38,963  

In more than 5 years

 117   558   23   13,935  
  8,214   8,696   12,553   115,218  
     Group     Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Trade and other receivables

     1,261       772       1,079       694  

Prepayments

     87       67       57       59  

Accrued income

     27       14       23       7  

General insurance assets

     -       23       -       23  
      1,375       876       1,159       783  

As partIncluded in the above balances are amounts due from Banco Santander SA and other subsidiaries of Banco Santander SA outside the banking reform programme,Santander UK group of £4m (2014: £5m) and £11m (2014: £19m) respectively.

26. DEPOSITS BY BANKS

     Group     Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Items in the course of transmission

     326       308       323       288  

Deposits by banks - securities sold under repurchase agreements

     3,900       4,797       1,564       783  

Amounts due to Santander UK subsidiaries

     -       -       23,897       9,989  

Amounts due to Banco Santander

                

- securities sold under repurchase agreements

     309       -       -       -  

- other

     1,014       966       1,003       945  

Amounts due to fellow Banco Santander subsidiaries

                

- other

     135       129       135       129  

Deposits held as collateral

     438       758       45       59  

Other deposits

     2,156       1,256       1,301       360  
      8,278       8,214       28,268       12,553  

Repayable:

                

On demand

     3,331       2,708       7,172       9,277  

In not more than 3 months

     1,258       336       7,216       1,690  

In more than 3 months but not more than 1 year

     1,949       911       4,885       722  

In more than 1 year but not more than 5 years

     1,632       4,142       7,106       841  

In more than 5 years

     108       117       1,889       23  
      8,278       8,214       28,268       12,553  

In 2015, the intercompany funding arrangements between Santander UK plc and its subsidiary Abbey National Treasury Services plc have beenwere amended so that onlymanagement of the net funding requirement of the commercial bank is passed between Santander UK plc andgroup was transferred from Abbey National Treasury Services plc rather thanto Santander UK plc. These steps were taken as part of a programme that began in 2014 and is still ongoing, to facilitate the gross funding requirements as previously. In preparation for this change, a rationalisationorderly implementation of the current booking model was carried out in 2014. Following this, the legal agreements between Santander UK plc and Abbey National Treasurygroup strategy to transition into a ring-fenced structure in due course pursuant to the requirements of the Financial Services plc were changed. As a result, only trades that generate the actual net funding requirement are reported. The intercompany balances between Santander UK plc and Abbey National Treasury Services plc reduced by £100bn predominantly due to this change.

(Banking Reform) Act 2013.

 

 

276Santander UK plc

250  Santander UK plc


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29.27. DEPOSITS BY CUSTOMERS

 

                                                                                                
Group Company     Group     Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Current and demand accounts:

                

- interest-bearing

 65,517   52,218   58,711   44,128       74,256       63,546       69,834       58,711  

- non interest-bearing

 353   984   46   900       532       353       897       46  

Savings accounts(1)

 57,099   55,417   55,790   54,219       59,420       57,099       56,111       55,790  

Time deposits

 29,270   36,614   27,897   34,656       27,959       31,241       28,941       27,897  

Securities sold under repurchase agreements

 500   920   500   502       502       500       502       500  

Amounts due to Santander UK subsidiaries

 -   -   39,977   43,980       -       -       31,604       39,977  

Amounts due to Santander UK Group Holdings plc(2)

     842       -       842       -  

Amounts due to fellow Banco Santander subsidiaries

 867   1,014   867   1,014       563       867       560       867  
 153,606   147,167   183,788   179,399       164,074       153,606       189,291       183,788  

Repayable:

                

On demand

 130,539   117,036   127,529   113,072       130,680       130,539       128,093       127,529  

In no more than 3 months

 7,070   8,211   4,811   6,312       5,670       7,070       6,205       4,811  

In more than 3 months but not more than 1 year

 10,001   14,633   8,271   11,650       16,392       10,001       17,038       8,271  

In more than 1 year but not more than 5 years

 5,170   6,641   4,194   4,784       10,810       5,170       9,514       4,194  

In more than 5 years

 826   646   38,983   43,581       522       826       28,441       38,983  
 153,606   147,167   183,788   179,399       164,074       153,606       189,291       183,788  
(1)

Includes equity index-linked deposits of £3,058m (2013: £3,983m)£2,029m (2014: £3,058m). The capital amount guaranteed/protected and the amount of return guaranteed in respect of the equity index-linked deposits were £2,029m and £160m, respectively (2014: £3,058m and £225m, respectively (2013: £3,983mrespectively).

(2)Includes downstreamed funding from our immediate parent company Santander UK Group Holdings plc. £168m (2014: £nil) was in respect of the issuance of a ¥30bn senior unsecured probond in two tranches (3 and £235m, respectively).

5 year), and £674m (2014: £nil) was in respect of a $1bn 5 year senior unsecured SEC registered benchmark issuance.

Savings accounts and time deposits are interest-bearing.

30.28. TRADING LIABILITIES

 

                                                
 Group 
  

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

Deposits by banks               - securities sold under repurchase agreements

 4,508   7,795  

- other(1)

 2,715   3,496  

Deposits by customers        - securities sold under repurchase agreements

 4,040   6,329  

- other(1)2)

 859   740  

Short positions in securities and unsettled trades

 3,211   2,918  
  15,333   21,278  
     Group 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Deposits by banks             - securities sold under repurchase agreements

     1,148       4,508  

        - other(1)

     1,629       2,715  

Deposits by customers      - securities sold under repurchase agreements

     6,510       4,040  

        - other(1)

     641       859  

Short positions in securities and unsettled trades

     2,794       3,211  
      12,722       15,333  
(1)

Comprises cash collateral of £1,905m (2013: £1,841m)£1,559m (2014: £1,905m) and short-term deposits of £1,669m (2013: £2,336m)£711m (2014: £1,669m).

(2)

Includes equity index-linked deposits of £nil (2013: £59m). The capital amount guaranteed/protected and the amount of return guaranteed in respect of the equity index-linked deposits were £nil for both commitments (2013: £127m and £17m, respectively).

At 31 December 20142015 and 2013,2014, the Company had no trading liabilities. Included in the above balances are amounts owed by the Santander UK groupdue to Banco Santander S.A.SA of £433m (2013: £193m)£nil (2014: £433m) and to fellow subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA of £84m (2013: £13m)£126m (2014: £84m).

31.29. FINANCIAL LIABILITIES DESIGNATED AT FAIR VALUE

 

                                                
Group     Group 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Debt securities in issue - US$10bn Euro Commercial Paper Programme

 854   865       474       854  

- US$20bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme

 464   591  

- US$30bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme

     348       464  

- Euro 10bn Note Certificate and Warrant Programme and Global Structured Solutions Programme

 1,517   1,832       1,184       1,517  

Warrants programme

 13   119       10       13  
 2,848   3,407       2,016       2,848  

Financial liabilities areDebt securities in issue and warrants have been designated at fair value through profit orand loss where this results in more relevant information because it significantly reduces a measurement inconsistency that would otherwise arise from measuring assets and liabilities or recognising the gains or losses on them on a different basis, or where a contract contains one or more embedded derivatives that would otherwise require separate recognition.

The ‘fair value option’ has been used where deposits by banks, deposits by customers, debt securities in issue and warrantsthey would otherwise be measured at amortised cost, and any embedded derivatives or associated derivatives used to economically hedge the risk are held at fair value. Where the Santander UK group records its own debt securities in issue at fair value, the fair value is based on quoted prices in an active market for the specific instrument concerned, if available.

Annual Report 2014277


Financial statements

When quoted market prices are unavailable, the own debt security in issue is valued using valuation techniques, the inputs for which are either based upon quoted prices in an inactive market for the instrument, or are estimated by comparison with quoted prices in an active market for similar instruments. In both cases, the fair value includes the effect of applying the credit spread which is appropriate to the Santander UK group’s liabilities. The change in fair value of issued debt securities attributable to the Santander UK group’s own credit spread is computed as follows: for each security at each reporting date, an externally verifiable price is obtained or a price is derived using credit spreads for similar securities for the same issuer or credit default swaps. Each security is then valued using discounted cash flows, incorporating a LIBOR-based discount curve. The difference in the valuations is attributable to the Santander UK group’s own credit spread. This methodology is applied consistently across all securities where it is believed that counterparties would consider the Santander UK group’s creditworthiness when pricing trades.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

At 31 December 20142015 and 2013,2014, the Company had no financial liabilities designated at fair value. Included in the above balances are amounts oweddue to Banco Santander S.A.SA of £29m (2013: £17m)£25m (2014: £29m) and to fellow subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA of £67m (2013: £172m)£nil (2014: £67m).

Gains and losses arising from changes in the credit spread of liabilities issued by the Santander UK group reverse over the contractual life of the debt, provided that the debt is not repaid at a premium or a discount. The net lossgain during the year attributable to changes in the Santander UK group’s own credit risk on the above debt securities in issue was £1m (2013:£23m (2014: net loss of £13m, 2012:£1m, 2013: net loss of £86m)£13m). The cumulative net lossgain attributable to changes in the Santander UK group’s own credit risk on the above debt securities in issue at 31 December 20142015 was £7m (2013:£16m (2014: cumulative net loss of £6m)£7m).

At 31 December 2014,2015, the amount that would be required to be contractually paid at maturity of the debt securities in issue above was £165m (2013: £216m)£162m (2014: £165m) higher than the carrying value.

US$10bn Euro Commercial Paper Programme

Abbey National Treasury Services plc may from time to time issue commercial paper under the US$10bn Euro Commercial Paper Programme that may be denominated in any currency as agreed between Abbey National Treasury Services plc and the relevant dealer. The commercial paper ranks at least pari passu with all other unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of Abbey National Treasury Services plc. The payments of all amounts due in respect of the commercial paper have been unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Santander UK plc.

The commercial paper is issued in bearer form, subject to a minimum maturity of 1 day and a maximum maturity of 364 days. The commercial paper may be issued on a discounted basis or may bear fixed or floating rate interest or a coupon calculated by reference to an index or formula. The maximum aggregate nominal amount of all commercial paper outstanding from time to time under the Programme will not exceed US$10bn (or its equivalent in other currencies). The commercial paper is not listed on any stock exchange.

US$20bn30bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme

Santander UK plc and Abbey National Treasury Services plc may from time to time issue notes denominated in any currency as agreed between the issuer and the relevant dealer under the US$20bn30bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme. The payment of all amounts payable in respect of the notes is unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Santander UK plc. The programme provides for issuance of fixed rate notes, floating rate notes, variable interest notes and zero-coupon/discount notes.

The maximum aggregate nominal amount of all notes outstanding under the programme may not exceed US$20bn30bn (or its equivalent in other currencies) subject to any modifications in accordance with the terms of the programme agreement. Notes may be issued in bearer or registered form and can be listed on the London Stock Exchange or any other stock exchange(s) as agreed. This was increased from US$20bn in March 2015.

Euro 10bn Note, Certificate and Warrant Programme and Global Structured Solutions Programme

Abbey National Treasury Services plc may from time to time issue structured notes and redeemable certificates (together the ‘NN&C Securities’)Securities) and warrants (together with the N&C Securities, the ‘Securities’)Securities) denominated in any currency as agreed between Abbey National Treasury Services plc and the relevant dealers under the Note, Certificate and Warrant programme and the Global Structured Solutions Programmes (the ‘StructuredStructured Securities Programmes’)Programmes). The securities are direct, senior and unsecured obligations of Abbey National Treasury Services plc that rank pari passu without preference among themselves and, subject as to any applicable statutory provisions or judicial order, at least equally with all other present and future senior and unsecured obligations of Abbey National Treasury Services plc. The payment of all amounts due in respect of the Securities has been unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Santander UK plc.

The Structured Securities Programmes provide for the issuance of commodity linked N&C Securities, credit-linked N&C Securities, currency-linked Securities, equity-linked Securities, equity index-linked Securities, fixed rate N&C Securities, floating rate N&C Securities, fund-linked Securities, inflation-linked Securities, property-linked Securities, zero-coupon/discount N&C Securities and any other structured Securities as agreed between Abbey National Treasury Services plc and the relevant dealers. Securities issued under the Structured Securities Programmes are governed by English law.

The maximum aggregate outstanding nominal amount of all N&C Securities and the aggregate issue prices of outstanding warrants from time to time issued under the Structured Securities Programmes will not exceed euro 10bn (or its equivalent in other currencies).

Warrants programme

Abbey National Treasury Services plc established a warrants programme (the ‘Warrants Programme’)Warrants Programme) in 2009 for the issuance of structured warrants denominated in any currency as agreed between Abbey National Treasury Services plc and the relevant dealers under the Warrants Programme. Warrants are direct, unsecured and unconditional obligations of Abbey National Treasury Services plc that rank pari passu without preference among themselves and, subject as to any applicable statutory provisions or judicial order, rank at least equally with all other present and future unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of Abbey National Treasury Services plc.

In 2012, Abbey National Treasury Services plc discontinued the issue of new warrants under the Warrants Programme as new issuances are being made under the Structured Securities Programmes. The payments of all amounts due in respect of the previously issued warrants have been unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Santander UK plc.

 

 

278Santander UK plc

252  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

32.30. DEBT SECURITIES IN ISSUE

 

   Group    Company            Group            Company 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Bonds and medium term notes:

                

- Euro 35bn Global Covered Bond Programme

 18,379   18,379   -   -       16,040       18,379       -       -  

- US$20bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme (See Note 31)

 11,785   7,690   -   -  

- US$30bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme (See Note 29)

     11,404       7,735       -       -  

- US$40bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme

 112   156   112   156       -       112       -       112  

- US SEC registered – Abbey National Treasury Services plc

     5,585       4,050       -       -  

- US$20bn Commercial Paper Programme

 3,510   3,131   -   -       2,270       3,510       -       -  

- Euro 5bn Guaranteed French Certificates of Deposit Programme

 968   890   -   -       811       968       -       -  

- Certificates of deposit

 3,042   1,756   -   -       3,662       3,042       -       -  
 37,796   32,002   112   156       39,772       37,796       -       112  

Securitisation programmes (See Note 19):

Securitisation programmes (See Note 17):

                

- Holmes

 6,144   9,139   -   -       3,811       6,144       -       -  

- Fosse

 7,104   8,885   -   -       4,196       7,104       -       -  

- Motor

 746   844   -   -       839       746       -       -  

- Auto ABS UK Loans

     997       -       -       -  
 51,790   50,870   112   156       49,615       51,790       -       112  

Included in the above balances are amounts owed by the Santander UK groupdue to Banco Santander S.A.SA and other subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA outside the Santander UK group of £64m (2013: £37m)£67m (2014: £64m) and £285m (2013: £617m)£60m (2014: £285m) respectively.

Euro 35bn Global Covered Bond Programme

Abbey National Treasury Services plc issues covered bonds under the euro 35bn Global Covered Bond Programme that may be denominated in any currency as agreed between Abbey National Treasury Services plc and the relevant dealers. The programme provides that covered bonds may be listed or admitted to trading, on the official list of the UK Listing Authority and on the London Stock Exchange’s Regulated Market or any other stock exchanges or regulated or unregulated markets. Abbey National Treasury Services plc may also issue unlisted covered bonds and/or covered bonds not admitted to trading on any regulated or unregulated market.

The payments of all amounts due in respect of the covered bonds have been unconditionally guaranteed by Santander UK plc. Abbey Covered Bonds LLP (the ‘LLP’)LLP), together with Santander UK plc, has guaranteed payments of interest and principal under the covered bonds pursuant to a guarantee which is secured over the LLP’s portfolio of mortgages and its other assets. Recourse against the LLP under its guarantee is limited to its portfolio of mortgages and such assets.

Covered bonds may be issued in bearer or registered form. The maximum aggregate nominal amount of all covered bonds from time to time outstanding under the programme will not exceed euro 35bn (or its equivalent in other currencies), subject to any modifications in accordance with the programme.

On 11 November 2008, Abbey National Treasury Services plc was admitted to the register of issuers and the programme and the covered bonds issued previously under the programme were admitted to the register of regulated covered bonds, pursuant to Regulation 14 of the Regulated Covered Bonds Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/346).

US$40bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme

In January 2009, it was decided that no further issuance would be made under the US$40bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme. Alliance & Leicester plc issued both senior notes and subordinated notes and from time to time issued notes denominated in any currency as agreed with the relevant dealer under the US$40bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme. The Programme provided for issuance of fixed rate Notes, floating rate notes, index linked notes, dual currency notes and zero-coupon notes. The notes are listed on the London Stock Exchange or may be listed on any other or further stock exchange(s) or may be unlisted, as agreed. The notes were issued in bearer form. The maximum aggregate nominal amount of all notes from time to time outstanding under the Programme did not exceed US$40bn (or its equivalent in other currencies), subject to any modifications in accordance with the terms of the Programme agreement.

The notes were direct, unsecured and unconditional obligations of Alliance & Leicester plc. The notes transferred to Santander UK plc with effect from 28 May 2010 under a business transfer scheme under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. As a result, the notes are now direct, unsecured and unconditional obligations of Santander UK plc.

US SEC registered debt shelf – Abbey National Treasury Services plc

Abbey National Treasury Services plc issues notes in the US from time to time pursuant to a shelf registration statement on Form F-3 filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The notes may be issuedCommission in any currency agreed between Abbey National Treasury Services plc and the relevant underwriters in any particular issuance under the registration statement and are issued under the US$20bn Euro Medium Term Note Programme.2013.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

US$20bn Commercial Paper Programme

On 1 July 2015, Abbey National North AmericaTreasury Services plc, US Branch set up a US$20bn Commercial Paper Programme for the issuance of commercial paper. The new programme will replace the ANNA LLC mayUS$20bn Commercial Paper Programme, and ANNA LLC will not issue any further commercial paper going forward.

Abbey National Treasury Services plc, US Branch from time to time issueissues unsecured notes denominated in United States dollars as agreed between Abbey National North America LLCTreasury Services plc, US Branch and the relevant dealers under the US$20bn US commercial paper programme. The Notes will rank at least pari passu with all other unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness of Abbey National North America LLCTreasury Services plc, US Branch and Santander UK plc. The payments of all amounts due in respect of the Notes have been unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Santander UK plc. The Notes are not redeemable prior to maturity or subject to voluntary prepayment. The maximum aggregate nominal amount of all Notes from time to time outstanding under the Programme will not exceed US$20bn (or its equivalent in other currencies).

Annual Report 2014279


Financial statements

Euro 5bn Guaranteed French Certificates of Deposit Programme

Santander UKAbbey National Treasury Services plc may from time to time issue certificates of deposit under the Euro5bn Guaranteed French Certificates of Deposit Programme that may be denominated in any currency as agreed between Santander UK plcthe Company and the relevant dealer. The certificates of deposit rank at least pari passu with all other unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of Santander UKAbbey National Treasury Services plc. The payments of all amounts due in respect of the certificates of deposit have been unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Santander UK plc. The certificates of deposit are issued in bearer form, subject to a maximum maturity of 365 days or 366 days in a leap year. The certificates of deposit may bear fixed or floating rate interest. The maximum aggregate nominal amount of all certificates of deposit outstanding from time to time under the programme will not exceed euro 5bn (or its equivalent in other currencies). The certificates of deposit are not listed on any stock exchange.

Certificates of deposit

Santander UKAbbey National Treasury Services plc may from time to time issue certificates of deposit that may be denominated in any currency as agreed between the parties. The certificates of deposit rank at least pari passu with all other unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of Santander UKAbbey National Treasury Services plc. The payments of all amounts due in respect of the certificates of deposit have been unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Santander UK plc. The certificates of deposit are issued in bearer form and may bear fixed or floating rate interest. The certificates of deposit are not listed on any stock exchange.

Securitisation programmes

The Santander UK group has provided prime retail mortgage-backed securitised products and other asset-backed securitised products to a diverse investor base through its mortgage and other asset-backed funding programmes, as described in Note 19.17.

Funding has historically been raised via mortgage-backed notes, both issued to third parties and retained. In addition, the Santander UK group has provided other asset-backed securitised products to investors through the securitisation of auto loan receivables.

An analysis of the above debt securities in issue by issue currency, interest rate and maturity is as follows:

 

       Group    Company 
     Issue currency            Interest rate                             Maturity 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

 

Euro

0.00% - 3.99% Up to 2014   -   1,951   -   42  
 Up to 2015   4,039   3,286   -   -  
 2016 – 2019   8,779   4,864   -   -  
 2020 – 2029   3,109   2,573   -   -  
 2030 – 2059   2,494   4,602   -   -  
4.00% - 4.99% Up to 2014   -   866   -   -  
 2016 – 2019   939   983   -   -  
 2020 – 2029   2,301   1,840   -   -  
   2030 – 2059   171   76   -   -  

US dollar

0.00% - 3.99% Up to 2014   19   6,495   -   -  
 Up to 2015   4,825   -   -   -  
 2016 – 2019   2,944   609   -   -  
 2020 – 2029   402   416   -   -  
 2030 – 2039   -   -   -   -  
 2040 – 2059   4,230   5,953   -   -  
4.00% - 5.99% Up to 2014   -   2   -   -  
 Up to 2015   33   32   33   32  
 2016 – 2019   660   632   -   -  
 2020 – 2029   650   -   -   -  
   2040 – 2059   168   149   -   -  

Pounds sterling

0.00% - 3.99% Up to 2014   -   1,210   -   -  
 Up to 2015   2,311   855   -   -  
 2016 – 2019   1,975   970   -   -  
 2020 – 2029   959   502   -   -  
 2040 – 2059   5,338   6,187   -   -  
4.00% - 5.99% Up to 2014   -   612   -   -  
 Up to 2015   -   -   -   -  
 2016 – 2019   421   426   -   -  
 2020 – 2029   3,506   3,546   -   -  
 2040 – 2059   931   524   -   -  
 6.00% - 6.99% 2014 – 2015   79   82   79   82  
 Up to 2014   -   -   -   -  

Other currencies

0.00% - 5.99% Up to 2015   182   192   -   -  
 2020 – 2029   147   171   -   -  
 2040 – 2060   123   264   -   -  
 6.00% - 6.99% 2050 – 2059   55   -   -   -  
      51,790   50,870   112   156  

               Group     Company 
Issue currency    Interest rate    Maturity    

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Euro

    0.00% - 3.99%    Up to 2015     -       4,039       -       -  
        Up to 2016     4,415       3,790       -       -  
        2017 – 2019     6,377       4,989       -       -  
        2020 – 2029     6,231       3,109       -       -  
        2030 – 2059     710       2,494       -       -  
    4.00% - 4.99%    2017 – 2019     874       939       -       -  
        2020 – 2029     2,131       2,301       -       -  
          2030 – 2059     161       171       -       -  

US dollar

    0.00% - 3.99%    Up to 2015     -       4,844       -       -  
        Up to 2016     3,807       199       -       -  
        2017 – 2019     3,555       2,745       -       -  
        2020 – 2029     679       402       -       -  
        2040 – 2059     2,388       4,230       -       -  
    4.00% - 5.99%    Up to 2015     -       33       -       33  
        Up to 2016     683       660       -       -  
        2020 – 2029     682       650       -       -  
          2040 – 2059     177       168       -       -  

Pounds sterling

    0.00% - 3.99%    Up to 2015     -       2,311       -       -  
        Up to 2016     2,576       -       -       -  
        2017 – 2019     3,119       1,975       -       -  
        2020 – 2029     2,352       959       -       -  
        2040 – 2059     3,724       5,338       -       -  
    4.00% - 5.99%    2017 – 2019     415       421       -       -  
        2020 – 2029     3,468       3,506       -       -  
        2040 – 2059     922       931       -       -  
     6.00% - 6.99%    Up to 2015     -       79       -       79  

Other currencies

    0.00% - 5.99%    Up to 2015     -       182       -       -  
        2020 – 2029     169       147       -       -  
        2040 – 2060     -       123       -       -  
     6.00% - 6.99%    2050 – 2059     -       55       -       -  
                49,615       51,790       -       112  

 

 

280Santander UK plc

254  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

33.31. SUBORDINATED LIABILITIES

 

Group Company     Group     Company 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

£325m Sterling Preference Shares

 344   344   344   344       344       344       344       344  

£175m Fixed/Floating Rate Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities

 201   209   200   202       2       201       2       200  

Undated subordinated liabilities

 1,711   2,104   1,728   2,050       809       1,711       821       1,728  

Dated subordinated liabilities

 1,746   1,649   1,793   1,616       2,730       1,746       2,784       1,793  
 4,002   4,306   4,065   4,212       3,885       4,002       3,951       4,065  

The above securities will, in the event of the winding-up of the issuer, be subordinated to the claims of depositors and all other creditors of the issuer, other than creditors whose claims rank equally with, or are junior to, the claims of the holders of the subordinated liabilities. The subordination of specific subordinated liabilities is determined in respect of the issuer and any guarantors of that liability. The claims of holders of preference shares and preferred securities are generally junior to those of the holders of undated subordinated liabilities, which in turn are junior to the claims of holders of the dated subordinated liabilities. The subordination of the preference shares and preferred securities ranks equally with that of the £300m fixed/floating rate non-cumulative callable preference shares, £300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Preferred Securities and £300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Reserve Capital Instruments classified as share capital,other equity instruments, as described in Note 38.36.

The Santander UK group has not had any defaults of principal, interest or other breaches with respect to its subordinated liabilities during the year (2013:(2014: none). No repayment or purchase by the issuer of the subordinated liabilities may be made prior to their stated maturity without the consent of the PRA.

Included in the above balances are amounts owed by the Santander UK groupdue to Banco Santander S.A. andSA of £640m (2014: £1,867m) other subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA outside the Santander UK group of £1,867m (2013: £691m)£nil (2014: £nil) and £nil (2013: £1,609m)to Santander UK Group Holdings plc of £1,016m (2014: £nil) respectively.

£325m Sterling Preference Shares

Holders of sterling preference shares are entitled to receive a bi-annual non-cumulative preferential dividend payable in sterling out of the distributable profits of Santander UK plc. The rate per annum will ensure that the sum of the dividend payable on such date and the associated tax credit (as defined in the terms of the sterling preference shares) represents an annual rate of 8 5/8% per annum of the nominal amount of shares issued in 1997, and an annual rate of 10 3/8% for shares issued in 1995 and 1996.

On a return of capital or on a distribution of assets on a winding up, the sterling preference shares shall rank pari passu with any other shares that are expressed to rank pari passu therewith as regards participation in assets, and otherwise in priority to any other share capital of Santander UK plc. On such a return of capital or winding up, each sterling preference share shall, out of the surplus assets of Santander UK plc available for distribution amongst the members after payment of Santander UK plc’s liabilities, carry the right to receive an amount equal to the amount paid up or credited as paid together with any premium paid on issue and the full amount of any dividend otherwise due for payment. Other than as set out above, no sterling preference share confers any right to participate on a return of capital or a distribution of assets of Santander UK plc.

Holders of the sterling preference shares are not entitled to receive notice of or attend, speak and vote at general meetings of Santander UK plc unless the business of the meeting includes the consideration of a resolution to wind up Santander UK plc or any resolution varying, altering or abrogating any of the rights, privileges, limitations or restrictions attached to the sterling preference shares or if the dividend on the sterling preference shares has not been paid in full for the three consecutive dividend periods immediately prior to the relevant general meeting. In any such case, the sterling preference shareholders are entitled to receive notice of and attend the general meeting at which such resolution is proposed and will be entitled to speak and vote on such a resolution but not on any other resolution.

£175m Fixed/Floating Rate Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities

The Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities were issued on 9 August 2002 by Santander UK plc and have no fixed redemption date. Santander UK plc has the right to redeem the Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities whole but not in part on 9 February 2018 or on any coupon payment date thereafter, subject to the prior approval of the PRA. The Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities bear interest at a rate of 6.984% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears. From (and including) 9 February 2018, the Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities will bear interest, at a rate reset semi-annually of 1.86% per annum above the six-month sterling LIBOR rate, payable semi-annually in arrears. Interest payments may be deferred in limited circumstances, such as when the payment would cause Santander UK plc to become insolvent or breach applicable Capital Regulations.

The Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities are not redeemable at the option of the holders and the holders do not have any rights against other Santander UK group companies. Where interest payments have been deferred, Santander UK plc may not declare or pay dividends on or redeem or repurchase any junior securities until it next makes a scheduled payment on the Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities and the Reserve Capital Instruments.

The Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities are unsecured securities of Santander UK plc and are subordinated to the claims of unsubordinated creditors and subordinated creditors holding loan capital of Santander UK plc. Upon the winding up of Santander UK plc, holders of Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities will rank pari passu with the holders of the most senior class or classes of preference shares (if any) of Santander UK plc then in issue and in priority to all other Santander UK plc shareholders.

As part of a capital management exercise, 99% of the then outstanding Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities were re-purchased on 11 June 2015.

 

 

Annual Report 2014281


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

Undated subordinated liabilities

 

Group Company     Group     Company 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

10.0625% Exchangeable subordinated capital securities

 205   205   205   205       205       205       205       205  

5.56% Subordinated guaranteed notes (Yen 15,000m)

 83   93   83   93       -       83       -       83  

5.50% Subordinated guaranteed notes (Yen 5,000m)

 28   31   28   31       -       28       -       28  

Fixed/Floating Rate subordinated notes (Yen 5,000m)

 29   32   29   32       29       29       29       29  

10 Year step-up perpetual callable subordinated notes

 330   334   329   332       -       330       -       329  

7.50% 15 Year step-up perpetual callable subordinated notes

 449   471   448   471       -       449       -       448  

7.375% 20 Year step-up perpetual callable subordinated notes

 212   223   210   206       205       212       203       210  

7.125% 30 Year step-up perpetual callable subordinated notes

 375   381   396   346       370       375       384       396  

Fixed to floating rate perpetual callable subordinated notes

 -   334   -   334  
 1,711   2,104   1,728   2,050       809       1,711       821       1,728  

The 10.0625% exchangeable subordinated capital securities are exchangeable into fully paid 10.375% non-cumulative non-redeemable sterling preference shares of £1 each, at the option of Santander UK plc. Exchange may take place on any interest payment date providing that between 30 and 60 days notice has been given to the holders. The holders will receive one new sterling preference share for each £1 principal amount of capital securities held.

The 5.56% Subordinated guaranteed notes are redeemable at par, at the option of Santander UK plc, on 31 January 2015 and each fifth anniversary thereafter. During the year, the Company2015, Santander UK plc exercised its optionoptions to call these notes. Redemption payment for these notes will be made on 2 February 2015.and the notes were fully redeemed.

The 5.50% Subordinated guaranteed notes are redeemable at par, at the option of Santander UK plc, on 27 June 2015 and each fifth anniversary thereafter. During 2015, Santander UK plc exercised its options to call these notes and the notes were fully redeemed.

The Fixed/Floating Rate Subordinated notes are redeemable at par, at the option of Santander UK plc, on 27 December 2016 and each interest payment date (quarterly) thereafter.

The 10 Year step-up perpetual callable subordinated notes are redeemable at par, at the option of Santander UK plc, on 28 September 2010 and each fifth anniversary thereafter. The coupon payable on the notes iswas 4.8138% from 28 September 2010 to 28 September 2015. During 2015, the Company exercised its options to call these notes and the notes were fully redeemed.

The 7.50% 15 Year step-up perpetual callable subordinated notes are redeemable at par, at the option of Santander UK plc, on 28 September 2015 and each fifth anniversary thereafter. During 2015, Santander UK plc exercised its options to call these notes and the notes were fully redeemed.

The 7.375% 20 Year step-up perpetual callable subordinated notes are redeemable at par, at the option of Santander UK plc, on 28 September 2020 and each fifth anniversary thereafter.

The 7.125% 30 Year step-up perpetual callable subordinated notes are redeemable at par, at the option of Santander UK plc, on 30 September 2030 and each fifth anniversary thereafter.

The Fixed to Floating rate perpetual callable subordinated notes were redeemable at par, at the option of Santander UK plc, on 28 September 2010 and each interest payment date thereafter. During 2014, the Company exercised its options to call these notes and the notes were fully redeemed.

In common with other debt securities issued by Santander UK group companies, the undated subordinated liabilities are redeemable in whole at the option of Santander UK plc, on any interest payment date, in the event of certain tax changes affecting the treatment of payments of interest on the subordinated liabilities in the UK, at their principal amount together with any accrued interest.

Dated subordinated liabilities

                                                                        
 Group Company 
  

                    2014

£m

 

                    2013

£m

 

                    2014

£m

 

                    2013

£m

 

10.125% Subordinated guaranteed bond 2023

 96   103   95   99  

11.50% Subordinated guaranteed bond 2017

 68   73   68   72  

7.95% Subordinated notes 2029 (US$1,000m)

 252   217   252   217  

6.50% Subordinated notes 2030

 41   42   43   38  

8.963% Subordinated notes 2030 (US$1,000m)

 182   159   182   159  

5.875% Subordinated notes 2031

 10   10   10   8  

9.625% Subordinated notes 2023

 144   148   142   142  

5% Subordinated notes 2023 (US$1,500m)

 953   897   1,001   881  
  1,746   1,649   1,793   1,616  

The subordinated floating rate notes pay

     Group     Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

10.125% Subordinated guaranteed bond 2023

     90       96       90       95  

11.50% Subordinated guaranteed bond 2017

     63       68       63       68  

7.95% Subordinated notes 2029 (US$1,000m)

     262       252       262       252  

6.50% Subordinated notes 2030

     41       41       42       43  

8.963% Subordinated notes 2030 (US$1,000m)

     107       182       107       182  

5.875% Subordinated notes 2031

     10       10       10       10  

9.625% Subordinated notes 2023

     139       144       138       142  

5% Subordinated notes 2023 (US$1,500m)

     1,002       953       1,056       1,001  

4.75% Subordinated notes 2025 (US$1,000m)

     678       -       678       -  

5.625% Subordinated notes 2045 (US$,500m)

     338       -       338       -  
      2,730       1,746       2,784       1,793  

As part of a rate of interest related to the LIBORcapital management exercise, 43% of the currency of denomination. then outstanding 8.963% Non-cumulative Trust Preferred Securities (8.963% Subordinated notes 2030) were re-purchased on 11 June 2015.

The dated subordinated liabilities are redeemable in whole at the option of Santander UK plc, on any interest payment date, in the event of certain tax changes affecting the treatment of payments of interest on the subordinated liabilities in the UK, at their principal amount together with any accrued interest.

Each of the subordinated liabilities issued by Santander UK Group Holdings plc has been downstreamed to Santander UK plc by means of Santander UK plc issuing equivalent subordinated liabilities to Santander UK Group Holdings plc.

Subordinated liabilities are repayable:

 

                                                                        
 Group Company 
  

                    2014

£m

 

                    2013

£m

 

                    2014

£m

 

                    2013

£m

 

In more than 1 year but no more than 5 years

 68   74   68   72  

In more than 5 years

 1,678   1,575   1,725   1,544  

Undated

 2,256   2,657   2,272   2,596  
  4,002   4,306   4,065   4,212  

     Group     Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

In more than 1 year but no more than 5 years

     63       68       63       68  

In more than 5 years

     2,667       1,678       2,721       1,725  

Undated

     1,155       2,256       1,167       2,272  
      3,885       4,002       3,951       4,065  

 

 

282Santander UK plc

256  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

34.32. OTHER LIABILITIES

 

                                                                        
Group Company     Group     Company 

                    2014

£m

 

                    2013

£m

 

                    2014

£m

 

                    2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Trade and other payables

 1,378   1,012   1,320   956       1,343       1,378       1,256       1,320  

Accrued expenses

 898   849   707   625       959       898       802       707  

Deferred income

 26   22   1   3       33       26       15       1  
 2,302   1,883   2,028   1,584       2,335       2,302       2,073       2,028  

Included in the above balances are amounts owed by the Santander UK groupdue to Banco Santander S.A.SA of £nil (2013: £164m)(2014: £nil), other subsidiaries of Banco Santander S.A.SA outside the Santander UK group of £50m (2013: £83m)£32m (2014: £50m) and to Santander UK Group Holdings Limitedplc of £250m (2013: £nil)£102m (2014: £250m) respectively.

35.33. PROVISIONS

 

             Group 
 Conduct remediation       
  

            PPI

£m

 

            Other products

£m

 

                 Regulatory-related

£m

 

                Other

£m

 

                Total

£m

 

At 1 January 2014

 165   222   79   84   550  

Additional provisions

 95   45   165   111   416  

Used during the year

 (131)   (128)   (159)   (80)   (498)  

Transfers

 -   14   -   -   14  

Other

 -   9   -   -   9  

At 31 December 2014

 129   162   85   115   491  

To be settled:

- Within 12 months

 95   142   85   63   385  

- In more than 12 months

 34   20   -   52   106  
  129   162   85   115   491  
             Group 
 Conduct remediation       
  

PPI

£m

 

Other products

£m

 

Regulatory-related(1)

£m

 

Other

£m

 

Total

£m

 

At 1 January 2013

 382   276   66   71   795  

Additional provisions

 -   -   147   148   295  

Used during the year

 (217)   (9)   (134)   (135)   (495)  

Provisions released

 -   (45)   -   -   (45)  

At 31 December 2013

 165   222   79   84   550  

To be settled:

- Within 12 months

 153   222   79   -   454  

- In more than 12 months

 12   -   -   84   96  
  165   222   79   84   550  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

  
             Company 
 Conduct remediation       
  

PPI

£m

 

Other products

£m

 

Regulatory-related

£m

 

Other

£m

 

Total

£m

 

At 1 January 2014

 151   221   56   53   481  

Additional provisions

 95   45   133   106   379  

Used during the year

 (131)   (128)   (136)   (52)   (447)  

Transfers

 -   14   -   -   14  

Other

 -   9   -   -   9  

At 31 December 2014

 115   161   53   107   436  

To be settled:

- Within 12 months

 95   142   53   60   350  

- In more than 12 months

 20   19   -   47   86  
  115   161   53   107   436  
             Company 
 Conduct remediation       
  

PPI

£m

 

Other products

£m

 

Regulatory-related(1)

£m

 

Other

£m

 

Total

£m

 

At 1 January 2013

 371   275   46   48   740  

Additional provisions

 -   -   125   58   183  

Used during the year

 (199)   (9)   (115)   (53)   (376)  

Provisions released

 -   (45)   -   -   (45)  

Transfer between legal entities

 (21)   -   -   -   (21)  

At 31 December 2013

 151   221   56   53   481  

To be settled:

- Within 12 months

 139   221   56   -   416  

- In more than 12 months

 12   -   -   53   65  
  151   221   56   53   481  
(1)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

     Group 
     Conduct remediation                         
      

PPI

£m

     

Wealth and Investment

£m

     

Other products

£m

     

Regulatory-related

£m

     

Vacant property

£m

     

Other

£m

     

Total

£m

 

At 1 January 2015

     129       127       35       85       76       39       491  

Additional provisions

     450       43       7       177       6       79       762  

Used during the year

     (125)       (24)       (16)       (169)       (14)       (46)       (394)  

Transfers

     11       -       -       -       -       -       11  

At 31 December 2015

     465       146       26       93       68       72       870  

To be settled:

                            

- Within 12 months

     227       146       26       93       22       67       581  

- In more than 12 months

     238       -       -       -       46       5       289  
      465       146       26       93       68       72       870  
                                                  

At 1 January 2014

     165       110       112       79       42       42       550  

Additional provisions

     95       45       -       165       55       56       416  

Used during the year

     (131)       (34)       (94)       (159)       (21)       (59)       (498)  

Transfers

     -       -       14       -       -       -       14  

Other

     -       6       3       -       -       -       9  

At 31 December 2014

     129       127       35       85       76       39       491  

To be settled:

                            

- Within 12 months

     95       120       22       85       30       33       385  

- In more than 12 months

     34       7       13       -       46       6       106  
      129       127       35       85       76       39       491  
     Company 
     Conduct remediation                         
      

PPI

£m

     

Wealth and

Investment

£m

     

Other products

£m

     

Regulatory-related

£m

     

Vacant property

£m

     

Other

£m

     

Total

£m

 

At 1 January 2015

     115       127       35       53       75       31       436  

Additional provisions

     450       43       7       134       6       79       719  

Used during the year

     (125)       (24)       (16)       (140)       (14)       (46)       (365)  

Transfers

     25       -       -       -       -       -       25  

At 31 December 2015

     465  ��    146       26       47       67       64       815  

To be settled:

                            

- Within 12 months

     227       146       26       47       22       64       532  

- In more than 12 months

     238       -       -       -       45       -       283  
      465       146       26       47       67       64       815  
                                                  

At 1 January 2014

     151       110       111       56       41       12       481  

Additional provisions

     95       45       -       133       55       51       379  

Used during the year

     (131)       (34)       (93)       (136)       (21)       (32)       (447)  

Transfers

     -       -       14       -       -       -       14  

Other

     -       6       3       -       -       -       9  

At 31 December 2014

     115       127       35       53       75       31       436  

To be settled:

                            

- Within 12 months

     95       120       23       53       29       30       350  

- In more than 12 months

     20       7       12       -       46       1       86  
      115       127       35       53       75       31       436  

 

 

Annual Report 2014283


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

a) Conduct remediation

The amounts in respect of conduct remediation comprise the estimated cost of making redress payments, including related costs, with respect to the past sales or administration of products. In calculating the conduct remediation provision, management’s best estimate of the provision was calculated based on conclusions regarding the number of claims, of those, the number that will be upheld, and the estimated average settlement per case. Sensitivities relating to the provision for conduct remediation can be found in ‘Critical Accounting Policies and Areas of Significant Management Judgement’ in Note 1.

(i) Payment Protection Insurance (‘PPI’)

The provision for conduct remediation in respect of PPI represents management’s best estimate of the anticipated costs of related customer contact and/or redress, including related costs.

(i) Payment Protection Insurance (PPI)

In August 2010, the FSA (now the FCA) published a policy statement entitled ‘The assessment and redress of Payment Protection Insurance complaints’ (the Policy Statement). The Policy Statement contained rules which altered the basis on which regulated firms must consider and deal with complaints in relation to the sale of PPI and potentially increased the amount of compensation payable to customers whose complaints are upheld.

Having announced earlier in 2015 that it would gather evidence on current trends in PPI to assess the current process for PPI complaints and consider whether any new intervention is necessary, the FCA issued a consultation paper in November 2015 (the Consultation Paper) outlining its proposed approach to PPI in light of the 2014 decision of the Supreme Court in Plevin v Paragon Personal Finance Ltd (Plevin) and its proposal to set a two year deadline for PPI claims. In Plevin, the Supreme Court ruled that a failure to disclose a large commission payment on a single premium PPI policy sold in connection with a secured personal loan made the relationship between the lender and the borrower unfair under section 140A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The FOS is also currently considering its position with respect to the impact of Plevin on PPI complaints.

A provision for conduct remediation has been recognised in respect of the mis-selling of PPI policies. The provision is calculated based on a number of key assumptions which involve significant management judgement. These are as follows:

are:

  -

>

Claim volumes – the estimated number of customer complaints received;

received

>

  -

Uphold rate – the estimated percentage of complaints that are, or will be, upheld in favour of the customer; and

customer

>

  -

Average cost of redress – the estimated payment to customers, including compensation for any direct loss plus interest.

The assumptions have been based on the following:

The assumptions have been based on the following:
  -

>

Analysis completed of the causes of complaints, and uphold rates, and how these are likely to vary in the future;

future

>

  -

Actual claims activity registered to date;

date

>

  -

The level of redress paid to customers, together with a forecast of how this is likely to change over time;

time

>

  -

The impact on complaints levels of proactive customer contact; and

contact

>

  -

The effect of media coverage and time bar are expected to have on the issue.

complaints inflows.

The assumptions are kept under review, and regularly reassessed and validated against actual customer data, e.g. claims received; uphold rates, the impact of any changes in approach to uphold rates, and any re-evaluation of the estimated population.

The most critical factor in determining the level of provision is the volume of claims. The uphold rate is a reasonably consistent function of the sales process and the average cost of redress can be predicted reasonably accurately given that management is dealing with a high volume and reasonably homogeneous population. In setting the provision, management estimated the total claims that were likely to be received. Previous experience has indicated that claims could be received over a number of years.

The table below sets out the key drivers of the provision balance and forecast assumptions used in calculating the provision, as well as the sensitivity of the provision to changes in the assumptions.

 

  

Cumulative to

31 December

2014

   

Future expected

(unaudited)

   

Sensitivity analysis

Increase/decrease in
provision

     

Cumulative to

31 December

2015

     

Future expected

(unaudited)

    

   

Sensitivity analysis

Increase/decrease in
provision

 

Inbound complaints(1) (‘000)

   807     147     25,000 = £12m       911       1,077     25 = £9m  

Outbound contact (‘000)

   335     -     25,000 = £25m       349       9     25 = £16m  

Outbound contact completion

   100%     -     -       100%       100%     -  

Response rate to outbound contact

   31%     31%     1% = £1m       34%       40%     1% = £0.2m  

Average uphold rate per claim(2)

   78%     70%     1% = £3m       54%       71%     1% = £5m  

Average redress per claim

   £1,908     £1,443     £100 = £6m       £1,810       £503     £100 = £76m  

(1) Excludes invalid claims where the complainant has not held a PPI policy.

(2) Claims include inbound and responses to outbound contact.

Number of PPI claims outstanding

Movements in the number of PPI claims outstanding during the years ended 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012 were as follows:

  

  

  

  

  

2014

‘000

   

2013

‘000

   

2012

‘000

 

Outstanding at 1 January

   14     31     1  

Complaints received(1)

   246     363     437  

Complaints rejected as invalid(2)

   (194)     (298)     (258)  

Complaints closed - upheld

   (46)     (82)     (149)  

Outstanding at 31 December

   20     14     31  
(1)Excludes invalid claims where the complainant has not held a PPI policy.
(2)Claims include inbound and responses to outbound contact.

258  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
 Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

Number of PPI claims outstanding

Movements in the number of PPI claims outstanding during the years ended 31 December 2015, 2014 and 2013 were as follows:

      

2015

‘000

     

2014

‘000

     

2013

‘000

 

Outstanding at 1 January

     20       14       31  

Complaints received(1)

     251       246       363  

Complaints rejected as invalid(2)

     (195)       (194)       (298)  

Complaints closed - upheld

     (57)       (46)       (82)  

Outstanding at 31 December

     19       20       14  
(1)

Includes complaints that were deemed invalid, as there is no record of a relevant PPI policy being held by the customer.

(2)

The customer has the right to appeal to the FOS if their claim is rejected. FOS may uphold or reject the appeal and if upheld Santander UK is required to provide redress to the customer. Claims upheld or rejected above reflect the results of any appeals.

2015 compared to 2014

When assessing the adequacy of our provision, we have applied the November 2015 FCA consultation paper, including the Plevin case, to our current assumptions. This application has resulted in an additional £450m provision charge for the fourth quarter of 2015, which represents our best estimate of the remaining redress and costs. The additional provision is predicated on the probable two-year deadline by which customers would need to make their PPI complaints and the anticipated increase in claim volumes as a result of the finite claim period.

Monthly utilisation, excluding pro-active customer contact, during 2015 was £10m per month (including related costs), against an average of £9m in 2014. While we saw a reduction in PPI redress costs in the first half of the year, we have seen an increase in the third quarter in line with industry trends, with the fourth quarter remaining flat.

Although we are comfortable with our current position, we will continue to review our provision levels in respect of recent claims experiences and the observed impact of the two-year deadline.

2014 compared withto 2013

During 2014, the volume of PPI complaints decreased at a slower rate than in 2013. The provision was reassessed in light of this. A review of recent claims activity indicated that claims are expected to continue for longer than originally anticipated. As a result, the provision was increased by £95m. Monthly PPI redress costs, including related costs, including pro-active customer contact, decreased to an average of £11m per month in 2014, compared to a monthly average of £18m in 2013. Excluding pro-active customer contact, the average monthly redress costs in the fourth quarter of 2014 were £7m. The high proportion of invalid complaints also continued.

2013 compared with 2012

The volume of PPI activity decreased and the number of complaints we received reduced by 29% in 2013, although the high proportion of invalid complaints continued. Monthly PPI redress costs, including related costs, decreased through the year to an average in the fourth quarter of 2013 of £11m per month, compared to a monthly average in the year ended 31 December 2013 of £18m (2012: monthly average of £26m).

284Santander UK plc


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(ii) Other products

A provision for conduct remediation has also been recognised in respect of other products. The disclosures that follow with respect to these products reflect the fact that they are individually less significant than PPI.

The provision for conduct remediation in respect of other products represents management’s best estimate of the anticipated costs of related customer contact and/or redress, including related costs. A number of uncertainties remain as to the eventual costs with respect to conduct remediation in respect of these products given the inherent difficulties in determining the number of customers involved and the amount of any redress to be provided to them.

Wealth and investment products

During 2012, the FCA (formerly(then known as the FSA) undertook an industry-wide thematic review of the sale of investment products, and subsequently sales of premium investment funds. The FCA’s review included Santander UK, and identified shortcomings in the collection of customer information and risk profile alignment, and concerns about product suitability, fees and charges. As a result, Santander UK initiated customer contact exercises to provide appropriate redress to customers who had suffered detriment. The redress methodology for remaining phases is under discussion with the FCA.

A provision has been recognised in respect of the above sales for redress payments and related costs. The provision is calculated based on a number of factors and assumptions including:

-Customer communications - the results of contact with affected customers
-Acceptance of offers made - acceptances by affected customers and additional losses claimed from some customers
-Average redress paid - the estimated payment to customers, including compensation for any direct loss plus interest.

At 31 December 2014,2015, the provision was £127m (2013: £110m). The provision was increased by £45m£146m (2014: £127m) which included £43m of additional provisions taken in the year, predominantly in relation tothird quarter of 2015. The additional provisions were taken following the customer contact exercise.

Interest rate hedging products

In 2012, the FCA identified material failings in the sale of interest rate derivatives to some small and medium sized businesses at the four largest UK banks. The FCA did not identify any mis-selling issues with Santander UK. However, in order to ensure that customers are treated consistently, the FCA requested seven other UK banks (including Santander UK) to undertake a reviewagreement of the sales of interest rate hedgingrevised approach to redressing portfolio and structured investment customers with the FCA.

(iii) Other products to SMEs since 2001.

A provision was initiallyfor conduct remediation has also been recognised based onin respect of sales or administration of other products. The provision represents management’s best estimate of the pilot exercise completed in the second halfanticipated costs of 2012 and subsequently revised following therelated customer contact exercise that commencedand/or redress, including related costs. A number of uncertainties remain as to the eventual costs with respect to conduct remediation in respect of these products given the second quarterinherent difficulties in determining the number of 2013 and ongoing updated guidelines from the FCA. The level of provision is based on full redress i.e. unwinding of the trade (reversal of mark-to-market values) and refund of net interest payments made by customers. Response rates are monitored on a regular basis,customers involved and the provision updated accordingly.

The issue continuesamount of any redress to be managed down and a modest provision was released in 2014.

Card Protection Plan

In August 2013, the FCA announced that Card Protection Plan Limited (‘CPP’) and 13 banks and credit card issuers, including the Santander UK group, had agreedprovided to a compensation scheme in relation to the sale of card and/or identity protection insurance to certain retail customers. CPP wrote to affected policyholders to confirm the details of the proposed scheme, which was subsequently approved by a policyholder vote and by the High Court of England and Wales.

A provision was recognised based on the proposed compensation scheme for sales and renewals made from 2005 onwards and operational costs associated with the contact exercise that commenced in the first half of 2014 and customer complaint handling costs. The compensation scheme has now been implemented and the conduct issue has been closed, with only exceptional claims remaining.

them.

 

 

Annual Report 2014285


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

b) Regulatory-related

(i) Financial Services Compensation Scheme (‘FSCS’)(FSCS)

The FSCS is the UK’s independent statutory compensation fund for customers of authorised financial services firms and pays compensation if a firm is unable to pay claims against it. The FSCS is funded by levies on the industry (and recoveries and borrowings where appropriate). The levies raised comprise both management expenses levies and, where necessary, compensation levies on authorised firms.

Each deposit-taking institution contributes towards the management expenses levies in proportion to their share of total protected deposits on 31 December of the year preceding the scheme year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March. In determining an appropriate accrual in respect of the management expenses levy, certain assumptions have been made, includingbased on information received from the proportion of total protected deposits held byFSCS, and the Santander UK group.group’s historic share of industry protected deposits.

Following the default of a number of deposit takers since 2008, the FSCS borrowed funds from HM Treasury to meet the compensation costs for customers of those firms. The interest on the borrowings with HM Treasury, which are approximately £16bn, are now assessed at the higher of 12 month LIBOR plus 100111 basis points and the relevant gilt rate published by the Debt Management Office. A margin of 100bp was applied to the loan balance up to 29 March 2015.

Whilst it is expected that the substantial majority of the principal will be repaid from funds the FSCS receives from asset sales, surplus cash flow or other recoveries in relation to the assets of the firms that defaulted, to the extent that there remains a shortfall, the FSCS will recover any shortfall of the principal by levying the deposit-taking sector in instalments. The first instalment was as expected, in scheme year 2013/14, and the Santander UK group made capital contributions in August 2013, August 2014 and August 2014.2015.

The FSCS and HM Treasury have agreed that the terms of the repayment of the borrowings will be reviewed every three years in light of market conditions and of the actual repayment from the estates of failed banks. The ultimate amount of any compensation levies to be charged in future years also depends on a number of factors including the level of protected deposits and the population of deposit-taking participants and will be determined at a later date.

Dunfermline Building Society was the first deposit taker to be resolved under the Special Resolution Regime which came into force under the Banking Act 2009. Recoveries are paid to HM Treasury and the FSCS has an obligation to contribute to the costs of the resolution, subject to a statutory cap. This contribution will be dischargedThe Santander UK group’s contributions in due course through levies on the deposit-taking sector.2014 and 2015 included interim payments.

For the year ended 31 December 2014,2015, the Santander UK group charged £76m (2014: £91m, (2013:2013: £88m) to the income statement in respect of the costs of the FSCS. The charge includes the effect of adjustments to provisions made in prior years as a result of more accurate information now being available.

During 2014, Santander UK adopted IFRIC 21 which provides guidance on accounting for the liability to pay a government imposed levy, as described in Note 1. The adoption of IFRIC 21 changed the accounting for the FSCS. IFRIC 21 has been applied retrospectively. The impact of applying IFRIC 21 at 1 January 2014 was to increase retained earnings by £70m, increase deferred tax liabilities by £19m, and to reduce provisions by £89m.

(ii) UK Bank Levy

The Finance Act 2011 introduced an annual bank levy in the UK. The UK Bank Levy is based on the total chargeable equity and liabilities as reported in the balance sheet of a Relevant Group at the end of a chargeable period. The Relevant Group for this purpose is a Foreign Banking Group whose ultimate parent is Banco Santander SA. The UK Bank Levy is calculated principally on the consolidated balance sheet of the UK sub-group parented by Santander UK Group Holdings plc, of which this Company is part. In determining the chargeable equity and liabilities the following amounts are excluded: adjusted Tier 1 capital; certain ‘protected deposits’ (for example those protected under the FSCS); liabilities that arise from certain insurance business within banking groups; liabilities in respect of currency notes in circulation; FSCS liabilities; liabilities representing segregated client money; and deferred tax liabilities, current tax liabilities, liabilities in respect of the UK Bank Levy, revaluation of property liabilities, liabilities representing the revaluation of business premises and defined benefit retirement liabilities.

It is also permitted in specified circumstances to reduce certain liabilities: by netting them against certain assets; offsetting assets on the relevant balance sheets that would qualify as high quality liquid assets (in accordance with the PRA definition); and repo liabilities secured against sovereign and supranational debt.

With effect from 1 April 2015, the Finance Act 2015 increased the rate to 0.21%. During 20142015, a blended rate of 0.1967% (2014: 0.156%) was applied (2013: 0.130%).applied. Certain liabilities are subject to only a half rate, namely any deposits not otherwise excluded, (except for those from financial institutions and financial traders) and liabilities with a maturity greater than one year at the balance sheet date. The UK Bank Levy is not charged on the first £20bn of chargeable equity and liabilities.

The cost of the UK Bank Levy for 20142015 was £101m (2014: £74m, (2013:2013: £59m). The Santander UK group paid £65m£87m in 2014 (2013: £49m)2015 (2014: £65m) and provided for a liability of £40m£54m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £31m)2015 (2014: £40m). The accounting for

In addition to the corporation tax changes the Finance (No.2) Act 2015, which was enacted on 18 November, reduces the UK Bank Levy was not affected by the adoption of IFRIC 21, described in Note 1.rate from 0.21% to 0.18% from 1 January 2016 with subsequent annual reductions to 0.1% from 1 January 2021.

Otherc) Vacant property

Other provisions principally comprise amounts in respect of vacant property costs, litigation and related expenses, and restructuring expenses. Vacant leasehold property provisions are made by reference to a prudent estimate of any expected sub-let income, compared to the head rent, and the possibility of disposing of Santander UK’s interest in the lease, taking into account conditions in the property market. During 2014,These provisions are reassessed on a semi-annual basis and will normally run off over the period of the leases concerned, where a property is disposed of earlier than anticipated any remaining balance in the provision was increased by £55m reflecting additional costsrelating to that property is released.

d) Other

Other provisions principally comprise amounts in respect of the ongoing branch de-duplication programme.

operational loss provisions, restructuring charges and litigation and related expenses.

 

 

286Santander UK plc

260  Santander UK plc


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          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

36.34. RETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS

The amounts recognised in the balance sheet were as follows:

 

                                                                                
Group Company     Group     Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Assets/(liabilities)

                

Funded defined benefit pension scheme

 315   118   311   110       556       315       537       311  

Funded defined benefit pension scheme

 (159)   (632)   (159)   (630)       (73)       (159)       (73)       (159)  

Unfunded defined benefit pension scheme

 (40)   (40)   (40)   (40)       (37)       (40)       (37)       (40)  

Total net assets/(liabilities)

 116   (554)   112   (560)       446       116       427       112  

Remeasurement gains/(losses) recognised in other comprehensive income during the year were as follows:

  

  Group 
   

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

Remeasurement of defined benefit schemes

  (132)   564   183  

Remeasurement (gains)/losses recognised in other comprehensive income during the year were as follows:

                   Group 
     2015       2014       2013  
      £m     £m     £m 

Remeasurement of defined benefit schemes

     (319)       (132)       564  

a) Defined contribution pension schemes

The Santander UK group operates a number of defined contribution pension schemes. The assets of the defined contribution pension schemes are held and administered separately from those of the Santander UK group. The Santander Retirement Plan, an occupational defined contribution scheme, is the plan into which eligible employees are enrolled automatically. The assets of the Santander Retirement Plan are held in separate trustee-administered funds. The defined contribution section of the Alliance & Leicester Pension Scheme was closed to new members employed from 29 May 2010, and was merged on a segregated basis with the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme on 1 July 2012.

An expense of £50m (2014: £52m, (2013: £38m, 2012: £34m)2013: £38m) was recognised for defined contribution plans in the year, and is included in staff costs classified within administration expenses in the Income Statement. None of this amount was recognised in respect of key management personnel for the years ended 31 December 2015, 2014 2013 and 2012.2013.

b) Defined benefit pension schemes

The Santander UK group operates a number of defined benefit pension schemes. The main pension scheme is the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme, formerlyScheme. It comprises seven legally segregated sections under the Abbey National Group Pension scheme. The Abbey National Amalgamated Pension Fund, Abbey National Associated Bodies Pension Fund, the National & Provincial Building Society Pension Fund, the Scottish Mutual Assurance Staff Pension Scheme, the Scottish Provident Institution Staff Pension Fund and the Alliance & Leicester Pension Scheme were merged into theterms of a merger of former schemes operated by Santander (UK) Group Pension scheme on a segregated basis on 1 JulyUK plc agreed in 2012. The scheme covers 19% (2014: 23% (2013: 24%) of the Santander UK group’s employees, and is a closed funded defined benefit scheme. Under the projected unit method, the current service cost when expressed as a percentage of pensionable salaries will gradually increase over time.

The corporate trustee of the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme is Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme Trustee Limited, a private limited company incorporated in 1996 and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santander UK plc. The principal duty of the trustees is to act in the best interests of the members of the schemes. The Trustee board comprises seven Directors selected by Santander UK plc, plus seven member-nominated Directors selected from eligible members who apply for the role.

Formal actuarial valuation of the assets and liabilities of the defined benefit schemes are carried out on at least a triennial basis by independent professionally-qualified actuaries and valued for accounting purposes at each balance sheet date. The latest formal actuarial valuation for the Santander (UK) Group Pension scheme at 31 March 2013 was finalised in June 2014.

The assets of the funded plans are held independently of the Santander UK group’s assets in separate trustee administered funds. Investment strategy across the schemes remains under regular review. Investment decisions are delegated by the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme Trustees to a common investment fund, managed by Santander (CF) Trustee Limited, a private limited company owned by seven Trustee directors, four appointed by Santander UK plc and three by Santander (UK) Group Pension Trustee Limited. The Trustee directors’ principal duty, within the investment powers delegated to them is to act in the best interest of the members of the Santander (UK) Group Pension Trustee. Ultimate responsibility for investment strategy rests with the Trustees of the schemes who are required under the Pensions Act 2004 to prepare a statement of investment principles.

The Trustees of the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme have developed the following investment principles:

 

>-

To maintain a portfolio of suitable assets of appropriate quality, suitability and liquidity which will generate income and capital growth to meet, together with new contributions from members and the employers, the cost of current and future benefits which the pension scheme provides, as set out in the trust deed and rules;

>-

To limit the risk of the assets failing to meet the liabilities, over the long term and on a shorter-term basis as required by prevailing legislation; and

>-

To minimise the long-term costs of the pension scheme by maximising the return on the assets whilst having regard to the objectives shown above.

 

 

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Financial statements

 

 

 

The Santander UK group’s defined benefit pension schemes expose it to actuarial risks such as investment risk, interest rate risk, longevity risk, salary risk and inflation risk:

 

Investment risk

  

The present value of the defined benefit scheme liability is calculated using a discount rate determined by reference to high quality corporate bond yields; if the return on scheme assets is below this rate, it will create a scheme deficit.

Interest rate risk

  

A decrease in the bond interest rate will increase the scheme liability; however this will be partially offset by an increase in the value of the scheme’s debt investments.

Longevity risk

  

The present value of the defined benefit scheme liability is calculated by reference to the best estimate of the mortality of scheme participants both during and after their employment. An increase in life expectancy of the scheme participants will increase the scheme’s liability as benefits will be paid for longer.

Salary risk

  

The present value of the defined benefit scheme’s liability is calculated by reference to the future salaries of scheme participants. As such, an increase in the salary of the scheme participants will increase the scheme’s liability. This risk has been minimised by the introduction of a salary increase cap of 1% p.a. from 1 March 2015.

Inflation risk

  

An increase in inflation rate will increase the scheme liability as benefits will increase more quickly, accompanied by an expected increase in the return on the scheme’s investments.

The Santander UK group does not hold insurance policies over the schemes, and has not entered into any significant transactions with the schemes.

The total amount charged/(credited) to the income statement, including any amounts classified as redundancy costs and in discontinued operations was as follows:

 

  Group     Group 
  

            2014

£m

   

                 2013

£m

   

                 2012

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Net interest expense/(income)

   13     1     (12)       (4)       13       1  

Current service cost

   34     38     38       37       34       38  

Past service credit

   (230)     -     -  

Past service cost/(credit)

     2       (230)       -  

Administration costs

   7     9     8       6       7       9  
   (176)     48     34       41       (176)       48  

FollowingIn 2014, following a review of the Santander UK(UK) Group pension scheme,Pension Scheme, pension arrangements for colleagues in that scheme were amended through the introduction of a cap on pensionable pay increases by 1% per annum from 1 March 2015. The impact of this change was a reduction in the defined benefit obligation of £230m, partially offset by one off contribution to the defined contribution scheme for affected member of £10m and implementation costs of £2m. Consequently, a net gain of £218m was recognised in the income statement during the year as set out in Note 6.

The amounts recognised in other comprehensive income for each of the five years indicated were as follows:

 

                                                                                                                                  
   Group 
    

2014

£m

   

2013

£m

   

2012

£m

   

2011

£m

   

2010

£m

 

Return on plan assets (excluding amounts included in net interest expense)

   (1,048)     (135)     (117)     (105)     (235)  

Actuarial gains arising from changes in demographic assumptions

   129     21     -     -     -  

Actuarial gains/(losses) arising from experience adjustments

   59     22     (28)     136     (76)  

Actuarial gains arising from changes in financial assumptions

   728     656     328     6     283  

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension schemes

   (132)     564     183     37     (28)  

 

The net (liability)/asset recognised in the balance sheet was determined as follows:

 

  

   Group 
    

2014

£m

   

2013

£m

   

2012

£m

   

2011

£m

   

2010

£m

 

Present value of defined benefit obligation

   (9,314)     (8,432)     (7,554)     (7,072)     (6,729)  

Fair value of plan assets

   9,430     7,878     7,503     7,097     6,556  

Net defined benefit asset/(obligation)

   116     (554)     (51)     25     (173)  
   Company 
    

2014

£m

   

2013

£m

   

2012

£m

   

2011

£m

   

2010

£m

 

Present value of defined benefit obligation

   (9,299)     (8,420)     (7,542)     (7,061)     (6,718)  

Fair value of plan assets

   9,411     7,860     7,487     7,082     6,541  

Net defined benefit asset/(obligation)

   112     (560)     (55)     21     (177)  

     Group 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011

£m

 

Return on plan assets (excluding amounts included in net interest expense)

     164       (1,048)       (135)       (117)       (105)  

Actuarial (gains)/losses arising from changes in demographic assumptions

     (67)       129       21       -       -  

Actuarial (gains)/losses arising from experience adjustments

     (202)       59       22       (28)       136  

Actuarial (gains)/losses arising from changes in financial assumptions

     (211)       728       656       328       6  

Cumulative actuarial reserve acquired with subsidiary

     (3)       -       -       -       -  

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension schemes

     (319)       (132)       564       183       37  

The net (liability)/asset recognised in the balance sheet was determined as follows:

 

  

     Group 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011

£m

 

Present value of defined benefit obligation

     (9,004)       (9,314)       (8,432)       (7,554)       (7,072)  

Fair value of plan assets

     9,450       9,430       7,878       7,503       7,097  

Net defined benefit asset/(obligation)

     446       116       (554)       (51)       25  
     Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011

£m

 

Present value of defined benefit obligation

     (8,953)       (9,299)       (8,420)       (7,542)       (7,061)  

Fair value of plan assets

     9,380       9,411       7,860       7,487       7,082  

Net defined benefit asset/(obligation)

     427       112       (560)       (55)       21  

 

 

288Santander UK plc

262  Santander UK plc


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IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

Movements in the present value of defined benefit obligations during the year were as follows:

 

                                                                                
Group Company     Group     Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Balance at 1 January

 (8,432)   (7,554)   (8,420)   (7,542)       (9,314)       (8,432)       (9,299)       (8,420)  

Assumed through business combinations

     (34)       -       -       -  

Current service cost

 (25)   (29)   (25)   (29)       (25)       (25)       (25)       (25)  

Current service cost paid by subsidiaries

     (2)       -       (2)       -  

Current service cost paid by fellow Banco Santander group subsidiaries

 (9)   (9)   (9)   (9)       (10)       (9)       (9)       (9)  

Interest cost

 (367)   (336)   (366)   (336)       (338)       (367)       (336)       (366)  

Employer salary sacrifice contributions

 (7)   (5)   (9)   (5)       (7)       (7)       (7)       (9)  

Past service cost

 230   -   230   (1)       (2)       230       (2)       230  

Remeasurement gains/(losses):

                

- Actuarial losses arising from changes in demographic assumptions

 (127)   (21)   (126)   (21)  

- Actuarial losses arising from experience adjustments

 (59)   (22)   (58)   (22)  

- Actuarial losses arising from changes in financial assumptions

 (728)   (656)   (728)   (656)  

Actual benefit payments

 212   200   212   201  

- Actuarial gains/(losses) arising from changes in demographic assumptions

     67       (129)       67       (126)  

- Actuarial gains/(losses) arising from experience adjustments

     202       (59)       202       (58)  

- Actuarial gains/(losses) arising from changes in financial assumptions

     211       (728)       211       (728)  

Benefits paid

     248       212       247       212  

Balance at 31 December

 (9,314)   (8,432)   (9,299)   (8,420)       (9,004)       (9,314)       (8,953)       (9,299)  

Movements in the fair value of scheme assets during the year were as follows:

Movements in the fair value of scheme assets during the year were as follows:

  

Movements in the fair value of scheme assets during the year were as follows:

  

        
Group Company     Group     Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Balance at 1 January

 7,878   7,503   7,860   7,487       9,430       7,878       9,411       7,860  

Acquired through business combinations

     47       -       -       -  

Interest income

 354   335   353   335       342       354       340       353  

Remeasurement gains:

- Return on plan assets (excluding amounts included in net interest expense)

 1,048   135   1,048   137  

Contributions paid

 360   105   360   102  

Return on plan assets (excluding amounts included in net interest expense)

     (164)       1,048       (164)       1,048  

Contributions paid by employer and scheme members

     37       360       35       360  

Contributions paid by fellow Banco Santander group subsidiaries

 9   9   9   9       12       9       11       9  

Administration costs

 (7)   (9)   (7)   (9)  

Actual benefit payments

 (212)   (200)   (212)   (201)  

Administration costs paid

     (6)       (7)       (6)       (7)  

Benefits paid

     (248)       (212)       (247)       (212)  

Balance at 31 December

 9,430   7,878   9,411   7,860       9,450       9,430       9,380       9,411  

Costs of £6m (2014: £7m, (2013: £8m, 2012:2013: £8m) and £6m (2014: £7m, (2013: £8m, 2012:2013: £8m) associated with the management of scheme assets have been deducted from the interest income on plan assets for the Santander UK group and the Company, respectively.

The following tables provide information on the composition and fair value of the plan assets at 31 December 20142015 and 2013.2014.

2015

    31 December 2014      Group 
Quoted prices in active markets Prices not quoted in active markets Total 
     Category of plan assets£m                 %                 £m                 %                 £m                 % 

UK equities

 490   5   9   -   499   5  

Overseas equities

 1,621   17   70   1   1,691   18  

Corporate bonds

 2,482   26   3   -   2,485   26  

Government fixed interest bonds

 196   2   2   -   198   2  

Government index linked bonds

 2,580   28   -   -   2,580   28  

Property

 -   -   1,124   12   1,124   12  

Cash

 -   -   257   3   257   3  

Other

 3   -   593   6   596   6  
  7,372   78   2,058   22   9,430   100  

    31 December 2013

                  

UK equities

 326   4   5   -   331   4  

Overseas equities

 1,587   20   8   -   1,595   20  

Corporate bonds

 2,415   31   -   -   2,415   31  

Government fixed interest bonds

 208   3   -   -   208   3  

Government index linked bonds

 2,056   26   -   -   2,056   26  

Property

 -   -   828   11   828   11  

Cash

 -   -   207   2   207   2  

Other

 11   -   227   3   238   3  
  6,603   84   1,275   16   7,878   100  
    31 December 2014      Company 
 Quoted prices in active markets Prices not quoted in active markets Total 
     Category of plan assets£m % £m % £m % 

UK equities

 490   5   6   -   496   5  

Overseas equities

 1,621   17   67   1   1,688   18  

Corporate bonds

 2,482   26   -   -   2,482   26  

Government Fixed Interest

 196   2   -   -   196   2  

Government Index Linked

 2,580   28   -   -   2,580   28  

Property

 -   -   1,117   12   1,117   12  

Cash

 -   -   256   3   256   3  

Other

 3   -   593   6   596   6  
  7,372   78   2,039   22   9,411   100  

                   Group 
     Quoted prices in active markets       Prices not quoted in active markets       Total      
Category of plan assets    £m     %     £m     %     £m     % 

UK equities

     122       1       6       -       128       1  

Overseas equities

     1,668       18       393       4       2,061       22  

Corporate bonds

     2,225       24       96       1       2,321       25  

Government fixed interest bonds

     175       2       -       -       175       2  

Government index linked bonds

     2,560       27       -       -       2,560       27  

Property

     -       -       1,402       15       1,402       15  

Cash

     -       -       169       1       169       1  

Other

     -       -       634       7       634       7  
      6,750       72       2,700       28       9,450       100  

 

2014

                                          

UK equities

     490       5       9       -       499       5  

Overseas equities

     1,621       17       70       1       1,691       18  

Corporate bonds

     2,482       26       3       -       2,485       26  

Government fixed interest bonds

     196       2       2       -       198       2  

Government index linked bonds

     2,580       28       -       -       2,580       28  

Property

     -       -       1,124       12       1,124       12  

Cash

     -       -       257       3       257       3  

Other

     3       -       593       6       596       6  
      7,372       78       2,058       22       9,430       100  

 

 

Annual Report 2014289


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

2015

                                                                                                                                                
31 December 2013      Company 
                  Company 
Quoted prices in active markets Prices not quoted in active markets Total      Quoted prices in active markets       Prices not quoted in active markets                   Total  
Category of plan assets£m % £m % £m %     £m     %     £m     %     £m     % 

UK equities

 322   4   5   -   327   4       122       1       -       -       122       1  

Overseas equities

 1,584   20   8   -   1,592   20       1,668       18       380       4       2,048       22  

Corporate bonds

 2,412   31   -   -   2,412   31       2,225       24       52       1           2,277       25  

Government Fixed Interest

 206   3   -   -   206   3  

Government Index Linked

 2,056   26   -   -   2,056   26  

Government fixed interest bonds

     175       2       -       -       175       2  

Government index linked bonds

     2,560       27       -       -       2,560       27  

Property

 -   -   828   11   828   11       -       -       1,402       15       1,402       15  

Cash

 -   -   206   2   206   2       -       -       168       2       168       2  

Other

 11   -   222   3   233   3       -       -       628       6       628       6  
 6,591   84   1,269   16   7,860   100       6,750       72       2,630       28       9,380       100  

2014

                              

UK equities

     490       5       6       -       496       5  

Overseas equities

     1,621       17       67       1       1,688       18  

Corporate bonds

     2,482       26       -       -       2,482       26  

Government fixed interest bonds

     196       2       -       -       196       2  

Government index linked bonds

     2,580       28       -       -       2,580       28  

Property

     -       -       1,117       12       1,117       12  

Cash

     -       -       256       3       256       3  

Other

     3       -       593       6       596       6  
     7,372       78       2,039       22       9,411       100  

Plan assets are stated at fair value based upon quoted prices in active markets with the exception of property funds and those classified under ‘Other’. The ‘Other’ category consists of asset-backed securities, annuities, funds (including private equity funds) and derivatives that are used to protect against exchange rate, equity market, inflation and interest rate movements. The property funds were valued using market valuations prepared by an independent expert. Of the assets in the ‘Other’ category, investments in absolute return funds and foreign exchange, equity and interest rate derivatives were valued by investment managers by reference to market observable data. Private equity funds were valued by reference to their latest published accounts whilst the insured annuities were valued by scheme actuaries based on the liabilities insured.

The actual gains on scheme assets for the Santander UK group and the Company were £177m (2014: £1,402m, (2013: £463m, 2012: £467m)2013: £463m) and £176m (2014: £1,401m, (2013: £463m, 2012: £466m)2013: £463m), respectively.

The Santander UK group’s pension schemes did not directly hold any equity securities of the Company or any of its related parties at 31 December 20142015 and 2013.2014. The Santander UK group’s pension scheme assets do not include any property or other assets that are occupied or used by the Santander UK group.

The investment policy and performance of the scheme is monitored regularly by Santander UK plc and the Santander (CF) Trustee to ensure that the risk and return profile of investments meets objectives. Any changes to the investment policy are agreed with the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme Trustee and documented in the Statement of Investment Policy for the Common Investment Fund.

The strategic asset allocation target is an asset mix based on 25% quoted equities, 50% debt instruments (including gilts, index-linked gilts, and corporate bonds) and 25% property and alternatives. A strategy is in place to manage interest rate and inflation risk relating to the liabilities. At 31 December 2014,2015, the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme held interest rate swaps with a gross notional value of £980m (2013: £997m)(2014: £980m) and inflation swaps with a gross notional value of £1,048m (2013: £1,031m)(2014: £1,048m) for the purposes of liability matching.

Funding

In June 2014 in compliance with the Pensions Act 2004, the trustees and the Santander UK group agreed to a new recovery plan (the Defined Benefit Deficit Repair Plan) and schedule of contributions following the finalisation of the 31 March 2013 actuarial valuation. The funding target for this actuarial valuation is for the schemes to have sufficient assets to make payments to members in respect of the accrued benefits as and when they fall due. In accordance with terms of the trustee agreement, the Santander UK group contributed £321m (2013: £64m)£nil (2014: £321m) to the schemes in the year, of which £284m£nil was in respect of agreed deficit contributions from 1 July 2014 to 31 March 2016. The agreed schedule of the Santander UK group’s remaining contributions to the schemes comprises contributions of £101m in 2016 and £140m each year from 2017 increasing by 5% to 31 March 2023.

Actuarial assumptions

The principal actuarial assumptions used for the defined benefit schemes were as follows:

 

                                                            
Group and Company     Group and Company 

2014

%

 

2013

%

 

2012

%

 

2015

%

     

2014

%

     

2013

%

 

To determine benefit obligations:

            

- Discount rate for scheme liabilities

 3.6   4.5   4.5       3.7       3.6       4.5  

- General price inflation

 3.0   3.4   2.9       3.0       3.0       3.4  

- General salary increase

 1.0   3.4   2.9       1.0       1.0       3.4  

- Expected rate of pension increase

 2.8   3.2   2.8       2.8       2.8       3.2  
Years Years Years     Years     Years     Years 

Longevity at 60 for current pensioners, on the valuation date:

            

- Males

 27.9   29.0   28.9       27.7       27.9       29.0  

- Females

 30.3   29.6   29.5       30.2       30.3       29.6  

Longevity at 60 for future pensioners currently aged 40, on the valuation date:

            

- Males

 30.2   31.4   31.3       29.9       30.2       31.4  

- Females

 32.3   31.2   31.1       32.2       32.3       31.2  

The rate used to discount the retirement benefit obligation is determined to reflect duration of the liabilities based on the annual yield at 31 December of the sterling 15+ year AA Corporate Bond iBoxx Index, representing the market yield of high quality corporate bonds on that date, adjusted to match the terms of the scheme liabilities. The inflation assumption is set based on the Bank of England projected inflation rates over the duration of scheme liabilities weighted by projected scheme cash flows.

 

 

290Santander UK plc

264  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

As part of the latesttriennial actuarial valuation, the trustees commissionedvaluations an independent analysis of the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme’s actual mortality experience and expected mortality experience based on postcode, pension size, type of retirement and gender. Thisgender is carried out. The review for the March 2010 valuation determined that a different adjustment to the Continuous Mortality Investigation Table S1 Light“S1 Light” with a 103% loading for probability of death should be appliedused for male and female members of the schemescheme. Following the March 2013 actuarial valuation review, to reflect the expected differences in life expectancy of each group. Thethe adjustment adopted in 2014 and 2015 was a loading for the probability of death of 116% for male members and 98% for female members (2013 & 2012:(2013: 103% for both male and female members).

Allowance was then made for expected future improvements to life expectancy based on the Continuous Mortality Investigation Table S1 Light“S1 Light” with a future improvement underpin of 1.5% for male members and 1% for female members following the March 2010 review. For 2014 and 2015 to reflect the March 2013 review the adjustment was changed to 1.5% for male members and 1.25% for female members (2013 & 2012: Continuous Mortality Investigation Table S1 Light with a future improvement underpin of(2013: 1.5% for males and 1% for females). The assumptions at 31 December 20142015 are the same as those used by the scheme actuary in his “neutral”‘neutral’ assessment of the scheme at the latest actuarial valuation date.

TheseThe combined changes havein 2014 led to a 1.1 year decrease in assumed male life expectancy and a 0.7 year increase in female life expectancy. In October 2015 the Continuous Mortality Investigation published a revised projection model that showed a 0.2 year decrease in assumed male life expectancy and a 0.1 decrease in female life expectancy. The table above shows that a participant retiring at age 60 at 31 December 20142015 is assumed to live for, on average, 27.927.7 years in the case of a male member and 30.330.2 years in the case of a female member.member (2014: 27.9 years male and 30.3 years female). In practice, there will be variation between individual members but these assumptions are expected to be appropriate across all participants. It is assumed that younger members will live longer in retirement than those retiring now. This reflects the expectation that mortality rates will continue to fall over time as medical science and standards of living improve. To illustrate the degree of improvement assumed the table also shows the life expectancy for members aged 40 now, when they retire in 20 years’ time at age 60.

The Santander UK group determined its expense measurements above based upon long-term assumptions taking into account target asset allocations of assets set at the beginning of the period, offset by actual returns during the period. Period-end obligation measurements are determined by reference to market conditions at the balance sheet date. Assumptions are set in consultation with third party advisors and in-house expertise.

Actuarial assumption sensitivities

The sensitivity analyses below have been determined based on reasonably possible changes of the respective assumptions occurring at the end of the reporting period, while holding all assumptions constant.

 

Increase/(decrease)      Increase/(decrease) 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Discount rate

Change in pension obligation at year end from a 25 bps increase (420)   (442)      Change in pension obligation at year end from a 25 bps increase     (434)       (420)  
Change in pension cost for the year from a 25 bps increase (19)   (19)      Change in pension cost for the year from a 25 bps increase     (16)       (19)  

General price inflation

Change in pension obligation at year end from a 25 bps increase 307   290      Change in pension obligation at year end from a 25 bps increase     278       307  
Change in pension cost for the year from a 25 bps increase 13   15      Change in pension cost for the year from a 25 bps increase     10       13  

General salary increase

Change in pension obligation at year end from a 25 bps increase n/a   33      Change in pension obligation at year end from a 25 bps increase     n/a       n/a  

Mortality

Change in pension obligation at year end from each additional year of longevity assumed 226   176      Change in pension obligation at year end from each additional year of longevity assumed     218       226  

The sensitivity analysis presented above may not be representative of the actual change in the defined benefit obligation as it is unlikely that the change in assumptions would occur in isolation of one another as some of the assumptions may be correlated. Furthermore, in presenting the above sensitivity analyses, the present value of the defined benefit obligation has been calculated using the projected unit credit method at the end of the reporting period, which is the same as that applied in calculating the defined benefit obligation liability recognised in the balance sheet. There was no change in the methods and assumptions used in preparing the sensitivity analyses from prior years.

The benefits expected to be paid in each of the next five years, and in the aggregate for the five years thereafter are:

 

Year ending 31 December:£m     £m 

2015

 225  

2016

 240       263  

2017

 256       281  

2018

 274       300  

2019

 292       320  

Five years ending 2024

 1,791  

2020

     342  

Five years ending 2025

     2,099  

The average duration of the defined benefit obligation at 31 December 20142015 was 20.219.8 years (2013: 20.3(2014: 20.2 years) and comprised:

 

                                                
  

2014

years

 

2013

years

 

Active members

 25.9   25.6  

Deferred members

 24.9   25.5  

Retired members

 13.9   14.0  

      

2015

years

     

2014

years

 

Active members

     25.4       25.9  

Deferred members

     24.3       24.9  

Retired members

     13.7       13.9  

 

 

Annual Report 2014291


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

37.35. CONTINGENT LIABILITIES AND COMMITMENTS

 

Group Company     Group     Company 

        2014

£m

 

        2013

£m

 

        2014

£m

 

        2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Guarantees given to by Santander UK plc to its subsidiaries

 -   -   93,481   92,002  

Guarantees given by Santander UK plc to its subsidiaries

     -       -       86,153       93,481  

Guarantees given to third parties

 1,825   1,355   1,514   973       1,568       1,825       1,255       1,514  

Formal standby facilities, credit lines and other commitments with original term to maturity of:

                

- One year or less

 6,692   2,672   5,457   3,677       3,606       6,692       1,376       5,457  

- More than one year

 26,142   26,008   6,448   7,431       32,147       26,142       19,690       14,868  

Other contingent liabilities

 1   8   1   8       -       1       -       1  
 34,660   30,043   106,901   104,091       37,321       34,660       108,474       115,321  

Where the items set out below can be reliably estimated, they are disclosed in the table above.

Guarantees given by Santander UK plc to its subsidiaries

Santander UK plc has fully and unconditionally guaranteed the obligations of each of Abbey National Treasury Services plc Abbey Stockbrokers Limited and Cater Allen Limited, allboth of which are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Santander UK plcgroup that have been or will be incurred before 30 June 2015.2017. In addition, Santander UK plc has fully and unconditionally guaranteed the deposit obligations of Abbey National International Limited (ANIL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Santander UK plc that has been or will bewere incurred before 30 June 2015. From 31 March 2014,With effect from 1 June 2015, the deposit taking business of ANIL was transferred to Santander UK plc, withdrewJersey branch. As a result, the availabilitydeposit obligations of guaranteed depositsANIL are now direct obligations of Santander UK plc and the guarantee ceased in relation to the transferred business from new customers of1 June 2015. The deed poll guarantee for Abbey National International Limited.Stockbrokers Limited to 30 June 2015 was not renewed.

Capital Support Deed

The Company,Santander UK plc, Abbey National Treasury Services plc, and Cater Allen Limited, which are the three PRA-regulated entities within the Santander UK group, are party to a capital support deed dated 1423 December 20122015 (the ‘CapitalCapital Support Deed’)Deed) with certain other non-regulated subsidiaries of Santander UK plc and Santander UK Group Holdings plc. The parties to the Capital Support Deed constitute a core UK group foras defined in the purposes of the PRA’s rules. Under the PRA’s rules, exposuresPRA Rulebook. Exposures of each of the three regulated entities to other members of the core UK group are exempt from large exposure limits that would otherwise apply. The purpose of the Capital Support Deed is to facilitate the prompt transfer of available capital resources from, or repayment of liabilities by, the non-regulated parties to any of the regulated parties in the event that one of the regulated parties has breached or is at risk of breaching its capital resources requirements or risk concentrations requirements. From 1 January 2014, the applicable PRA rules were replaced by Article 113 (6) of CRR.The core UK group permission expires on 31 December 2018.

DefinedDomestic Liquidity Group liquidity facilitySub-group (DoLSub)

Santander UK plc, Abbey National Treasury Services plc, and Cater Allen Limited are party to a definedform the DoLSub under the PRA’s regulatory liquidity group liquidity facility agreement dated 28 May 2010 (the ‘DLG Facility Agreement’). The DLG Facility Agreement supports a defined liquidity group for the purposesrules. Each member of the PRA’s rules.DoLSub is required to support the others by transferring surplus liquidity in times of stress. The PRA’ssame arrangement existed before October 2015 under the Defined Liquidity Group rules permit a member of a defined liquidity group to rely on the liquid resources of other members of the defined liquidity group to comply with the PRA’s liquidity adequacy requirements. Under the DLG Facility Agreement, each party agrees to lend, subject to certain conditions and limitations, its excess liquidity to each other party.PRA in place until that date.

Guarantees given to third parties

Guarantees given to third parties consist primarily of letters of credit, bonds and guarantees granted as part of normal product facilities which are offered to customers.

Formal standby facilities, credit lines and other commitments

Standby facilities, credit lines and other commitments are also granted as part of normal product facilities which are offered to customers. Retail facilities comprise undrawn facilities granted on flexible mortgages, bank overdrafts and credit cards. On flexible mortgages, the credit limit is set at the point of granting the loan through property value and affordability assessments.

Subsequent assessments are made to ensure that the limit remains appropriate considering any change in the security value or the customer’s financial circumstances. On bank accounts and credit cards, the facilities are granted based on new business risk assessment and are reviewed more frequently based on internal, as well as, external data. The delinquency status of the account would result in the withdrawal of the facility. Corporate facilities comprise standby facilities which are subject to ongoing compliance with covenants and the provision of agreed security. Failure to comply with these terms can result in the withdrawal of the unutilised facility headroom.

FSCS

As described in Note 35,33, the Santander UK group participates in the UK’s national resolution scheme, the FSCS, and is thus subject to levies to fund the FSCS. The EU’s Recovery and Resolution Directive includes a requirement to pre-fund national resolution funds. The quantification and timing of any additional levy as a result of the pre-funding have yet to be determined and hence, although the Santander UK group’s share could be significant, no provision has yet been recognised.

MortgageLoan representations and warranties

In connection with the residential mortgage securitisations and covered bond transactions described in Note 19,17, the Santander UK makesgroup entities selling the relevant loans into the applicable securitisation or covered bond portfolios make representations and warranties relatingwith respect to the mortgagesuch loans, soldin each case as of the date of suchthe sale whichof the loans into the applicable portfolio. These representations and warranties cover, among other things:

>

The Santander UK group’s ownership of the loan.

>

The validity of any legal charge securing the loan.

>

The effectiveness of title insurance on any property securing the loan.

>

The loan’s compliance with any applicable loan criteria established under the transaction structure.

>

The loan’s compliance with applicable laws.

>

Whether the mortgage property was occupied by the borrower.

>

Whether the mortgage loan was originated in conformity with the originator’s lending criteria.

>

The detailed data concerning the mortgage loan that was included on the mortgage loan schedule.

292Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements

things, the ownership of the loan by the relevant Santander UK group entity, absence of a material breach or default by the relevant borrower under the loan, the loan’s compliance with applicable laws and absence of material disputes with respect to the relevant borrower, asset and loan. The specific representations and warranties in relation to the mortgage loans made by the Santander UK group companies which act as sellers of loans in these securitisations and covered bond transactions depend in each case on the nature of the transaction and the requirements of the transaction structure. TheIn addition, market conditions and credit rating agency requirements may affect the representations and warranties required of the relevant Santander UK group companies in these transactions.

266  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

In the event that there is a material breach of the representations and warranties given by Santander UK plc as seller of loans under the residential mortgage-backed securitisations or the covered bond transaction included in Note 17, or if such representations and warranties prove to be materially untrue as at the date when they were given (being the sale date of the relevant mortgage loans), Santander UK plc may be required to repurchase the affected mortgage loans (generally at their outstanding principal balance plus accrued interest). These securitisation and covered bond transactions are collateralised by prime residential mortgage loans. Santander UK plc is principally a retail prime lender and has no appetite or product offering for any type of sub-prime business. TheIn addition, Santander UK group’splc’s credit policy explicitly prohibits such lending.

Market conditions and credit-rating agency requirements may also affect representations and warrantiesSimilarly, under the auto loan securitisations in Note 17, in the event that there is a breach or inaccuracy in respect of a representation or warranty relating to the loans, the relevant Santander UK group may agree to make uponentity who sold the sale ofauto loans into the mortgage loans. Details of the outstanding balances under mortgage-backed securitisation transactions sponsored by the Santander UK group’s structured entities are described in Note 19. These outstanding transactions are collateralised by prime residential mortgage loans.

The Santander UK group’s representations and warranties regarding the sold mortgage loans are generally not subject to stated limits in amount or time of coverage. However, contractual liability may arise when the representations and warranties are breached. In the event of a breach of these representations and warranties, the Santander UK group mayportfolio, will be required to either repurchase such loans from the mortgage loans (generallystructure (also at unpaidtheir outstanding principal balance plus accrued interest) with. In addition to breaches of representation and warranties, under the identified defects or reduce its share inauto loan securitisations, the trust holding the mortgage loans by an amount equivalentseller may also have a repurchase obligation if certain portfolio limits are breached (which include, amongst other things, limits as to the repurchase price. size of a loan given to an individual customer, LTV ratio, average term to maturity and average seasoning).

In the case of a repurchase of a loan from the relevant securitisation or covered bond portfolio, the Santander UK group may bear any subsequent credit loss on the mortgagesuch loan. The Santander UK group manages and monitors its securitisation and covered bond activities closely to minimise potential claims. To date,

Details of the outstanding balances under the securitisation and covered bond transactions originated by Santander UK group has only identified a small number of non-compliant mortgage loanscompanies are set out in its securitisation transactions.Note 17.

Regulatory

The Santander UK group engages in discussion, and co-operates, with the FCA and other bodies in their supervision of the Santander UK group, including reviews exercised under statutory powers, regarding its interaction with past and present customers and policyholders, both as part of the FCA’s general thematic work and in relation to specific products and services. The position iswill be monitored with particular reference to those reviews currently in progress and where greater clarity can now be ascertained asit is not yet possible to the eventualreliably determine their outcome.

Consumer credit

Santander UK group’s unsecured lending and other consumer credit business is governed by consumer credit law and related regulations. Claims brought by customers in relation to potential breaches of these requirements could result in costs to the Santander UK group where such potential breaches are not found to be de minimis. It is not possible to provide any meaningful estimate or range of the possible cost.

Taxation

The Santander UK group engages in discussion, and co-operates, with HM Revenue & Customs in their oversight of the Santander UK group’s tax matters. The Santander UK group adopted the UK’s Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks in 2010 and during 2013 re-confirmed its unconditional adoption of this code.

Other

As part of the sale of subsidiaries, and as is normal in such circumstances, the Santander UK group has given warranties and indemnities to the purchasers.

Obligations under stock borrowing and lending agreements

Obligations under stock borrowing and lending agreements represent contractual commitments to return stock borrowed. These obligations are offset by a contractual right to receive stock under other contractual agreements. See Note 40.39.

Other off-balance sheet commitments

The Santander UK group has commitments to lend at fixed interest rates which expose it to interest rate risk. For further information, see the Risk Review.review.

Operating lease commitments

Group Company            Group     Company 

        2014

£m

 

        2013

£m

 

        2014

£m

 

        2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Rental commitments under non-cancellable operating leases:

                

- No later than 1 year

 67   80   57   69       79       67       68       57  

- Later than 1 year but no later than 5 years

 227   260   192   222       272       227       234       192  

- Later than 5 years

 112   223   80   179       144       112       119       80  
 406   563   329   470       495       406       421       329  

Under the terms of these leases, the Santander UK group has the opportunity to extend its occupation of properties by a minimum of three years subject to 12 months’ notice and lease renewal being available from external landlords during the term of the lease. At expiry, the Santander UK group has the option to reacquire the freehold of certain properties.

Santander UK group rental expense comprises:

     Group 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

In respect of minimum rentals

     61       67       61  

 Group 
  

              2014

£m

 

            2013

£m

 

            2012

£m

 

In respect of minimum rentals

 67   61   75  

Less: sub-lease rentals

 -   -   -  
  67   61   75  

IncludedIn 2015 and 2014, there was no contingent rent expense included in the above Santander UK group rental expense was £nil (2013: £4m) relating to contingent rent expense.

 

 

Annual Report 2014293


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

38.36. SHARE CAPITAL AND OTHER EQUITY INSTRUMENTS

 

                                        
Group and Company 

        2014

£m

 

        2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Ordinary share capital

 3,105   3,105       3,105       3,105  

£300m fixed/floating rate non-cumulative callable preference shares

 35   300       14       35  

£300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Reserve Capital Instruments

 297   297       235       297  

£300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Preferred Securities

 7   7       7       7  

£500m Perpetual Capital Securities

 500   -  

£300m Perpetual Capital Securities

 300   -  

Additional Tier 1 securities:

        

- £750m Perpetual Capital Securities

     750       -  

- £300m Perpetual Capital Securities

     300       300  

- £500m Perpetual Capital Securities

     500       500  
 4,244   3,709       4,911       4,244  

a) Share capital

     

Group and Company

 
Issued and fully paid share capital    

Ordinary shares

of £0.10 each

     

£300m Preference shares

of £1,000 each

     £325m Preference shares
of £1 each
     

Total

£m

 
      No.     £m     No.     £m     No.     £m     £m 

At 1 January 2015

     31,051,768,866       3,105       34,933       35       325,000,000       325       3,465  

Repurchase of preference shares

     -       -       (21,136)       (21)       -       -       (21)  

At 31 December 2015

     31,051,768,866       3,105       13,797       14       325,000,000       325       3,444  
                                                  

At 1 January 2014

     31,051,768,866       3,105       300,002       300       325,000,000       325       3,730  

Repurchase of preference shares

     -       -       (265,069)       (265)       -       -       (265)  

At 31 December 2014

     31,051,768,866       3,105       34,933       35       325,000,000       325       3,465  

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                    
             Group and Company 
     Issued and fully paid share capital

Ordinary shares

of £0.10 each

 

£300m Preference shares

of £1,000 each

 £325m Preference shares of
£1 each
 

Total

£m

 
  No. £m No. £m No. £m £m 

At 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2013

 31,051,768,866   3,105   300,002   300   325,000,000           325       3,730  

Repurchase of preference shares

 -   -       (265,069)       (265)   -   -   (265)  

At 31 December 2014

 31,051,768,866       3,105   34,933   35   325,000,000   325   3,465  

                                        
Group and Company     Group and Company 
Share premium

                2014

£m

 

            2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

At 1 January and 31 December

 5,620   5,620       5,620       5,620  

The Company has one class of ordinary shares which carries no right to fixed income. The Company’s £325m sterling preference shares are classified as Subordinated Liabilities as described in Note 33.31.

£300m Fixed/Floating Rate Non-Cumulative Callable Preference Shares

The preference shares entitle the holders to a fixed non-cumulative dividend, at the discretion of Santander UK plc, of 6.22% per annum payable annually from 24 May 2010 until 24 May 2019 and quarterly thereafter at a rate of 1.13% per annum above three month sterling LIBOR. The preference shares are redeemable only at the option of Santander UK plc on 24 May 2019 or on each quarterly dividend payment date thereafter. No such redemption may be made without the consent of the PRA.

As part of a capital management exercise, 88%61% of the preferencethen outstanding preferences shares were purchased inre-purchased from the marketCompany’s immediate parent, Santander UK Group Holdings plc on 16 December 2014.11 June 2015.

b) Other equity instruments

£300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Reserve Capital Instruments

The £300 million£300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Reserve Capital Instruments were issued in 2001 by Santander UK plc. Reserve Capital Instruments are redeemable by Santander UK plc on 14 February 2026 or on any coupon payment date thereafter, subject to the prior approval of the PRA and provided that the auditors have reported to the trustee within the previous six months that the solvency condition is met. The Reserve Capital Instruments bear interest at a rate of 7.037% per annum, payable annually in arrears, from 14 February 2001 to 14 February 2026. Thereafter, the reserve capital instruments will bear interest at a rate, reset every five years, of 3.75% per annum above the gross redemption yield on the UK five-year benchmark gilt rate. Interest payments may be deferred by Santander UK plc. The Reserve Capital Instruments are not redeemable at the option of the holders and the holders do not have any rights against other Santander UK group companies. Upon the occurrence of certain tax or regulatory events, the Reserve Capital Instruments may be exchanged, their terms varied, or redeemed. Where interest payments have been deferred, the Company may not declare or pay dividends on or redeem or repurchase any junior securities until it next makes a scheduled payment on the Reserve Capital Instruments and Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities. The Reserve Capital Instruments are unsecured securities of Santander UK plc and are subordinated to the claims of unsubordinated creditors and subordinated creditors holding loan capital of Santander UK plc. Upon the winding up of Santander UK plc, holders of Reserve Capital Instruments will rank pari passu with the holders of the most senior class(es) of preference shares (if any) of Santander UK plc then in issue and in priority to all other Santander UK plc shareholders. No such redemption may be made without the consent of the PRA. As part of a capital management exercise, 21% of the then outstanding Reserve Capital Instruments were re-purchased on 11 June 2015.

£300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Preferred Securities

The £300m Step-up Callable Perpetual Preferred Securities are perpetual securities and pay a coupon on 22 March each year. At each payment date, Santander UK plc can decide whether to declare or defer the coupon indefinitely. If a coupon is deferred then Santander UK plc may not pay a dividend on any share until it next makes a coupon payment (including payment of any deferred coupons). Santander UK plc can be obliged to make payment in the event of winding up. The coupon is 5.827% per annum until 22 March 2016. Thereafter the coupon steps up to a rate, reset every five years, of 2.13% per annum above the gross redemption yield on a UK Government Treasury Security. The Perpetual Preferred securities are redeemable at the option of Santander UK plc on 22 March 2016 or on each payment date thereafter. No such redemption may be made without the consent of the PRA.

Other equity instruments include AT1 securities issued by the Company in 2014 and 2015. The AT1 securities are perpetual securities with no fixed maturity and qualify as AT1 instruments under the CRD IV.

The £500m and £300m Perpetual Capital Securities issued in 2014 and the £750m Perpetual Capital Securities issued in 2015 meet the CRD IV AT1 rules and are fully recognised as AT1 capital.

268  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

£750m Perpetual Capital Securities

On 10 June 2015, the Company issued £750m Perpetual Capital Securities, of which 100% was subscribed by the Company’s immediate parent, Santander UK Group Holdings plc. The securities are perpetual and pay a distribution rate on 24 March, June, September and December, commencing from September 2015. At each distribution payment date, the Company can decide whether to pay the distribution rate, which is non-cumulative, in whole or in part. The distribution rate is 7.375% per annum until 24 June 2022; thereafter, the distribution rate resets every five years to a rate of 5.543% per annum above the then prevailing 5 year sterling mid swap rate. The Perpetual Capital Securities will be automatically written down should the Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of the Santander UK prudential consolidation group as defined in the PRA’s rules fall below 7%. The Perpetual Capital Securities are redeemable at the option of the Company on 24 June 2022 or on any reset date thereafter. No such redemption may be made without the consent of the PRA.

£300m Perpetual Capital Securities

On 2 December 2014, the Company issued £300m Perpetual Capital Securities to its immediate parent company, Santander UK Group Holdings plc. The securities are perpetual and pay a distribution rate on 24 March, June, September and December, commencing from March 2015. At each distribution payment date, the Company can decide whether to pay the distribution rate, which is non-cumulative, in whole or in part. The distribution rate is 7.60% per annum until 24 December 2019; thereafter, the distribution rate resets every five years to a rate 6.066% per annum above the then prevailing 5 year sterling mid swap rate. The Perpetual Capital Securities will be automatically written down and the investors will lose their entire investment in the securities should the Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of the Santander UK prudential consolidation group as defined in the PRA’s rules fall below 7%. The Perpetual Capital Securities are redeemable at the option of the Company on 24 December 2019 or on each distribution payment date thereafter. No such redemption may be made without the consent of the PRA. In turn, Santander UK Group Holdings plc issued a similar security. The issuance was 100% subscribed by Banco Santander SA.

£500m Perpetual Capital Securities

On 24 June 2014, the Company issued £500m Perpetual Capital Securities to its immediate parent company, Santander UK Group Holdings Limited.plc. The securities are perpetual and pay a distribution rate on 24 March, June, September and December, commencing from March 2015. At each distribution payment date, the Company can decide whether to pay the distribution rate, which is non-cumulative, in whole or in part. The distribution rate is 6.475% per annum until 24 June 2019; thereafter, the distribution rate resets every five years to a rate 4.291% per annum above the then prevailing 5 year sterling mid swap rate. The Perpetual Capital Securities will be automatically written down and the investors will lose their entire investment in the securities should the Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of the Santander UK prudential consolidation group as defined in the PRA’s rules fall below 7%. The Perpetual Capital Securities are redeemable at the option of the Company on 24 June 2019 or on each distribution payment date thereafter. No such redemption may be made without the consent of the PRA. In turn, Santander UK Group Holdings Limitedplc issued a similar security. The issuance was 100% subscribed by Banco Santander S.A..

SA.

37. NON-CONTROLLING INTERESTS

 

294Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
      

2015

£m

2014

£m

PSA Finance UK Limited

135       -

Non-controlling interests represent a 50% ordinary shareholding in PSA Finance UK Limited, see Note 46 for further information.

Movements in non-controlling interests were as follows:

Group

2015

£m

2014

£m

At 1 January

--

Acquisition of PSA Finance UK Limited

109-

Share of profit for the year

25-

Share of other comprehensive income - gains on remeasurement of defined benefit pension obligations

1-

At 31 December

135-  

 

£300m Perpetual Capital Securities

On 2 December 2014, the Company issued £300m Perpetual Capital Securities to its immediate parent company, Santander UK Group Holdings Limited. The securities are perpetual and pay a distribution rate on 24 March, June, September and December, commencing from March 2015. At each distribution payment date, the Company can decide whether to pay the distribution rate, which is non-cumulative, in whole or in part. The distribution rate is 7.60% per annum until 24 December 2019; thereafter, the distribution rate resets every five years to a rate 6.066% per annum above the then prevailing 5 year sterling mid swap rate. The Perpetual Capital Securities will be automatically written down and the investors will lose their entire investment in the securities should the Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of the Santander UK prudential consolidation group as defined in the PRA’s rules fall below 7%. The Perpetual Capital Securities are redeemable at the option of the Company on 24 December 2019 or on each distribution payment date thereafter. No such redemption may be made without the consent of the PRA. In turn, Santander UK Group Holdings Limited issued a similar security. The issuance was 100% subscribed by Banco Santander, S.A..

Annual Report 2015

39.Financial statements

38. CASH FLOW STATEMENT

a) Reconciliation of profit after tax to net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities:

 

                                                                                                                              
 Group Company 
  

2014

£m

 

2013(1)

£m

 

2012(1)

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013(1)

£m

 

2012(1)

£m

 

Profit/(loss) for the year

 1,110   890   943   1,346   225   (756)  

Non-cash items included in net profit:

Depreciation and amortisation

 482   248   241   437   205   187  

Amortisation of (discounts)/premiums on debt securities

 (22)   55   18   (22)   10   -  

Provisions for liabilities and charges

 416   215   434   379   87   413  

Impairment losses

 369   576   1,053   348   2,413   860  

Corporation tax charge

 289   211   271   302   65   337  

Other non-cash items

 (24)   284   (535)   698   (383)   (771)  

Pension (credit)/charge for defined benefit pension schemes

 (204)   29   29   24   27   27  
 2,416   2,508   2,454   3,512   2,649   297  

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

 -  

Net change in cash and balances held at central banks

 (3)   (112)   (8)   (3)   (98)   (1)  

Net change in trading assets

 (4,989)   (251)   (2,789)   -   -   -  

Net change in derivative assets

 (2,972)   10,097   634   (951)   2,438   1,102  

Net change in financial assets designated at fair value

 (133)   1,064   1,194   (82)   43   1  

Net change in loans and advances to banks and customers

 (3,559)   5,681   8,580   52,158   19,871   854  

Net change in other assets

 (6)   1,137   729   (293)   193   490  

Net change in deposits by banks and customers

 6,565   (3,002)   (484)   (97,772)   (3,399)   11,222  

Net change in derivative liabilities

 3,869   (9,998)   (319)   351   (248)   845  

Net change in trading liabilities

 (5,942)   (21)   (4,629)   -   -   -  

Net change in financial liabilities designated at fair value

 240   (38)   (21)   -   -   -  

Net change in debt securities in issue

 310   (1,416)   2,332   -   (3)   (1)  

Net change in other liabilities

 (593)   (1,481)   (1,457)   (1,020)   (1,164)   (1,672)  

Effects of exchange rate differences

 (613)   702   (1,961)   66   (182)   (530)  

Net cash flow (used in)/from operating activities before tax

 (5,410)   4,870   4,255   (44,034)   20,100   12,607  

Corporation tax paid

 (149)   (118)   (231)   (59)   (87)   (149)  

Net cash flow (used in)/from operating activities

 (5,559)   4,752   4,024   (44,093)   20,013   12,458  

    (1) Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

     Group     Company 
      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

 

Profit for the year

     964       1,110       890       115       1,346       225  

Non-cash items included in profit:

                        

Depreciation and amortisation

     295       482       248       243       437       205  

Amortisation of (discounts)/premiums on debt securities

     67       (22)       55       20       (22)       10  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

     762       416       215       719       379       87  

Impairment losses

     156       369       576       152       348       2,413  

Corporation tax charge

     381       289       211       227       302       65  

Other non-cash items

     151       (24)       284       215       698       (383)  

Pension charge/(credit) for defined benefit pension schemes

     29       (204)       29       27       24       27  
     2,805       2,416       2,508       1,718       3,512       2,649  

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

                        

Net change in cash and balances held at central banks

     (22)       (3)       (112)       (19)       (3)       (98)  

Net change in trading assets

     (4,237)       (4,989)       (251)       -       -       -  

Net change in derivative assets

     2,110       (2,972)       10,097       109       (951)       2,438  

Net change in financial assets designated at fair value

     480       (133)       1,064       23       (82)       43  

Net change in loans and advances to banks and customers

     (7,789)       (3,559)       5,681       (15,510)       52,158       19,871  

Net change in other assets

     (532)       (6)       1,137       (313)       (293)       193  

Net change in deposits by banks and customers

     9,399       6,565       (3,002)       21,405       (97,772)       (3,399)  

Net change in derivative liabilities

     (1,224)       3,869       (9,998)       874       351       (248)  

Net change in trading liabilities

     (2,606)       (5,942)       (21)       -       -       -  

Net change in financial liabilities designated at fair value

     27       240       (38)       -       -       -  

Net change in debt securities in issue

     (1,166)       310       (1,416)       -       -       (3)  

Net change in other liabilities

     (138)       (567)       (1,476)       (196)       (1,020)       (1,176)  

Effects of exchange rate differences

     (585)       (613)       702       (104)       66       (182)  

Net cash flow (used in)/from operating activities before tax

     (3,478)       (5,384)       4,875       7,987       (44,034)       20,088  

Corporation tax paid

     (419)       (149)       (118)       (132)       (59)       (87)  

Net cash flow (used in)/from operating activities

     (3,897)       (5,533)       4,757       7,855       (44,093)       20,001  

b) Analysis of the balances of cash and cash equivalents in the balance sheet

 

                                                                                                                    
   Group    Company            Group            Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Cash and balances at central banks

 22,562   26,374   18,102   21,399       16,842       22,562       14,562       18,102  

Less: regulatory minimum cash balances (See Note 13)

 (318)   (315)   (281)   (277)  

Less: regulatory minimum cash balances

     (340)       (318)       (300)       (281)  
 22,244   26,059   17,821   21,122       16,502       22,244       14,262       17,821  

Net trading other cash equivalents

 3,966   9,853   -   -       2,068       3,966       -       -  

Net non-trading other cash equivalents

 1,153   1,267   4,214   49,795       1,781       1,153       13,691       4,214  

Cash and cash equivalents

 27,363   37,179   22,035   70,917       20,351       27,363       27,953       22,035  

Cash and cash equivalents decreased in 2014 primarily due toIn 2015, the revision of the legal agreements for intercompany funding arrangements between the CompanySantander UK plc and its subsidiary Abbey National Treasury Services plc as a resultwere amended so that management of which only trades that generate the actual net funding requirement are reported,of the Santander UK group was transferred from Abbey National Treasury Services plc to Santander UK plc. These steps were taken as disclosedpart of a programme that began in Notes 172014 and 28.is still ongoing, to facilitate the orderly implementation of the Santander UK group strategy to transition into a ring-fenced structure in due course pursuant to the requirements of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013. The effect of this change on the Company was to reducereduced intercompany balances in 2015 and 2014, including intercompany loans that qualified as cash equivalents, thereby reducing the Company’s cash and cash equivalents balance, as well as loans and advances to banks and deposits by banks and hence cash flows from operating activities. See Notes 15 and 26.

c) Acquisition of subsidiaries

Consideration paid in connection with the acquisition of PSA Finance UK Limited on 3 February 2015 that was satisfied by cash and cash equivalents is set out in Note 46.

d) Sale of subsidiaries, associated undertakings and businesses, and discontinued operations

In 2013, Santander UK plc sold its co-brand credit cards business for cash consideration of £660m. The net assets disposed of consisted of loans to customers of £670m. In 2014,2015, the net cash flows attributable to the operating activities of discontinued operations were £nil (2013:(2014: £nil, 2013: £5m outflow, 2012: £115m inflow)outflow). There were no net cash flows attributable to the investing and financing activities of discontinued operations in 2015, 2014 2013 or 2012.

2013.

 

 

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Financial statements

 

40.39. ASSETS CHARGED AS SECURITY FOR LIABILITIES AND COLLATERAL ACCEPTED AS SECURITY FOR ASSETS

The following transactions are conducted under terms that are usual and customary to collateralised transactions, including, where relevant, standard securities lending and repurchase agreements.

a) Assets charged as security for liabilities

The financial assets below are analysed between those assets accounted for on balance sheet and off-balance sheet in accordance with IFRS.

 

                                                                                
Group Company     Group     Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

On balance sheet:

                

Treasury bills and other eligible securities

 8,023   6,316   -   -       5,224       8,023       -       -  

Cash

 3,072   2,306   88   84       3,554       3,072       98       88  

Loans and advances to customers - securitisations and covered bonds (See Note 19)

 53,370   57,575   -   -  

Loans and advances to customers - securitisations and covered bonds (See Note 17)

     47,501       53,370       -       -  

Loans and advances to customers

 3,482   172   3,482   172       4,348       3,482       2,834       3,482  

Debt securities

 1,615   1,746   6,172   6,221       1,169       1,615       271       1,088  

Equity securities

 4,032   329   -   -       6,178       4,032       -       -  
 73,594   68,444   9,742   6,477       67,974       73,594       3,203       4,658  

Off balance sheet:

                

Treasury bills and other eligible securities

 17,476   22,753   2,169   100       9,871       17,476       2,167       2,169  

Debt securities

 177   996   1,730   1,562       373       177       5,545       6,038  

Equity securities

 1,333   95   -   -       709       1,333       -       -  
 18,986   23,844   3,899   1,662       10,953       18,986       7,712       8,207  

The Santander UK group provides assets as collateral in the following areas of the business.

Sale and repurchase agreements

Subsidiaries of the Company enter into sale and repurchase agreements and similar transactions of equity and debt securities, which are accounted for as secured borrowings. Upon entering into such transactions, the subsidiaries provide collateral equal to 100%-131% of the borrowed amount. The carrying amount of assets that were so provided at 31 December 20142015 was £21,855m (2013: £28,643m)£13,868m (2014: £21,855m), of which £(7,765)£(6,543)m (2013: £(8,400)(2014: £(7,765)m) were classified within ‘loans and advances to customers – securitisations and covered bonds’ in the table above.

Securitisations and covered bonds

As described in Note 19,17, Santander UK plc and certain of its subsidiaries enter into securitisation transactions whereby portfolios of residential mortgage loans and other loans are purchased by or assigned to structured securitisation companies, and have been funded through the issue of mortgage-backed securities and other asset-backed securities. Holders of the securities are only entitled to obtain payments of principal and interest to the extent that the resources of the securitisation companies are sufficient to support such payments and the holders of the securities have agreed in writing not to seek recourse in any other form. At 31 December 2014, £1,789m (2013: £1,213m)2015, £947m (2014: £1,789m) of loans were so assigned by the Santander UK group.

A subsidiary of the Company has also established a covered bond programme, whereby securities are issued to investors and are secured by a pool of ring-fenced residential mortgages. At 31 December 2014,2015, the pool of ring-fenced residential mortgages for the covered bond programme was £25,598m (2013: £21,215m)£23,613m (2014: £25,598m).

At 31 December 2014,2015, total notes issued externally from secured programmes (securitisations and covered bonds) decreased to £32,373m (2013: £37,247m)£25,885m (2014: £32,373m), including gross issuance of £4,023m (2013: £2,962m)£3,068m (2014: £4,023m) and redemptions of £8,440m (2013: £9,917m)£9,840m (2014: £8,440m). At 31 December 2014,2015, a total of £14,373m (2013: £14,599m)£11,110m (2014: £14,373m) of notes issued under securitisation and covered bond programmes had also been retained internally, a proportion of which had been used as collateral for raising funds via third party bilateral secured funding transactions, which totalled £6,444m£5,393m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £7,559m)2015 (2014: £6,444m), or for creating collateral which could in the future be used for liquidity purposes.

Stock borrowing and lending agreements

Asset balances under stock borrowing and lending agreements represent stock lent by the Santander UK group. These balances amounted to £22,048m£20,547m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £12,164m)2015 (2014: £22,048m) and are offset by contractual commitments to return stock borrowed or cash received.

Derivatives business

In addition to the arrangements described above, collateral is also provided in the normal course of derivative business to counterparties. At 31 December 2014, £3,072m (2013: £2,306m)2015, £3,554m (2014: £3,072m) of such collateral in the form of cash had been provided by the Santander UK group and is included in the table above.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

296Santander UK plc


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b) Collateral accepted as security for assets

The collateral held as security for assets below are analysed between those liabilities accounted for on the balance sheet and off-balance sheet in accordance with IFRS.

 

                                                                                
Group 

Company

     Group            Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

On balance sheet:

                

Trading liabilities

 1,905   1,841   -   -       1,559       1,905       -       -  

Deposits by banks

 1,701   1,671   1,002   846       1,443       1,701       1,047       1,002  
 3,606   3,512   1,002   846       3,002       3,606       1,047       1,002  

Off balance sheet:

                

Trading liabilities

 24,207   23,687   4,741   2,174       16,870       24,207       2,167       4,741  

Deposits by banks

 -   61   -   -       499       -       -       -  
 24,207   23,748   4,741   2,174       17,369       24,207       2,167       4,741  

Purchase and resale agreements

Subsidiaries of the Company also enter into purchase and resale agreements and similar transactions of equity and debt securities, which are accounted for as collateralised loans. Upon entering into such transactions, the subsidiaries receive collateral equal to 100%-105% of the loan amount. The level of collateral held is monitored daily and if required, further calls are made to ensure the market values of collateral remains at least equal to the loan balance. The subsidiaries are permitted to sell or repledge the collateral held in the absence of default. At 31 December 2014,2015, the fair value of such collateral received was £6,956m (2013: £14,408m)£3,996m (2014: £6,956m). Of the collateral received, almost all was sold or repledged. The subsidiaries have an obligation to return collateral that they have sold or pledged.

Stock borrowing and lending agreements

Obligations under stock borrowing and lending agreements represent contractual commitments to return stock borrowed. These obligations totalled £17,251m£13,373m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £9,340m)2015 (2014: £17,251m) and are offset by a contractual right to receive stock lent by the Santander UK group.

Derivatives business

In addition to the arrangements described above, collateral is also received from counterparties in the normal course of derivative business. At 31 December 2014, £3,606m (2013: £3,512m)2015, £3,002m (2014: £3,606m) of such collateral in the form of cash had been received by the Santander UK group and is included in the table above.

Lending activities

In addition to the above collateral held as security for assets, the Santander UK group may obtain a charge over a customer’s property in connection with its lending activities. Details of these arrangements are set out in the ‘Credit Risk’risk’ section of the Risk Review.review.

41.40. SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION

The Santander UK group operates share schemes and arrangements for eligible employees. The main current schemes are the Sharesave Schemes, the Long-Term Incentive Plan and the Deferred Shares Bonus Plan. The Santander UK group’s other current arrangement and scheme, respectively, are free shares awarded to eligible employees and partnership shares. All the share options and awards relate to shares in Banco Santander S.A.SA.

The amount charged to the income statement in respect of share-based payment transactions is set out in Note 6. The total carrying amount at the end of the year for liabilities arising from share-based payment transactions was £10m (2013: £5.5m)£nil (2014: £10m), none of which had vested at 31 December 2014 (2013:2015 (2014: nil). Cash received from the exercise of share options was £nil (2014: £1m, (2013: £nil, 2012:2013: £nil).

The main schemes are:

a) Sharesave Schemes

The Santander UK group launched its seventheigth HM Revenue & Customs approved Sharesave Scheme under Banco Santander S.A.SA ownership in September 2014.2015. The first sixseven Sharesave Schemes were launched each year from 2008 to 20132014 in the month of September under broadly similar terms as the 20142015 Scheme. Under, these previous schemes, eligible employees may enter into contracts to save between £5 and £250 per month. After an increase to HMRC allowablethe Sharesave Scheme’s current HMRC-approved savings under the 2014 scheme,limits, eligible employees may enter into contracts to save between £5 and £500 per month. For all schemes, at the expiry of a fixed term of three or five years after the grant date, the employees have the option to use these savings to acquire shares in Banco Santander S.A.SA at a discount, calculated in accordance with the rules of the scheme. The discount is currently 20% of the average middle market quoted price of Banco Santander S.A.SA shares over the first three dealing days prior to invitation. The vesting of awards under the scheme depends on continued employment with the Banco Santander S.A.SA group. Participants in the scheme have six months from the date of vest in which the option can be exercised.

 

 

272  Santander UK plc


Annual Report 2014297
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Financial statements

 

The fair value of each Sharesave option for 2015, 2014 2013 and 20122013 has been estimated at the date of acquisition or grant using a Partial Differentiation Equation model with the following assumptions:

 

2014 2013 2012     2015     2014     2013 

Risk free interest rate

 1.56%-1.97%   1.2%-1.7%   0.73%-1.04%       1.06%-1.37%       1.56%-1.97%       1.2%-1.7%  

Dividend yield/growth

 10.16%-10.82%   16%-19%   16%-17%  

Dividend yield

     6.91%-7.36%       10.16%-10.82%       16%-19%  

Expected volatility of underlying shares based upon implied volatility to the maturity date of each scheme

 24.16%-24.51%       32.15%-32.32%       38.62%-39.41%       28.54%-29.11%       24.16%-24.51%       32.15%-32.32%  

Expected lives of options granted under 3 and 5 year schemes

 3 & 5 years   3 & 5 years   3 & 5 years       3 & 5 years       3 & 5 years       3 & 5 years  

With the exception of vesting conditions that include terms related to market conditions, vesting conditions included in the terms of the grant are not taken into account in estimating fair value. Non-market vesting conditions are taken into account by adjusting the number of shares or share options included in the measurement of the cost of the employee service so that ultimately, the amount recognised in the income statement reflects the number of vested shares or share options.

Where vesting conditions are related to market conditions, the charges for the services received are recognised regardless of whether or not the market relatedmarket-related vesting conditions are met, provided that the non-market vesting conditions are met. Share price volatility has been based upon the range of implied volatility for the Banco Santander S.A.SA shares at the strikes and tenors in which the majority of the sensitivities lie.

The following table summarises the movement in the number of share options during the year, together with the changes in weighted average exercise price over the same period.

 

Number of options                 Weighted average
exercise price
     2015     2014     2013 
‘000s £     

Number of options

    

‘000s

     

Weighted average
exercise price

£

     

Number of options

    

‘000s

     

Weighted average
exercise price

£

     

Number of options

    

‘000s

     

Weighted average
exercise price

£

 

2014

Options outstanding at the start of the year

 15,895   3.98       19,122       4.19       15,895       3.98       14,802       4.23  

Options granted during the year

 6,745   4.91       14,074       3.13       6,745       4.91       4,340       3.69  

Options exercised during the year

 (1,375)   4.36       (1,839)       3.75       (1,375)       4.36       (78)       4.02  

Options forfeited during the year

 (2,143)   4.85  

Options forfeited/expired during the year

     (6,595)       4.50       (2,143)       4.85       (3,169)       4.72  

Options outstanding at the end of the year

 19,122   4.19       24,762       3.53       19,122       4.19       15,895       3.98  

Options exercisable at the end of the year

 517   5.28       2,807       3.76       517       5.28       609       7.22  

2013

Options outstanding at the start of the year

 14,802   4.23  

Options granted during the year

 4,340   3.69  

Options exercised during the year

 (78)   4.02  

Options forfeited during the year

 (3,169)   4.72  

Options outstanding at the end of the year

 15,895   3.98  

Options exercisable at the end of the year

 609   7.22  

2012

Options outstanding at the start of the year

 11,261   5.37  

Options granted during the year

 10,012   3.66  

Options exercised during the year

 (3)   4.56  

Options forfeited during the year

 (6,468)   5.34  

Options outstanding at the end of the year

 14,802   4.23  

Options exercisable at the end of the year

 592   7.22  

The weighted average grant-date fair value of options granted under the Employee Sharesave scheme during the year was £0.50 (2014: £0.56, (2013: £0.39, 2012: £0.42)2013: £0.39). The weighted average share price at the date the share options were exercised was £3.79 (2014: £5.59, (2013: £5.17, 2012: £4.84)2013: £5.17).

The following table summarises the range of exercise prices and weighted average remaining contractual life of the options outstanding at 31 December 20142015 and 2013.2014.

 

    2015     2014 
Options outstanding     Options outstanding     Options outstanding 
Range of exercise prices

Weighted average remaining contractual

life

years

 

    Weighted average exercise
price

£

     

Weighted average remaining
contractual life

years

     

Weighted average
exercise price

£

     

Weighted average remaining
contractual life

years

     

Weighted average
exercise price

£

 

2014

Between £3 and £4

 2   3.67       3       3.32       2       3.67  

Between £4 and £5

 3   4.85       2       4.84       3       4.85  

Between £6 and £7

 1   6.46       -       -       1       6.46  

Between £7 and £8

 -   -  

2013

Between £3 and £4

 3   3.67  

Between £4 and £5

 2   4.46  

Between £6 and £7

 1   6.46  

Between £7 and £8

 1   7.56  

b) Long-Term Incentive Plan (‘LTIP’)(LTIP)

A newThe LTIP was introducedreintroduced in 2014 and amended for 2015 awards under which conditional cash awards were made to certain Executive Directors, Key Management Personnel (as defined in Note 41) and other nominated individuals (all of whom were designated as Code Staff employees) which are converted into shares in Banco Santander S.A.SA at the time of vesting. Under the LTIPs granted on 1 July 2011, 1 July 2010,vesting and 1 July 2009, (known as Incentivos Largo Plazo (‘ILP’) 14, 13 and 12) certain Executive Directors, Key Management Personnel (as defined in Note 42) and other nominated individuals were granted conditional awards of shares in Banco Santander, S.A.. No LTIPs were introduced in 2012 or 2013.deferred for three years.

The LTIP plans prior to 2014 involved successive three-year cycles of share deliveries to the beneficiaries. The LTIP granted in 2015 and 2014 involvesinvolve a one-year performance cycle.cycle for vesting with further three year performance conditions applied to the deferral of 2015 awards. Beneficiaries were allocated an initial award determined in GBP which was converted into shares in Banco Santander S.A. at the time of vesting,SA in January 2015.2015 and January 2016 respectively. The 2014 LTIP vested at 100% in January 2015 based on Banco Santander S.A.’sSA’s relative TSRTotal Shareholder Return (‘TSR’) performance in 2014 versus a comparator group.

group and deferred over three years. The 2015 LTIP vested at 91.5% in January 2016 based on Banco Santander SA’s Earnings Per Share (EPS) and Return on Tangible Equity (RoTE) performance against budget in 2015 and deferred for three years.

2015 LTIP

For the 2015 LTIP, the vested award will be deferred and payable in 2019 subject to Banco Santander SA’s continuing relative EPS performance to comparators, RoTE and other non-financial metrics such as Top 3 best bank to work for, Top 3 in customer satisfaction and loyal customers as well as continuing employment.

The following table summarises the movement in the value of conditional awards in the 2015 LTIP during 2015:

 

298Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
      

2015

£000

Conditional awards made during the year

     6,769

Conditional awards exercised during the year

-

Conditional awards forfeited or cancelled during the year

-

Conditional awards outstanding at the end of the year

6,769  

 

For each cycle

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

In the case of 2015 LTIP, the LTIP plans prior to 2014, a maximum number of shares was established for each beneficiary who remains in the Santander UK group’s employment for the duration of the plan. The targets, which, if met,EPS and RoTE criterion will determine the numberpercentage of shares to be delivered, under those LTIP’s are defined by comparingbased on the Banco Santander, S.A. group’s performance with thatfollowing scale.

Employees will be allocated an initial award determined in GBP in 2015. However, the actual level awarded will be calculated at the beginning of a benchmark group of financial institutions2016 and are linkedis subject to Banco Santander S.A.’s Total Shareholder Return (‘TSR’). The ultimate number of shares to be deliveredSA EPS and RoTE performance against 2015 budget:

Percentage of allocation to be awarded
Banco Santander SA’s EPS & RoTE 2015 vs budget%

greater than 90%

100

75% to 90%

75 – 100

less than 75%

-

Once the award has been made it will be determineddeferred over three years with further performance conditions. The amount that could vest after the deferral period will depend 25% on EPS growth vs Peers, 25% on RoTE, 20% on Top 3 best bank to work for, 15% on Top 3 bank in eachcustomer satisfaction and 15% on loyal customers. The peer group against whom the EPS growth will be measured is a comparator group of 17 financial institutions. EPS and RoTE will be measured over a three year period from 2015 to 2017, others will be tested once in 2017.

Percentage of maximum shares in that tranche to be delivered
Banco Santander SA’s place in the EPS ranking%

1st to 5th

100

6th

87.5

7th

75

8th

62.5

9th

50

10th and below

-

     Percentage of maximum shares in that tranche to be delivered  
Banco Santander SA’s RoTE    % 

12% or above

     100  

11%

     75  

Below 11%

     -  

On a country level 100% vests if rated top 3 best banks to work for and top 3 in customer satisfaction. 100% vests if the target for loyal customers is met in December 2017 weighted equally between Retail and Corporate customers.

For full vesting at the group level at least 6 of the cycles by10 core countries for Santander should get the degree of achievement of the targets on the third anniversary of commencement of each cycle,top 3 best bank to work for, must be top 3 in customer satisfaction in all 10 countries, must have 17 million retail and the shares will be delivered within a maximum period of seven months from the end of the cycle. 1.1 million corporate loyal customers. A sliding scale applies below this threshold with 50% vesting if 15 million retail and 1 million corporate customers, any less would lead to no vesting.

2014 LTIP

For the 2014 LTIP, the vested award will be deferred and payable in equal tranches in 2016, 2017 and 2018 subject to Banco Santander S.A.’sSA’s continuing relative TSR performance to comparators and continuing employment.

For the LTIP plans prior to 2014, the percentage of shares to be delivered is based on the following scale and in accordance with Banco Santander, S.A.’s relative position among the group of benchmark financial institutions:

 ILP12 and ILP13             ILP14 
     Banco Santander, S.A.’s place in the TSR ranking% % 

1st to 5th

 100.0   100.0  

6th

 82.5   86.0  

7th

 65.0   72.0  

8th

 47.5   58.0  

9th

 30.0   44.0  

10th

 -   30.0  

11th and below

 -   -  

Any benchmark group entity that is acquired by another company, or whose shares cease trading or that ceases to exist will be excluded from the benchmark group. In an event of this or any similar nature, the comparison with the benchmark group will be performed in such a way that the maximum percentage of shares will be delivered if Banco Santander, S.A. ranks within the first quartile (including the 25th percentile) of the benchmark group; no shares will be delivered if Banco Santander, S.A. ranks below the median (50th percentile); 30% of the maximum amount of shares will be delivered if Banco Santander, S.A. is placed at the median. Linear interpolation will be used for calculating the corresponding percentage for positions between the median and the first quartile.

Plans ILP12, ILP13 and ILP14 matured in 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. As established in the plans, the number of shares received by each beneficiary was determined by the degree of achievement of the targets to which each plan was tied and, since they fell short of the maximum number established, the unearned options were cancelled. The fair value of each award under the LTIPs has been estimated at the date of acquisition or grant using the same methodology used to value the Sharesave options.

The following table summarises the movement in the number of conditional share awards in ILP13 and ILP14 during 2014 and 2013:

     ILP13 and ILP14

2014

No.

 

2013

No.

 

Conditional awards outstanding at the beginning of the year

 1,536   3,628  

Conditional awards exercised during the year

 -   -  

Conditional awards forfeited or cancelled during the year

 (1,536)                   (2,092)  

Conditional awards outstanding at the end of the year

 -   1,536  

The weighted average grant-date fair value of conditional share awards granted during 2014 and 2013 was £nil. At 31 December 2014, the weighted average remaining contractual life was £nil (2013: less than one year).

The following table summarises the movement in the value of conditional awards in the 2014 LTIP during 2015 and 2014:

 

     2014 LTIP

2014

£000

Conditional awards made during the year

5,355

Conditional awards exercised during the year

-

Conditional awards forfeited or cancelled during the year

-

Conditional awards outstanding at the end of the year

5,355
      

2015

£000

     

2014

£000

 

Conditional awards at the beginning of the year

     5,355       -  

Conditional awards made during the year

     -       5,355  

Conditional awards exercised during the year

     -       -  

Conditional awards forfeited or cancelled during the year

     (253)       -  

Conditional awards outstanding at the end of the year

     5,102       5,355  

In the case of 2014 LTIP, the TSR criterion will determine the percentage of shares to be delivered, based on the following scale and in accordance with Banco Santander S.A.’sSA’s relative position among the group of benchmark financial institutions.

Employees will be allocated an initial award determined in GBP in 2014. However, the actual level awarded will be calculated at the beginning of 2015 and iswas subject to ourBanco Santander SA TSR versus the following comparator group of 15 banks in 2014:

 

     Banco Santander, S.A.’s place in the TSR rankingPercentage of allocation to be awarded
Banco Santander SA’s place in the TSR ranking% 

1st to 8th

 100  

9th to 12th

 50  

13th and below

 -  

Once the award has been made it will be split into three equal amounts and deferred over three years. The amount that could vest each year will depend on ourBanco Santander SA’s ongoing TSR performance against the same comparator group of 15 banks and the award of each tranche will be subject to the following TSR ranking of the preceding years including 2014:

     Banco Santander, S.A.’s place in the TSR rankingPercentage of maximum shares in that tranche to be delivered
Banco Santander SA’s place in the TSR ranking% 

1st to 4th

 100  

5th5th

 87.5  

6th6th

 75  

7th7th

 62.5  

8th8th

 50  

9th and below

 -  

See Note 4241 for details of conditional share awards made to certain Executive Directors, Other Key Management Personnel and other individuals under the LTIP.

 

 

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c) Deferred Shares

Deferred incentive awards are designed to align employee performance with shareholder value and encourage increased retention of senior employees. During 2014,2015, in compliance with the PRA Rulebook and Remuneration Code, conditional share awards were made to Santander UK employees (either designated(designated as Code Staff or those in the Corporate & Institutional Banking division) who are awarded an annual performance bonus over a threshold level.Staff). Such employees receive part of thetheir annual bonus as a deferred award comprising 50% in shares, and 50% in cash. Any deferred awards, including those in Banco Santander S.A.SA shares, are dependent on future service. DeferralFor 2015 bonus awards, deferral of the award is over a three year period, with delivery of equal tranches of shares taking place on or around the anniversary of the initial incentive. For Code Staff, deferredaward. Deferred awards in shares are subject to an additional one year retention period from the point of delivery.

Code Staff are required to defer either 40% or 60% of any annual bonus (40% for annual bonusvariable pay of no moreless than £500,000, 60% for annual bonusvariable pay at or above this amount). Non-Code Staff employees in our Corporate & Institutional Banking division are subject to a graduated system which ensures that those who receive higher value variable pay are required to defer a greater proportion of the award. Vesting of both deferred incentive awards and long-term incentive awards is subject to risk and performance adjustment in the event of deficient performance and prudent financial control provisions in accordance with the PRA Rulebook and Remuneration Code. For Code Staff, any variable remuneration paid for performance after 1 January 2015, will also be subject to claw backclawback in line with the PRA Rulebook and Remuneration Code.

d) Other arrangements and schemes

Partnership Shares

The Santander UK group also operates a Partnership Shares scheme for eligible employees under the Share Incentive Plan (‘SIP’)(SIP) umbrella. Participants can elect to invest up to £1,800 per tax year (or no more than 10% of an employee’s salary for the tax year following an increase in HMRC allowances in 2014 from the previous £1,500 per tax year) from pre-tax salary to purchase Banco Santander S.A.SA shares. Shares are held in trust for the participants. There are no vesting conditions attached to these shares, and no restrictions as to when the shares can be removed from the trust. However, if a participant chooses to sell the shares before the end of five years, they will be liable for the taxable benefit received when the shares are taken out of the trust. The shares can be released from trust after five years free of income tax and national insurance contributions. 1,298,0891,772,800 shares were outstanding at 31 December 2014 (2013: 880,6792015 (2014: 1,298,089 shares).

Closed schemes

At 31 December 2014, 86,835 shares (2013: 77,058) remained outstanding under the closed Alliance & Leicester SIP partnership share scheme. No options remained outstanding and exercisable under the closed Executive Share Option Scheme (2013: 12,000 options, with a weighted average exercise price of £4.54).

42.41. TRANSACTIONS WITH DIRECTORS AND OTHER KEY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL

a) Remuneration of Directors and Other Key Management Personnel

The remuneration of the Directors and Other Key Management Personnel of the Santander UK group is set out in aggregate below.

 

                                                                        
    Directors’ remuneration

2014

£

 

2013

£

 

2012

£

 

Salaries and fees

 6,697,041   6,183,203   5,799,704  

Performance-related payments

 5,459,000   4,800,051   4,265,082  

Other taxable benefits

 -   -   -  

Total remuneration excluding pension contributions

 12,156,041   10,983,254   10,064,786  

Pension contributions

 -   -   -  

Compensation for loss of office

 -   -   -  
  12,156,041   10,983,254   10,064,786  

Directors and Other Key Management Personnel remuneration

         

Short-term employee benefits

 25,791,902   28,158,177   26,874,911  

Post employment benefits

 601,409   402,500   -  

Other long-term benefits

 -   -   -  

Termination benefits

 -   -   -  

Share-based payments

 154,506   66,411   220,904  
  26,547,817       28,627,088       27,095,815  
Directors’ remuneration    

2015

£

     

2014

£

     

2013

£

 

Salaries and fees

     4,694,260       5,469,334       5,206,511  

Performance-related payments(1)

     2,607,407       5,459,000       4,800,051  

Other fixed remuneration (pension and other allowances & non-cash benefits)

     1,002,320       1,064,984       939,359  

Expenses

     115,382       162,723       37,333  

Total remuneration

 ��   8,419,369       12,156,041       10,983,254  
Directors’ and Other Key Management Personnel remuneration                     

Short-term employee benefits(2)

     19,950,608       24,812,667       25,328,174  

Post-employment benefits

     1,825,688       1,421,603       1,104,500  

Share-based payments

     400,948       154,506       66,411  
      22,177,244       26,388,776       26,499,085  
(1)In line with the Code, a proportion of the performance-related payment was deferred. Further details can be found in Note 40.
(2)Excludes payments made as buy-outs of deferred performance-related payments in 2015 of £3,453,956 in connection with previous employment for five individuals (2014: £1,610,630 for three individuals; 2013: £2,128,003 for four individuals). Aggregate amounts shown for 2014 and 2013 have been re-stated to exclude these buy-outs where previously shown in the aggregate totals.

In line with the Code, a proportion of the performance-related payment was deferred. Further details can be found in Note 41.

In 2014,2015, the remuneration, excluding pension contributions, of the highest paid Director, was £3,515,260 (2013: £3,907,783)£3,957,819 (2014: £3,515,260) of which £1,782,000 (2013: £1,878,379)£1,760,000 (2014: £1,782,000) was performance related. ThereIn 2015, there was no accrued pension benefit accrued for the highest paid Director (2013:but in respect of the qualifying past services to Santander UK to 31 May 2009 he has a deferred pension benefit accruing under a defined benefit scheme of £15,450 p.a. (2014: £nil, 2012: £nil), other than that accrued by, or treated to be accrued by a Spanish subsidiary of Banco Santander S.A.. No conditional award of shares was made toSA). In addition, the highest paid Director was granted a conditional award of £240,000 shares under the LTIP during 20142015 for services to Santander UK.

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UK and was paid a buy-out of £1,800,000 relating to a deferred performance related award in respect of his previous employment.

b) Retirement benefits

Defined benefit pension schemes are provided to certain employees. See Note 3634 for a description of the schemes and the related costs and obligations. One director has a deferred pension benefit accruing under a defined benefit scheme of £15,450 p.a. in respect of the qualifying services to Santander UK and based on previous service with Santander UK to 31 May 2009 (2013: £nil)(2014: £15,450). Ex gratia pensions paid to former Directors of Santander UK plc in 2014,2015, which have been provided for previously, amounted to £14,893 (2013:(2014: £14,893, 2012: £14,211)2013: £14,893). In 1992, the Board decided not to award any new such ex gratia pensions.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

c) Transactions with Directors, Other Key Management Personnel and each of their connected persons

Directors, Other Key Management Personnel (Defined as the Board of the Company and the Executive Committee of Santander UK plc who served during the year) and their connected persons have undertaken the following transactions with the Santander UK group in the course of normal banking business.

 

2014No.                      £000 
    2015     2014 
    No.     £000     No.     £000 

Secured loans, unsecured loans and overdrafts

                

At 1 January

 14   3,497       10       3,768       14       3,497  

Net movements in the year

 (4)   271       8       1,724       (4)       271  

At 31 December

 10   3,768       18       5,492       10       3,768  

Deposit, bank and instant access accounts and investments

                

At 1 January

 20   6,420       18       16,882       20       6,420  

Net movements in the year

 (2)   10,462       8       (2,204)       (2)       10,462  

At 31 December

 18   16,882       26       14,678       18       16,882  

2013

  

Secured loans, unsecured loans and overdrafts

At 1 January

 16   3,833  

Net movements in the year

 (2)   (336)  

At 31 December

 14   3,497  

Deposit, bank and instant access accounts and investments

At 1 January

 19   6,911  

Net movements in the year

 1   (491)  

At 31 December

 20   6,420  

During the year ended 31 December 2014, three2015, five Directors undertook sharedealing transactions through the Santander UK group’s execution-only stockbroker (2013: one Director)(2014: three Directors) with an aggregate net value of £281,243 (2013: £701,863)£156,699 (2014: £281,243). Any transactions were on normal business terms and standard commission rates were payable.

In 20142015 and 2013,2014, no Director held any interest in the shares of any company within Santander UK at any time and no Director exercised or was granted any rights to subscribe for shares in any company within Santander UK. In addition, in 20142015 and 2013,2014, no Directors exercised share options over shares in Banco Santander S.A.,SA, the ultimate parent company of the Company.

Secured and unsecured loans are made to Directors, Other Key Management Personnel and their connected persons, in the ordinary course of business, with terms prevailing for comparable transactions and on the same terms and conditions as applicable to other employees within the Santander UK group. Such loans do not involve more than the normal risk of collectability or present any unfavourable features. Amounts deposited by Directors, Other Key Management Personnel and their connected persons earn interest at the same rates as those offered to the market or on the same terms and conditions applicable to other employees within the Santander UK group. Investments are entered into by Directors, Other Key Management Personnel and their connected persons on normal market terms and conditions, or on the same terms and conditions as applicable to other employees within the Santander UK group.

In 2014,2015, loans were made to foursix Directors (2013: six(2014: four Directors), with a principal amount of £819,949£28,733 outstanding at 31 December 2014 (2013: £61,883)2015 (2014: £819,949). In 2014,2015, loans were made to sixtwelve members of Santander UK’s Key Management Personnel (2013: eight)(2014: six), with a principal amount of £2,947,704£5,462,770 outstanding at 31 December 2014 (2013: £3,435,567)2015 (2014: £2,947,704).

In 20142015 and 2013,2014, there were no other transactions, arrangements or agreements with Santander UK in which Directors or Key Management Personnel or persons connected with them had a material interest. In addition, in 20142015 and 2013,2014, no Director had a material interest in any contract of significance other than a service contract with Santander UK at any time during the year.

d) Santander Long-Term Incentive Plan

In 2014,2015, one Executive Director (2014: three, Executive Directors (2013: none, 2012:2013: none) and ninethirteen Other Key Management Personnel (2013: none, 2012:(2014: nine, 2013: none) were granted conditional awards under the Santander LTIP. Under the Santander LTIPs granted on 1 July 2010 and 1 July 2009 certain Executive Directors, Key Management Personnel and other nominated individuals were granted conditional awards of shares in Banco Santander S.A..SA.

In the case of the 2015 LTIP, employees were allocated an initial award determined in GBP in 2015 which was converted into shares in Banco Santander SA, in January 2016. The 2015 LTIP vested at 91.5% based on Banco Santander SA’s relative EPS and RoTE performance in 2015 versus a comparator group. The vested award will be deferred over three years and payable in 2019 subject to Banco Santander SA’s continuing relative performance to comparators of EPS, RoTE and other non-financial measures.

In the case of the 2014 LTIP, employees were allocated an initial award determined in GBP in 2014 which was converted into shares in Banco Santander S.A. at the time of vesting,SA in January 2015. The 2014 LTIP vested at 100% based on Banco Santander S.A.’sSA’s relative TSR performance in 2014 versus a comparator group. The vested award will be deferred and payable in equal tranches in 2016, 2017 and 2018 subject to Banco Santander S.A.’sSA’s continuing relative TSR performance to comparators. From previous LTIP schemes, 0% of the 2010 conditional award vested in July 2013 and 0% of the 2011 conditional award vested in July 2014. In 2014,2015, no LTIP shares awarded in 2011 vested for any Director (2013:from previous LTIP plans (2014: none).

 

 

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43.42. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

a) Parent undertaking and controlling party

On 10 January 2014, the ordinary shares of Santander UK plc were transferred to a new holding company,The Company’s immediate parent is Santander UK Group Holdings Limited which is therefore now the Company’s immediate parent.plc, a company incorporated in England and Wales. The Company’s ultimate parent and controlling party is Banco Santander S.A.,SA, a company incorporated in Spain. The smallest and largest groups into which the Santander UK group’s results are included are the group accounts of Santander UK Group Holdings Limitedplc and Banco Santander S.A.,SA, respectively, copies of which may be obtained from Shareholder Relations, 2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London NW1 3AN, or on the corporate website (www.santander.co.uk) or on the Banco Santander corporate website (www.santander.com).

b) Transactions with related parties

Transactions with related parties during the year and balances outstanding at the year end:year-end:

 

                                                                                                                                                                
         Group                                           Group 

Interest, fees and

other income received

 

Interest, fees and

other expenses paid

 

Amounts owed by

related parties

 

Amounts owed

to related parties

   

Interest, fees and

other income received

   

Interest, fees and

other expenses paid

   

Amounts owed by

related parties

   

Amounts owed

to related parties

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

   2015
£m
   2014
£m
   2013
£m
   2015
£m
   

2014

£m

   

2013

£m

   

2015

£m

   

2014

£m

   

2015

£m

   

2014

£m

 

Ultimate parent

 (370)   (395)   (54)   74   98   207   2,119   2,201   (5,089)   (3,737)     (76)     (370)     (395)     99     74     98     1,458     2,119     (3,557)     (5,089)  

Immediate parent

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   (250)   -     (3)     -     -     19     -     -     3     -     (1,960)     (250)  

Fellow subsidiaries

 (520)   (346)   (319)   867   851   717   649   328   (1,961)   (3,697)     (439)     (520)     (346)     743     867     851     1,077     649     (1,328)     (1,961)  

Associates & joint ventures

 (25)   (19)   (3)   -   -   4   776   788   (6)   (4)     (24)     (25)     (19)     -     -     -     849     776     (15)     (6)  
 (915)   (760)   (376)   941   949   928   3,544   3,317   (7,306)   (7,438)     (542)     (915)     (760)     861     941     949     3,387     3,544     (6,860)     (7,306)  
         Company 

Interest, fees and

other income received

 

Interest, fees and

other expenses paid

 

Amounts owed by

related parties

 

Amounts owed

to related parties

                                           Company 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2012

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

 

2014

£m

 

2013

£m

   

Interest, fees and

other income received

   

Interest, fees and

other expenses paid

   Amounts owed by
related parties
   

Amounts owed

to related parties

 
  

2015

£m

   

2014

£m

   

2013

£m

   

2015

£m

   

2014

£m

   

2013

£m

   2015
£m
   2014
£m
   

2015

£m

   

2014

£m

 

Ultimate parent

 (7)   -   (1)   83   40   51   23   16   (2,825)   (1,501)     (80)     (7)     -     152     83     40     31     23     (1,658)     (2,825)  

Immediate parent

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   (250)   -     (3)     -     -     19     -     -     3     -     (1,960)     (250)  

Subsidiaries

 (3,426)   (3,705)   (2,333)     3,812   6,683   4,574     14,132   114,488     (52,067)   (156,160)     (2,366)     (3,426)     (3,705)     3,853     3,812     6,683     33,450     14,132     (58,468)     (52,067)  

Fellow subsidiaries

 (131)   (160)   (208)   510   561   492   7   42   (1,029)   (2,700)     (120)     (131)     (160)     443     510     561     19     7     (702)     (1,029)  

Associates & joint ventures

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     (12)     -  
 (3,564)   (3,865)   (2,542)   4,405   7,284   5,117   14,162   114,546   (56,171)   (160,361)     (2,569)     (3,564)     (3,865)     4,467     4,405     7,284     33,503     14,162     (62,800)     (56,171)  

In 2015, the Company issued £750m Perpetual Capital Securities, of which 100% was subscribed by the Company’s immediate parent, Santander UK Group Holdings plc. In 2014, the Company issued £800m Perpetual Capital Securities to its immediate parent company, Santander UK Group Holdings Limited.plc which were 100% subscribed by Banco Santander SA. Details of these securities can be found in Note 38.36. In turn, Santander UK Group Holdings Limitedplc issued similar securities. These issuances were 100% subscribed by Banco Santander, S.A..

As part of the banking reform programme,In 2015, the intercompany funding arrangements between Santander UK plc and its subsidiary Abbey National Treasury Services plc have beenwere amended so that onlymanagement of the net funding requirement of the commercial bank is passed between Santander UK plc andgroup was transferred from Abbey National Treasury Services plc rather thanto Santander UK plc. These steps were taken as part of a programme that began in 2014 and is still ongoing, to facilitate the gross funding requirements as previously. In preparation for this change, a rationalisationorderly implementation of the current booking model was carried out in 2014. Following this, the legal agreements between Santander UK plc and Abbey National Treasurygroup strategy to transition into a ring-fenced structure in due course pursuant to the requirements of the Financial Services plc were changed. As a result, only trades that generate the actual net funding requirement are reported. The intercompany balances between Santander UK plc and Abbey National Treasury Services plc reduced by £100bn predominantly due to this change.(Banking Reform) Act 2013.

Further information on balances due from/(to) other Banco Santander group companies is set out in the section ‘Balances with other Banco Santander group companies’ in the Risk Review on pages 141 to 143.review. In 2013, Banco Santander S.A.SA sold 50% of its interest in its international asset management business to US private equity investors. Santander UK plc has guaranteed certain of Banco Santander S.A.’sSA’s obligations under the transaction. Under the terms of the transaction, Santander UK plc’s obligations are fully cash collateralised by Banco Santander S.A.SA at all times so that Santander UK plc has no residual credit exposure. The amount of cash collateral in relation to this transaction was £943m£1,002m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £623m)2015 (2014: £943m) and has been included in Deposits by banks. In addition, transactions with pension schemes operated by the Santander UK group are described in Note 36.34. Further information on related party transactions during the year and balances outstanding at the year-end is described in the other Notes.

TheExcept for the intercompany funding arrangements described above, the above transactions were made in the ordinary course of business and substantially on the same terms as for comparable transactions with third party counterparties and within limits acceptable to the PRA. Such transactions do not involve more than the normal risk of collectability or present any unfavourable features.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

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44.43. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

a) Measurement basis of financial assets and liabilities

Financial assets and financial liabilities are measured on an ongoing basis either at fair value or at amortised cost. Note 1 describes how the classes of financial instruments are measured, and how income and expenses, including fair value gains and losses, are recognised. The following tables analyse financial instruments into those measured at fair value and those measured at amortised cost in the balance sheet:

 

                          Group 
 Held at fair value  Held at amortised cost  Non-   
    31 December 2014        Trading 

        Derivatives
designated

as hedges

 

Designated

at fair value

        through P&L

 

        Available-

for-sale

  

Financial

assets at

        amortised cost

 

Financial

liabilities at
        amortised cost

   financial
assets/
        liabilities
                 Total 
  £m £m £m £m   £m £m   £m £m 

Assets

Cash & balances at central banks

 -   -   -   -   22,562   -   -   22,562  

Trading assets

 21,700   -   -   -   -   -   -   21,700  

Derivative financial instruments

 20,235   2,786   -   -   -   -   -   23,021  

Financial assets designated at FVTPL

 -   -   2,881   -   -   -   -   2,881  

Loans and advances to banks

 -   -   -   -   2,057   -   -   2,057  

Loans and advances to customers

 -   -   -   -   188,691   -   -   188,691  

Loans and receivables securities

 -   -   -   -   118   -   -   118  

Available-for-sale securities

 -   -   -   8,944   -   -   -   8,944  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   -   963   -   -   963  

Interests in other entities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   38   38  

Intangible assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   2,187   2,187  

Property, plant and equipment

 -   -   -   -   -   -   1,624   1,624  

Retirement benefit assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   315   315  

Other assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   876   876  
 41,935   2,786   2,881   8,944   214,391   -   5,040   275,977  

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

 -   -   -   -   -   8,214   -   8,214  

Deposits by customers

 -   -   -   -   -   153,606   -   153,606  

Trading liabilities

 15,333   -   -   -   -   -   -   15,333  

Derivative financial liabilities

 20,462   2,270   -   -   -   -   -   22,732  

Financial liabilities designated at FVTPL

 -   -   2,848   -   -   -   -   2,848  

Debt securities in issue

 -   -   -   -   -   51,790   -   51,790  

Subordinated liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   4,002   -   4,002  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   -   -   139   -   139  

Other liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   2,302   2,302  

Provisions

 -   -   -   -   -   -   491   491  

Current tax liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   69   69  

Deferred tax liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   59   59  

Retirement benefit obligations

 -   -   -   -   -   -   199   199  
 35,795   2,270   2,848   -   -   217,751   3,120   261,784  

31 December 2013

                        

Assets

Cash & balances at central banks

 -   -   -   -   26,374   -   -   26,374  

Trading assets

 22,294   -   -   -   -   -   -   22,294  

Derivative financial instruments

 17,433   2,616   -   -   -   -   -   20,049  

Financial assets designated at FVTPL

 -   -   2,747   -   -   -   -   2,747  

Loans and advances to banks

 -   -   -   -   2,347   -   -   2,347  

Loans and advances to customers

 -   -   -   -   184,587   -   -   184,587  

Loans and receivables securities

 -   -   -   -   1,101   -   -   1,101  

Available-for-sale securities

 -   -   -   5,005   -   -   -   5,005  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   -   769   -   -   769  

Interests in other entities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   27   27  

Intangible assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   2,335   2,335  

Property, plant and equipment

 -   -   -   -   -   -   1,521   1,521  

Current tax assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   114   114  

Deferred tax assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   16   16  

Retirement benefit assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   118   118  

Other assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   882   882  
 39,727   2,616   2,747   5,005   215,178   -   5,013   270,286  

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

 -   -   -   -   -   8,696   -   8,696  

Deposits by customers

 -   -   -   -   -   147,167   -   147,167  

Trading liabilities

 21,278   -   -   -   -   -   -   21,278  

Derivative financial liabilities

 17,297   1,566   -   -   -   -   -   18,863  

Financial liabilities designated at FVTPL

 -   -   3,407   -   -   -   -   3,407  

Debt securities in issue

 -   -   -   -   -   50,870   -   50,870  

Subordinated liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   4,306   -   4,306  

Other liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   1,883   1,883  

Provisions

 -   -   -   -   -   -   550   550  

Current tax liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   4   4  

Retirement benefit obligations

 -   -   -   -   -   -   672   672  
 38,575   1,566   3,407   -   -   211,039   3,109   257,696  

Annual Report 2014303


Financial statements

                                        Group 
                                        2014 
     

Held at

fair value

     

Held at

amortised cost

     Total       

Held at

fair value

     Held at
amortised cost
     Total 
      £m     £m     £m       £m     £m     £m 

Assets

                         

Cash & balances at central banks

     -       16,842       16,842        -       22,562       22,562  

Trading assets

     23,961       -       23,961        21,700       -       21,700  

Derivative financial instruments

     20,911       -       20,911        23,021       -       23,021  

Financial assets designated at fair value

     2,398       -       2,398        2,881       -       2,881  

Loans and advances to banks

     -       3,548       3,548        -       2,057       2,057  

Loans and advances to customers

     -       198,045       198,045        -       188,691       188,691  

Loans and receivables securities

     -       52       52        -       118       118  

Available-for-sale securities

     9,012       -       9,012        8,944       -       8,944  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

     -       781       781        -       963       963  
     56,282       219,268       275,550        56,546       214,391       270,937  

Non-financial assets

             5,856                      5,040  
             281,406                275,977  

Liabilities

                         

Deposits by banks

     -       8,278       8,278        -       8,214       8,214  

Deposits by customers

     -       164,074       164,074        -       153,606       153,606  

Trading liabilities

     12,722       -       12,722        15,333       -       15,333  

Derivative financial liabilities

     21,508       -       21,508        22,732       -       22,732  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

     2,016       -       2,016        2,848       -       2,848  

Debt securities in issue

     -       49,615       49,615        -       51,790       51,790  

Subordinated liabilities

     -       3,885       3,885        -       4,002       4,002  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

     -       110       110        -       139       139  
     36,246       225,962       262,208        40,913       217,751       258,664  

Non-financial liabilities

             3,539                3,120  
             265,747                261,784  
                                     Company 
                   2015                      2014 
      

Held at

fair value

     

Held at

amortised cost

     Total       

Held at

fair value

     

Held at

amortised cost

     Total 
      £m     £m     £m       £m     £m     £m 

Assets

                         

Cash & balances at central banks

     -       14,562       14,562        -       18,102       18,102  

Derivative financial instruments

     3,302       -       3,302        3,412       -       3,412  

Financial assets designated at fair value

     60       -       60        83       -       83  

Loans and advances to banks

     -       18,962       18,962        -       6,073       6,073  

Loans and advances to customers

     -       181,608       181,608        -       170,211       170,211  

Loans and receivables securities

     -       4,991       4,991        -       4,598       4,598  

Available-for-sale securities

     7,828       -       7,828        6,405       -       6,405  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

     -       (35)       (35)        -       7       7  
     11,190       220,088       231,278        9,900       198,991       208,891  

Non-financial assets

             10,380                9,914  
             241,658                218,805  

Liabilities

                         

Deposits by banks

     -       28,268       28,268        -       12,553       12,553  

Deposits by customers

     -       189,291       189,291        -       183,788       183,788  

Derivative financial liabilities

     3,028       -       3,028        2,154       -       2,154  

Debt securities in issue

     -       -       -        -       112       112  

Subordinated liabilities

     -       3,951       3,951        -       4,065       4,065  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

     -       (5)       (5)        -       -       -  
     3,028       221,505       224,533        2,154       200,518       202,672  

Non-financial liabilities

             3,174                2,689  
             227,707                205,361  

 

 

278  Santander UK plc

 Company 
 Held at fair value  Held at amortised cost  Non-   
    31 December 2014    Trading Derivatives
    designated as
hedges
 

Designated

at fair value
    through P&L

 

    Available-

for-sale

  

Financial

assets at

    amortised cost

 Financial
liabilities at
    amortised cost
  financial
assets/
    liabilities
 Total 
  £m £m £m £m  £m £m  £m £m 

Assets

Cash & balances at central banks

 -   -   -   -   18,102   -   -   18,102  

Derivative financial instruments

 2,799   613   -   -   -   -   -   3,412  

Financial assets designated at FVTPL

 -   -   83   -   -   -   -   83  

Loans and advances to banks

 -   -   -   -   6,073   -   -   6,073  

Loans and advances to customers

 -   -   -   -   170,211   -   -   170,211  

Loans and receivables securities

 -   -   -   -   4,598   -   -   4,598  

Available-for-sale securities

 -   -   -   6,405   -   -   -   6,405  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   -   7   -   -   7  

Interests in other entities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   5,366   5,366  

Intangible assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   1,986   1,986  

Property, plant and equipment

 -   -   -   -   -   -   1,260   1,260  

Current tax assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   208   208  

Retirement benefit assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   311   311  

Other assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   783   783  
 2,799   613   83   6,405   198,991   -   9,914       218,805  

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

 -   -   -   -   -   12,553   -   12,553  

Deposits by customers

 -   -   -   -   -   183,788   -   183,788  

Derivative financial liabilities

 1,841   313   -   -   -   -   -   2,154  

Debt securities in issue

 -   -   -   -   -   112   -   112  

Subordinated liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   4,065   -   4,065  

Other liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   2,028   2,028  

Provisions

 -   -   -   -   -   -   436   436  

Deferred tax liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   26   26  

Retirement benefit obligations

 -   -   -   -   -   -   199   199  
 1,841   313   -   -   -   200,518   2,689   205,361  

31 December 2013

                        

Assets

Cash & balances at central banks

 -   -   -   -   21,399   -   -   21,399  

Derivative financial instruments

 1,900   561   -   -   -   -   -   2,461  

Financial assets designated at FVTPL

 -   -   1   -   -   -   -   1  

Loans and advances to banks

 -   -   -   -   109,267   -   -   109,267  

Loans and advances to customers

 -   -   -   -   164,393   -   -   164,393  

Loans and receivables securities

 -   -   -   -   5,474   -   -   5,474  

Available-for-sale securities

 -   -   -   2,029   -   -   -   2,029  

Interests in other entities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   6,176   6,176  

Intangible assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   1,678   1,678  

Property, plant and equipment

 -   -   -   -   -   -   1,196   1,196  

Current tax assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   423   423  

Deferred tax assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   54   54  

Retirement benefit assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   110   110  

Other assets

 -   -   -   -   -   -   808   808  
 1,900   561   1   2,029   300,533   -   10,445   315,469  

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

 -   -   -   -   -   115,218   -   115,218  

Deposits by customers

 -   -   -   -   -   179,399   -   179,399  

Derivative financial liabilities

 1,626   177   -   -   -   -   -   1,803  

Debt securities in issue

 -   -   -   -   -   156   -   156  

Subordinated liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   4,212   -   4,212  

Other liabilities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   1,584   1,584  

Provisions

 -   -   -   -   -   -   481   481  

Retirement benefit obligations

 -   -   -   -   -   -   670   670  
 1,626   177   -   -   -   298,985   2,735   303,523  

304Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
      IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

b) Valuation of financial instruments

Financial instruments that are classified or designated at fair value through profit or loss, including those held for trading purposes, or available-for-sale, and all derivatives are stated at fair value. The fair value of such financial instruments is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date in the principal, or in its absence, the most advantageous market to which Santander UK group has access at that date. The fair value of a liability reflects its non-performance risk.

Changes in the valuation of such financial instruments, including derivatives, are included in the line item ‘Net trading and other income’ in the income statement or in ‘Other comprehensive income’ in the statement of comprehensive income as applicable.

(i) Initial measurement

The best evidence of the fair value of a financial instrument at initial recognition is the transaction price unless the valuation is evidenced by comparison with other observable current market transactions in the same instrument or based on a valuation technique whose variables include significant data from observable markets. Any difference between the transaction price and the value based on a valuation technique where the inputs are not based on data from observable current markets is not recognised in profit or loss on initial recognition. Subsequent gains or losses are only recognised to the extent that they arise from a change in a factor that market participants would consider in setting a price.

(ii) Subsequent measurement

The Santander UK group applies the following fair value hierarchy that prioritises the inputs to valuation techniques used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy establishes three categories for valuing financial instruments, giving the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs. The three categories are: quoted prices in active markets (Level 1), internal models based on observable market data (Level 2) and internal models based on other than observable market data (Level 3). If the inputs used to measure an asset or a liability fall to different levels within the hierarchy, the classification of the entire asset or liability will be based on the lowest level input that is significant to the overall fair value measurement of the asset or liability.

The Santander UK group categorises assets and liabilities measured at fair value within the fair value hierarchy based on the inputs to the valuation techniques as follows:

 

Level 1:

Unadjusted quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in an active market that the Santander UK group has the ability tocan access at the measurement date. Level 1 positions include debt securities, equity securities, exchange traded derivatives and short positions in securities.

Level 2:

Quoted prices in non-activeinactive markets, quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities, recent market transactions, inputs other than quoted market prices for the asset or liability that are observable either directly or indirectly for substantially the full term, and inputs to valuation techniques that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data through correlation or other statistical means for substantially the full term of the asset or liability. Level 2 positions include loans and advances to banks, loans and advances to customers, equity securities, exchange rate derivatives, interest rate derivatives, equity and credit derivatives, debt securities, deposits by banks, deposits by customers and debt securities in issue.

Level 3:

InputsSignificant inputs to the pricing or valuation techniques that are significant to the overall fair value measurement of the asset or liability are unobservable. Level 3 positions include exchange rate derivatives, equity and credit derivatives, loans and advances to customers, debt securities, equity securities and debt securities in issue.

The Santander UK group assesses active markets for equity instruments based on the average daily trading volume both in absolute terms and relative to the market capitalisation for the instrument. The Santander UK group assesses active markets for debt instruments based on both the average daily trading volume and the number of days with trading activity. The Santander UK group assesses active markets for exchange traded derivatives based on the average daily trading volume both in absolute terms and relative to the market capitalisation for the instrument.

Market activity and liquidity is discussed in the relevant monthly Risk Forum as well as being part of the daily update given by each business at the start of the trading day. This information, together with the observation of active trading and the magnitude of the bid-offer spreads allow consideration of the liquidity of a financial instrument.

Underlying assets and liabilities are reviewed to consider the appropriate adjustment to mark the mid-price reported in the trading systems to a fair value. This process takes into account the liquidity of the position in the size of the adjustment required. These liquidity adjustments are presented and discussed at the monthly Risk Forum.

In determining theThe appropriate measurement levels the Santander UK group performs regular analyses on the assets and liabilities.are regularly reviewed. Underlying assets and liabilities are regularly reviewed to determine whether a position should be regarded as illiquid; the most important practical consideration being the observability of trading. Where the bid-offer spread is observable, this is tested against actual trades. Changes in the observability of significant valuation inputs during the reporting period may result in a transfer of assets and liabilities within the fair value hierarchy. The Santander UK group recognises transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy when there is a significant change in either its principal market or the level of observability of the inputs to the valuation techniques as at the end of the reporting period.

The Santander UK group manages certain groups of financial assets and liabilities on the basis of its net exposure to either market risks or credit risk. As a result it has elected to use the exception under IFRS 13 which permits the fair value measurement of a group of financial assets and financial liabilities on the basis of the price that would be received to sell a net long position for a particular risk exposure or paid to transfer a net short position for a particular risk exposure in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date under current market conditions.

Financial instruments valued using observable market prices

If a quoted market price in an active market is available for an instrument, the fair value is calculated as the current bid price multiplied by the number of units of the instrument held.

 

 

Annual Report 2014305


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

Financial instruments valued using a valuation technique

In the absence of a quoted market price in an active market, management uses internal models to make its best estimate of the price that the market would set for that financial instrument. In order to make these estimations, various techniques are employed, including extrapolation from observable market data and observation of similar financial instruments with similar characteristics. Wherever possible, valuation parameters for each product are based on prices directly observable in active markets or that can be derived from directly observable market prices. Chosen valuation techniques incorporate all the factors that market participants would take into account in pricing transactions.

Unrecognised gains as a result of the use of valuation models using unobservable inputs (‘Day(Day One profits’)profits)

The timing of recognition of deferred day one profit and loss is determined individually. It is deferred until either the instrument’s fair value can be determined using market observable inputs or is realised through settlement. The financial instrument is subsequently measured at fair value, adjusted for the deferred day one profit and loss. Subsequent changes in fair value are recognised immediately in the consolidated income statement without immediate reversal of deferred day one profits and losses.

c) Fair values of financial instruments carried at amortised cost

The following tables analyse the fair value of the financial instruments carried at amortised cost at 31 December 20142015 and 2013,2014, including their levels in the fair value hierarchy – level 1, level 2 and level 3. It does not include fair value information for financial assets and financial liabilities carried at amortised cost if the carrying amount is a reasonable approximation of fair value. There were no financial instruments carried at amortised cost whose fair values would be classified in level 1.

 

                              Group         Group 
 2014  2013    2015    2014 
Balance sheet category Fair value Carrying  Fair value Carrying 
  Fair value       Fair value     
      Level 2       Level 3       Total   

    Carrying

value

 

        

      Level 2       Level 3       Total   

    Carrying

value

 
          Level 1
£m
         Level 2
£m
         Level 3
£m
 

        Total

£m

 

value

£m

           Level 1
£m
         Level 2
£m
         Level 3
£m
 

        Total

£m

 

value

£m

    £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m 

Assets

                  

Loans and advances to banks

 -   1,210   798   2,008   2,057    -   1,302   1,005   2,307   2,347      3,006     431     3,437     3,548      1,210     798     2,008     2,057  

Loans and advances to customers

Advances secured on residential property -   -   151,265   151,265   149,861   -   -   150,000   150,000   147,825   Advances secured on residential property   -     156,105     156,105     152,837      -     151,265     151,265     149,861  
Corporate loans -   5,671   23,718   29,389   29,445   -   5,219   21,600   26,819   27,551   Corporate loans   6,426     24,821     31,247     31,515      5,671     23,718     29,389     29,445  
Other advances -   -   9,464   9,464   9,385    -   -   9,256   9,256   9,211   Other advances   -     13,685     13,685     13,693      -     9,464     9,464     9,385  
 -   5,671   184,447   190,118   188,691    -   5,219   180,856   186,075   184,587      6,426     194,611     201,037     198,045      5,671     184,447     190,118     188,691  

Loans and receivables securities

 -   135   -   135   118    -   1,016   16   1,032   1,101      63     -     63     52      135     -     135     118  

Liabilities

                  

Deposits by banks

Securities sold under agreements to repurchase -   4,909   -   4,909   4,797   -   5,660   -   5,660   5,465   Securities sold under agreements to repurchase   4,265     -     4,265     4,209      4,909     -     4,909     4,797  
Other deposits -   3,172   671   3,843   3,417    -   2,817   414   3,231   3,231   Other deposits   3,577     501     4,078     4,069      3,172     671     3,843     3,417  
 -   8,081   671   8,752   8,214    -   8,477   414   8,891   8,696      7,842     501     8,343     8,278      8,081     671     8,752     8,214  

Deposits by customers

Current and demand accounts -   -   66,737   66,737   66,737   -   -   54,216   54,216   54,216   Current and demand accounts   -     76,193     76,193     76,193      -     64,766     64,766     64,766  
Savings accounts -   -   57,391   57,391   57,099   -   -   55,903   55,903   55,417   Savings accounts   -     59,580     59,580     59,420      -     57,391     57,391     57,099  
Time deposits -   -   29,405   29,405   29,270   -   -   36,874   36,874   36,614   Time deposits   -     28,085     28,085     27,959      -     31,376     31,376     31,241  
Securities sold under agreements to repurchase -   577   -   577   500    -   970   -   970   920   Securities sold under agreements to repurchase   546     -     546     502      577     -     577     500  
 -   577   153,533   154,110   153,606    -   970   146,993   147,963   147,167      546     163,858     164,404     164,074      577     153,533     154,110     153,606  

Debt securities in issue

Bonds and medium term notes -   39,954   -   39,954   37,796   -   32,532   -   32,532   32,002   Bonds and medium term notes   41,425     -     41,425     39,772      39,954     -     39,954     37,796  
Securitisation programmes -   13,302   746   14,048   13,994    -   18,066   844   18,910   18,868   Securitisation programmes   8,942     997     9,939     9,843      13,302     746     14,048     13,994  
 -   53,256   746   54,002   51,790    -   50,598   844   51,442   50,870      50,367     997     51,364     49,615      53,256     746     54,002     51,790  

Subordinated liabilities

  -   4,115   -   4,115   4,002    -   4,435   -   4,435   4,306  

Subordinated liabilities

   4,022     -     4,022     3,885      4,115     -     4,115     4,002  

The fair values and carrying values of loans and advances to customers may be further analysed, between those that are impaired and those that are not impaired, as follows:

 

                Group              Group 
 Impaired Not impaired Total    Impaired   Not impaired   Total 
31 December 2014  Fair
            value
£m
 

        Carrying

value

£m

 

Fair

            value

£m

 

        Carrying
value

£m

 

Fair

            value

£m

 

        Carrying

value

£m

 
   Fair         Carrying   Fair   Carrying   Fair   Carrying 
         value   value   value   value   value   value 
2015   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m 

Loans and advances to customers

Advances secured on residential property 2,115   2,214   149,150   147,647   151,265   149,861   Advances secured on residential property   545     583     155,560     152,254     156,105     152,837  
Corporate loans 315   431   29,074   29,014   29,389   29,445   Corporate loans   237     324     31,010     31,191     31,247     31,515  
Other loans 25   34   9,439   9,351   9,464   9,385   Other loans   8     11     13,677     13,682     13,685     13,693  
  2,455   2,679   187,663   186,012   190,118   188,691      790     918         200,247             197,127             201,037             198,045  

31 December 2013

       
2014                               

Loans and advances to customers

Advances secured on residential property 2,298   2,402   147,702   145,423   150,000   147,825   Advances secured on residential property   518     526     150,747     149,335     151,265     149,861  
Corporate loans 205   293   26,614   27,258   26,819   27,551   

Corporate loans

   360     493     29,029     28,952     29,389     29,445  
Other loans 76   108   9,180   9,332   9,256   9,211   Other loans   13     18     9,451     9,367     9,464     9,385  
  2,579   2,803   183,496   182,013   186,075   184,587      891     1,037     189,227     187,654     190,118     188,691  

There are no loans and advances to banks that are impaired, and there are no significant balances of loans and receivable securities that are impaired.

 

 

306Santander UK plc

280  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

                               Company 
  2014  2013 
     Balance sheet category Fair value Carrying  Fair value Carrying 
            Level 1
£m
         Level 2
£m
         Level 3
£m
 

        Total

£m

 

value

£m

           Level 1
£m
         Level 2
£m
         Level 3
£m
 

        Total

£m

 

value

£m

 

Assets

Loans and advances to banks

 -   1,418   4,655   6,073   6,073    -   1,431   107,836   109,267   109,267  

Loans and advances to customers

Advances secured on residential property -   -   151,257   151,257   149,852   -   -   149,990   149,990   147,815  
Corporate loans -   -   14,342   14,342   14,342   -   -   12,710   12,710   13,022  
Other advances -   -   6,095   6,095   6,017    -   -   3,564   3,564   3,556  
 -   -   171,694   171,694   170,211    -   -   166,264   166,264   164,393  

Loans and receivables securities

 -   4,613   -   4,613   4,598    -   5,383   16   5,399   5,474  

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

Securities sold under agreements to repurchase -   810   -   810   783   -   1,346   -   1,346   1,301  
Other deposits -   1,336   10,849   12,185   11,770    -   834   113,083   113,917   113,917  
 -   2,146   10,849   12,995   12,553    -   2,180   113,083   115,263   115,218  

Deposits by customers

Current and demand accounts -   -   99,601   99,601   99,601   -   -   90,022   90,022   90,022  
Savings accounts -   -   56,082   56,082   55,790   -   -   54,705   54,705   54,219  
Time deposits -   -   28,032   28,032   27,897   -   -   34,397   34,397   34,656  
Securities sold under agreements to repurchase -   577   -   577   500    -   545   -   545   502  
 -   577   183,715   184,292   183,788    -   545   179,124   179,669   179,399  

Debt securities in issue

Bonds and medium term notes -   112   -   112   112   -   156   -   156   156  

Subordinated liabilities

 -   4,178   -   4,178   4,065    -   4,435   -   4,435   4,212  

 

             Company    Company 
 Impaired Not impaired Total    2015      2014 
31 December 2014  Fair
            value
£m
 

        Carrying
value

£m

 

Fair

            value

£m

 

        Carrying
value

£m

 

Fair

            value

£m

 

        Carrying
value

£m

 
  Fair value          Fair value     
  Level 2   Level 3   Total   Carrying
value
             Level 2   Level 3   Total   

Carrying

value

 
  £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m 

Assets

                    

Loans and advances to banks

     1,330     17,632     18,962     18,962        1,418     4,655     6,073     6,073  

Loans and advances to customers

Advances secured on residential property 2,115   2,214   149,142   147,638   151,257   149,852    Advances secured on residential property   -     156,097     156,097     152,829       -     151,257     151,257     149,852  
Corporate loans 245   335   14,097   14,007   14,342   14,342    

Corporate loans

   -     15,217     15,217     15,282       -     14,342     14,342     14,342  
Other loans 180   246   5,915   5,771   6,095   6,017    

Other advances

   -     13,489     13,489     13,497        -     6,095     6,095     6,017  
  2,540   2,795   169,154   167,416   171,694   170,211       -     184,803     184,803     181,608        -     171,694     171,694     170,211  

31 December 2013

       

Loans and advances to customers

Advances secured on residential property 2,296   2,400   147,694   145,415   149,990   147,815  

Loans and receivables securities

     5,004     -     5,004     4,991       4,613     -     4,613     4,598  

Liabilities

                    

Deposits by banks

  Securities sold under agreements to repurchase   1,586     -     1,586     1,564       810     -     810     783  
Corporate loans -   -   12,710   13,022   12,710   13,022    

Other deposits

   4,979     21,725     26,704     26,704        1,336     10,849     12,185     11,770  
Other loans 162   232   3,402   3,324   3,564   3,556           6,565     21,725     28,290     28,268        2,146         10,849     12,995     12,553  
  2,458   2,632   163,806   161,761   166,264   164,393  

Deposits by customers

  Current and demand accounts   -     103,737     103,737     103,737       -     99,601     99,601     99,601  
  

Savings accounts

   -     56,271     56,271     56,111       -     56,082     56,082     55,790  
  

Time deposits

   -     29,069     29,069     28,941       -         28,032     28,032     27,897  
  

Securities sold under agreements to repurchase

   546     -     546     502        577     -     577     500  
     546         189,077         189,623         189,291        577         183,715         184,292         183,788  

Debt securities in issue

  Bonds and medium term notes   -     -     -     -       112     -     112     112  

Subordinated liabilities

Subordinated liabilities

   4,088     -     4,088     3,951        4,178     -     4,178     4,065  

     Company 
     Impaired   Not impaired   Total 
     Fair           Carrying   Fair   Carrying   Fair   Carrying 
             value   value   value   value   value   value 
2015     £m   £m   £m   £m   £m   £m 

Loans and advances to customers

 Advances secured on residential property   545     583         155,552         152,246         156,097         152,829  
 Corporate loans   252     344     14,965     14,938     15,217     15,282  
  Other loans   2     3     13,487     13,494     13,489     13,497  
      799     930     184,004     180,678     184,803     181,608  
2014                                 

Loans and advances to customers

 Advances secured on residential property   518     526     150,739     149,326     151,257     149,852  

Corporate loans

    250     342     14,092     14,000     14,342     14,342  

Other loans

     4     5     6,091     6,012     6,095     6,017  
      772     873     170,922     169,338     171,694     170,211  

The carrying value above of any financial assets and liabilities that are designated as hedged items in a portfolio (or macro) fair value hedge relationship excludes gains and losses attributable to the hedged risk, as this is presented as a single separate line item on the balance sheet.

Annual Report 2014307


Financial statements

Valuation methodology

The fair value of financial instruments is the estimated price at which an orderly transaction to sell the asset or to transfer the liability would take place between market participants at the measurement date under current market conditions. If a quoted market price is available for an instrument, the fair value is calculated based on the market price. Where quoted market prices are not available, fair value is determined using pricing models which use a mathematical methodology based on accepted financial theories, depending on the product type and its components. Further information on fair value measurement can be found in Note 1 and the valuation techniques section below.section.

Fair value management

The fair value exposures set out in the tables above are managed by using a combination of hedging derivatives and offsetting on balance sheet positions. The approach to specific categories of financial instruments is described below.

Assets:

Cash and balances at central banks

This consists of demand deposits with the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve, together with cash in tills and ATMs. The carrying amount of cash and balances at central banks is deemed an appropriate approximation of the fair value. These have therefore been excluded from the table above.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

Loans and advances to banks

These comprise secured loans, short-term placements with banks including collateral and unsettled financial transactions. The secured loans have been valued on the basis of spreads on credit default swaps for the term of the loans using ‘valuationvaluation technique A’A as described in the valuation technique section below. The carrying amount of the other items is deemed a reasonable approximation of their fair value, as the transactions are very short-term in duration.

Loans and advances to customers

The approach to estimating the fair value of the principal products and portfolios of loans and advances to customers has been set out below. This is an area of considerable estimation and uncertainty as there is no observable market and values are significantly affected by customer behaviour.

i) Mortgages

The mortgage portfolio has been stratified into tranches by LTV; LTV being a significant driver of market pricing. The fair values have been estimated by comparing existing contractual interest rates over the weighted average lives with an estimation of new business interest rates based on competitor market information. Adjustments have also been made to:

>-

Reduce the weighted average lives of low LTV loans on SVR to reflect the uncertainty inherent in the value that could be achieved, given that the borrower could re-finance at any time. The historic weighted average lives have been reduced from approximately 3 years to 2 years to reflect this.

>-

Discount the value of performing loans with a LTV over 90% (with the exception of loans under the UK Government’s Help to Buy scheme) to reflect the higher risk of this part of the portfolio and the fact that this is outside our normal underwriting standards. This is in addition to the use of higher rates within the underlying calculation.

>-

For impaired loans we made two further adjustments. The first was to discount the collateral value of loans with over 80% LTV to reflect the significantly higher possibility of re-possession and the lower value that is achieved on repossession. This was done by tranche above 80% LTV. The second was to apply a discount to reflect the fact that the model does not fully take into account the higher risk nature of these loans. For loans over 80%, the discount has been the same 15% used for performing loans over 95% LTV. For impaired loans under 80% LTV, a 5% discount has been used reflecting higher rates available in the market for loans in arrears but with an acceptable LTV.

ii) Other loans

This consists of unsecured personal loans, credit cards, overdrafts and consumer credit (car loans). The weighted average lives of these portfolios are short, and the business was written relatively recently. As a result, contractual interest rates approximate new business interest rates, and therefore no mark-to-market surplus or deficit has been recorded with respect to the performing book with the exception of unsecured personal loans where a small surplus has been recognised based on a comparison of existing contractual interest rates over the weighted average lives with an estimation of new business interest rates. A discount of 30% has been applied to the impaired part of the book.

iii) Corporate lending

The corporate loan portfolio has been stratified by product. For the performing book, the fair values have been estimated by comparing existing margins with an estimation of new business rates for similar loans in terms of segment, maturity and structure. Provisions are considered appropriate for the book that is not impaired. A discount has been applied to impaired loans. Although exits have generally been achieved at carrying value, this does not reflect the discount a purchaser would require. A discount has therefore been applied based on the target return of 10-12% sought by distressed bond funds, who are the typical purchaser of the assets.

With respect to the non-core corporate and legacy portfolios, including commercial mortgages, but except for social housing which is set out below, an exercise has been undertaken to estimate their market value, based on an orderly disposal process over a period of three years. This portfolio is well provided for, and this is reflected in a relatively small mark-to-market deficit. This is evidenced by disposals duringin 2015 and 2014 being achieved at carrying value with no additional provisions being required. In addition, the same 30% discount has been applied to the impaired book as for the corporate assets above.

With respect to Social Housing, part of this portfolio is held for historic reasons at fair value. The same methodology has been applied to calculate the fair value of loans held at amortised cost. The fair value of this portion of the portfolio has been determined using ‘valuationvaluation technique A’A as described in the valuation technique section below.

308Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements

e).

Loans and receivables securities

These debt securities consist primarily of floating rate notes, asset-backed securities and collateralised loan obligations. The fair values of the floating rate notes have been determined using ‘’valuation technique A’’ as described in the valuation technique section below. The asset-backed securities and collateralised loan obligationssecurities. These are more complex products and are valued with the assistance of an independent, specialist valuation firm. These fair values are determined using industry-standard valuation techniques, including discounted cash-flow models. The inputs to these models used in these valuation techniques include quotes from market makers, prices of similar assets, adjustments for differences in credit spreads, and additional quantitative and qualitative research. Disposals of these securities since 2008 have demonstrated that actual sales prices achieved have been close to fair values estimated under this method.

Liabilities:

Deposits by banks

The fair value of deposits by banks, including repos, has been estimated using ‘valuationvaluation technique A’A as described in the valuation technique section below.e).

Deposits by customers

The majority of deposit liabilities are payable on demand and therefore can be deemed short-term in nature with the fair value equal to the carrying value. However, given the long-term and continuing nature of the relationships with the Santander UK group’s customers, the Directors believe there is significant value to the Santander UK group in this source of funds. Certain of the deposit liabilities are at a fixed rate until maturity. The deficit/surplus of fair value over carrying value of these liabilities has been estimated by reference to the market rates available at the balance sheet date for similar deposit liabilities of similar maturities. The fair value of such deposits liabilities has been estimated using ‘valuationvaluation technique A’A as described in the valuation technique section below.e).

Debt securities in issue and subordinated liabilities

Where reliable prices are available, the fair value of debt securities in issue and subordinated liabilities has been calculated using quoted market prices. Other market values have been determined using ‘valuationvaluation technique A’A as described in the valuation technique section below.e).

282  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

d) Fair values of financial instruments measured at fair value on a recurring basis

The following tables summarise the fair values of the financial assetassets and liability classesliabilities accounted for at fair value at 31 December 20142015 and 2013,2014, analysed by the valuation methodology used by the Santander UK group to determine their fair value, including their levels in the fair value hierarchy – levelLevel 1, levelLevel 2 and levelLevel 3.

     Group 
     Fair value 
Balance sheet category    2015          2014       
    Level 1     Level 2     Level 3     Total          Level 1     Level 2     Level 3     Total     Valuation 
         £m     £m     £m     £m           £m     £m     £m     £m     technique 

Assets

                                         

Trading assets

 Loans and advances to banks     -       5,433       -       5,433           -       5,936       -       5,936       A  
 Loans and advances to customers     580       5,380       -       5,960           181       2,826       -       3,007       A  
 Debt securities     5,462       -       -       5,462           7,981       -       -       7,981       -  
 Equity securities     7,106       -       -       7,106           4,776       -       -       4,776       -  
Derivative assets Exchange rate contracts     -       5,277       55       5,332           -       4,407       5       4,412       A  
 Interest rate contracts     -       14,087       18       14,105           4       16,550       20       16,574       A & C  
 Equity and credit contracts     88       1,271       115       1,474           149       1,757       127       2,033       B & D  
 Commodity contracts     -       -       -       -           -       2       -       2       A  
Financial assets designated at fair value Loans and advances to customers     -       1,832       59       1,891           -       2,198       61       2,259       A  
 Debt securities     -       299       208       507           -       402       220       622       A & B  
Available-for-sale securities Equity securities     17       12       100       129           25       -       -       25       B  
 Debt securities     8,856       27       -       8,883            8,919       -       -       8,919       C  
Total assets at fair value      22,109       33,618       555       56,282            22,035       34,078       433       56,546      
Liabilities                                         
Trading liabilities Deposits by banks     -       2,777       -       2,777           -       7,223       -       7,223       A  
 Deposits by customers     -       7,151       -       7,151           -       4,899       -       4,899       A  
 Short positions     2,794       -       -       2,794           3,211       -       -       3,211       -  
Derivative liabilities Exchange rate contracts     -       6,140       55       6,195           -       4,278       -       4,278       A  
 Interest rate contracts     1       13,677       10       13,688           16       15,976       6       15,998       A & C  
 Equity and credit contracts     2       1,583       40       1,625           1       2,408       45       2,454       B & D  
 Commodity contracts     -       -       -       -           -       2       -       2       A  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

 Debt securities in issue     -       2,011       5       2,016            -       2,835       13       2,848       A  

Total liabilities at fair value

      2,797       33,339       110       36,246            3,228       37,621       64       40,913      
     Company 
     Fair value 
Balance sheet category    2015          2014       
    Level 1     Level 2     Level 3     Total          Level 1     Level 2     Level 3     Total     Valuation 
         £m     £m     £m     £m           £m     £m     £m     £m     technique 

Assets

                                         

Derivative assets

 Exchange rate contracts     -       1,424       -       1,424           -       1,142       -       1,142       A  
 

Interest rate contracts

     -       1,833       -       1,833           -       2,225       -       2,225       A & C  
 

Equity and credit contracts

     -       45       -       45           -       45       -       45       B & D  
Financial assets designated at fair value Debt securities     -       60       -       60           -       83       -       83       C  
Available-for-sale securities Equity securities     -       12       100       112           11       -       -       11       B  
 

Debt securities

     7,689       27       -       7,716            6,394       -       -       6,394       C  
Total assets at fair value      7,689       3,401       100       11,190            6,405       3,495       -       9,900      
Liabilities                                         
Derivative liabilities Exchange rate contracts     -       1,379       -       1,379           -       809       -       809       A  
 

Interest rate contracts

     -       1,413       -       1,413           8       1,115       -       1,123       A & C  
 

Equity and credit contracts

     -       236       -       236            -       222       -       222       B  

Total liabilities at fair value

      -       3,028       -       3,028            8       2,146       -       2,154      

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

Transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy

Transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy are reported at the beginning of the reporting period in which they occur.

During the year,2015, the following financial instruments were transferred between Level 2 and Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy:

3:

>-Exchange rate contracts - Securitisation cross currency swaps shown in derivative assets and derivative liabilities with fair values of £55m and £55m, respectively, were transferred from Level 2 to Level 3 principally due to a lack of market transactions in these instruments. The valuation techniques applied to estimate the fair value of these financial instruments are described in section i) as instruments 2 and 12.
-Interest rate contracts - Securitisation swaps shown in derivative assets and derivative liabilities with fair values of £8m and £6m, respectively, were transferred from Level 2 to Level 3 principally due to a lack of market transactions in these instruments. The valuation techniques applied to estimate the fair value of these financial instruments are described in section i) as instruments 4 and 14.

During 2014, the following financial instruments were transferred between Level 2 and Level 3:

-Interest rate contracts - Bermudan swaptions shown withinin derivative assets and derivative liabilities with fair values of £29m and £10m, respectively, were transferred from Level 2 to Level 3 principally due to a lack of market transactions in these instruments. The valuation techniques applied to estimate the fair value of these financial instruments are described in section i belowi) as ‘instruments 2instruments 3 and 9’.

13.

>-

Debt securities - Certain asset-backed securities issued by Banco Santander group entities, with a fair value of £58m designated as fair value through profit and loss, were transferred from Level 3 to Level 2 principally due to improved transparency of market prices as a result ofdue to market transactions in these instruments. The valuation technique applied to estimate the fair value of these financial instruments is described in section i belowi) as ‘instrument 8’.

instrument 10.

During the year ended 31 December 2013, there were no transfers of financial instruments between Levels 22015 and 3.

During 2014, there were no transfers of financial instruments between Levels 1 and 2 (2013: Nil).

Annual Report 2014309


Financial statements

 Group 
 Fair value 
 2014  2013   
     Balance sheet category       Level 1     Level 2     Level 3           Total      Level 1     Level 2     Level 3           Total Valuation 
    £m £m £m £m   £m £m £m £m         technique 

Assets

Trading assets

Loans and advances to banks -   5,936   -   5,936   -   9,326   -   9,326   A  
Loans and advances to customers -   3,007   -   3,007   -   4,404   -   4,404   A  
Debt securities 7,981   -   -   7,981   7,859   -   -   7,859   -  
Equity securities 4,776   -   -   4,776   705   -   -   705   -  

Derivative assets

Exchange rate contracts -   4,407   5   4,412   -   3,437   14   3,451   A  
Interest rate contracts 4   16,550   20   16,574   11   14,232   -   14,243   A & C  
Equity and credit contracts 149   1,757   127   2,033   311   1,911   131   2,353   B & D  
Commodity contracts -   2   -   2   -   2   -   2   A  

Financial assets at FVTPL

Loans and advances to customers -   2,198   61   2,259   -   2,168   51   2,219   A  
Debt securities -   402   220   622   -   258   270   528   A & B  

AFS financial assets

Equity securities 25   -   -   25   24   -   -   24   -  
Debt securities 8,919   -   -   8,919    4,981   -   -   4,981   -  

Total assets at fair value

 21,854   34,259   433   56,546    13,891   35,738   466   50,095  

Liabilities

Trading liabilities

Deposits by banks -   7,223   -   7,223   -   11,291   -   11,291   A  
Deposits by customers -   4,899   -   4,899   -   7,069   -   7,069   A  
Short positions 3,211   -   -   3,211   2,918   -   -   2,918   -  

Derivative liabilities

Exchange rate contracts -   4,278   -   4,278   -   2,936   -   2,936   A  
Interest rate contracts 16   15,976   6   15,998   36   12,938   -   12,974   A & C  
Equity and credit contracts 1   2,408   45   2,454   771   2,132   48   2,951   B & D  
Commodity contracts -   2   -   2   -   2   -   2   A  

Financial liabilities at FVTPL

Debt securities in issue -   2,835   13   2,848    -   3,370   37   3,407   A  

Total liabilities at fair value

 3,228   37,621   64   40,913    3,725   39,738   85   43,548  
                            Company 
 Fair value 
  2014  2013   
     Balance sheet category Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total  Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total Valuation 
    £m £m £m £m   £m £m £m £m technique 

Assets

Derivative assets

Exchange rate contracts -   1,142   -   1,142   -   781   -   781   A  
Interest rate contracts -   2,225   -   2,225   -   1,611   -   1,611   A & C  
Equity and credit contracts -   45   -   45   -   69   -   69   B & D  

Financial assets at FVTPL

Loans and advances to customers -   -   -   -   -   1   -   1   A  
Debt securities -   83   -   83   -   -   -   -   C  

AFS financial assets

Equity securities 11   -   -   11   10   -   -   10   -  
Debt securities 6,394   -   -   6,394    2,019   -   -   2,019   -  

Total assets at fair value

 6,405   3,495   -   9,900    2,029   2,462   -   4,491  

Liabilities

Derivative liabilities

Exchange rate contracts -   809   -   809   -   632   -   632   A  
Interest rate contracts 8   1,115   -   1,123   6   930   -   936   A & C  
Equity and credit contracts -   222   -   222    -   235   -   235   B  

Total liabilities at fair value

 8   2,146   -   2,154    6   1,797   -   1,803  

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2.

e) Valuation techniques

The main valuation techniques employed in the Santander UK group’s internal models to measure the fair value of the financial instruments disclosed above at 31 December 20142015 and 20132014 are set out below. In substantially all cases, the principal inputs into these models are derived from observable market data. The Santander UK group did not make any material changes to the valuation techniques and internal models it used during the years ended 31 December 2015, 2014 2013 and 2012.2013.

 

A

In the valuation of financial instruments requiring static hedging (for example interest rate, currency derivatives and commodity swaps) and in the valuation of loans and advances and deposits, the ‘present value’ method is used. Expected future cash flows are discounted using the interest rate curves of the applicable currencies or forward commodity prices as appropriate.prices. The interest rate curves are generally observable market data and reference yield curves derived from quoted interest rates in appropriate time bandings, which match the timings of the cash flows and maturities of the instruments. The forward commodity prices are generally observable market data.

 

B

In the valuation of equity financial instruments requiring dynamic hedging (principally equity securities, options and other structured instruments), proprietary local volatility and stochastic volatility models are used. These types of models are widely accepted in the financial services industry. Observable market inputs used in these models include the bid-offer spread, foreign currency exchange rates, volatility and correlation between indices. In limited circumstances, other inputs may be used in these models that are based on data other than observable market data, such as the Halifax’s UK House Price Index (‘HPI’)(HPI) volatility, HPI forward growth, HPI spot rate, mortality, mean reversion and mean reversion.

contingent litigation risk.

 

C

In the valuation of financial instruments exposed to interest rate risk that require either static or dynamic hedging (such as interest rate futures, caps and floors, and options), the present value method (futures), Black’s model (caps/floors) and the Hull/White and Markov functional models (Bermudan options) are used. These types of models are widely accepted in the financial services industry. The significant inputs used in these models are observable market data, including appropriate interest rate curves, volatilities, correlations and exchange rates. In limited circumstances, other inputs may be used in these models that are based on data other than observable market data, such as HPI volatility, HPI forward growth, HPI spot rate and mortality.

 

D

In the valuation of linear instruments such as credit risk and fixed-income derivatives, credit risk is measured using dynamic models similar to those used in the measurement of interest rate risk. In the case of non-linear instruments, if the portfolio is exposed to credit risk such as credit derivatives, the probability of default is determined using the par spread level. The main inputs used to determine the underlying cost of credit of credit derivatives are quoted credit risk premiums and the correlation between the quoted credit derivatives of various issuers.

The fair values of the financial instruments arising from the Santander UK group’s internal models take into account, among other things, contract terms and observable market data, which include such factors as bid-offer spread, interest rates, credit risk, exchange rates, the quoted market price of raw materials and equity securities, volatility and prepayments. In all cases, when it is not possible to derive a valuation for a particular feature of an instrument, management uses judgement to determine the fair value of the particular feature. In exercising this judgement, a variety of tools are used including proxy observable data, historical data and extrapolation techniques. Extrapolation techniques take into account behavioural characteristics of equity markets that have been observed over time, and for which there is a strong case to support an expectation of a continuing trend in the future. Estimates are calibrated to observable market prices when they become available.

The estimates thus obtained could vary if other valuation methods or assumptions were used. The Santander UK group believes its valuation methods are appropriate and consistent with other market participants. Nevertheless, the use of different valuation methods or assumptions, including imprecision in estimating unobservable market inputs, to determine the fair value of certain financial instruments could result in different estimates of fair value at the reporting date and the amount of gain or loss recorded for a particular instrument. Most of the valuation models are not significantly subjective, because they can be tested and, if necessary, recalibrated by the internal calculation of and subsequent comparison to market prices of actively traded securities, where available.

 

 

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Financial statements

 

f) Fair value adjustments

The internal models incorporate assumptions that the Santander UK group believes would be made by a market participant to establish fair value. Fair value adjustments are adopted when the Santander UK group considers that there are additional factors that would be considered by a market participant in the determination of fair value of the instrument that are not incorporated in the valuation model. The magnitude of fair value adjustments depends upon many entity-specific factors, including modelling sophistication, the nature of products traded, and the size and type of risk exposures. For this reason, fair value adjustments may not be comparable across the banking industry.

The Santander UK group classifies fair value adjustments as either ‘risk-related’ or ‘model-related’. The fair value adjustments form part of the portfolio fair value and are included in the balance sheet values of the product types to which they have been applied. The majority of these adjustments relate to Global Corporate & Institutional Banking. The magnitude and types of fair value adjustment adopted by Global Corporate & Institutional Banking are listed in the following table:

 

                2014

£m

 

                2013

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Risk-related:

        

- Bid-offer and trade specific adjustments

 34   27       46       34  

- Uncertainty

 18   18       42       18  

- Credit risk adjustment

 32   45       23       32  
 84   90       111       84  

Model-related:

- Model limitation

 11   12  

Model-related

     6       11  

Day One profits

 2   -       1       2  
 97   102       118       97  

Risk-related adjustments

Risk-related adjustments are driven, in part, by the magnitude of the Santander UK group’s market or credit risk exposure, and by external market factors, such as the size of market spreads.

(i) Bid-offer and trade specific adjustments

IAS 39IFRS 13 requires that portfolios are marked at bid or offer, as appropriate. Bid prices represent the price at which a long position could be sold and offer prices represent the price at which a short position could be bought back. Valuation models will typically generate mid marketmid-market values. The bid-offer adjustment reflects the cost that would be incurred if substantially all residual net portfolio market risks were closed using available hedging instruments or by disposing of or unwinding the actual position.

The majority of the bid-offer adjustment relates to OTC derivative portfolios. For each portfolio, the major risk types are identified. These may include, inter alia, delta (the sensitivity to changes in the price of an underlying), vega (the sensitivity to changes in volatilities) and basis risk (the sensitivity to changes in the spread between two rates). For each risk type, the net portfolio risks are first classified into buckets, and then a bid-offer spread is applied to each risk bucket based upon the market bid-offer spread for the relevant hedging instrument.

The grouping of risk categories is dependent on the sensitivity factors of the trading portfolio. For example, interest rate risk will be by tenor and options will be by strikes.

The granularity of the risk bucketing is principally determined by reference to several factors, including the actual risk management practice undertaken, by the Santander UK group, the granularity of risk bucketing withinin the risk reporting process, and the extent of correlation between risk buckets. Within a risk type, the bid-offer adjustment for each risk bucket may be aggregated without offset or limited netting may be applied to reflect correlation between buckets. There is no netting applied between risk types or between portfolios that are not managed together for risk management purposes. There is no netting across legal entities.

As bid-offer spreads vary by maturity and risk type to reflect different spreads in the market, for positions where there is no observable quote, a trade specific adjustment is further made. This is to reflect widened spreads in comparison to proxies due to reduced liquidity or observability. Trade specific adjustments can also be made to incorporate liquidity triggers whereby wider spreads are applied to risks above pre-defined thresholds or on exotic products to ensure overall reserves match market close-out costs. These market close-out costs inherently incorporate risk decay and cross-effects which are unlikely to be adequately reflected in the static hedge based on vanilla instruments.

(ii) Uncertainty

Certain model inputs may be less readily determinable from market data, and/or the choice of model itself may be more subjective, with less market evidence available from which to determine general market practice.subjective. In these circumstances, there exists a range of possible values that the financial instrument or market parameter may assume and an adjustment may be necessary to reflect the likelihood that in estimating the fair value of the financial instrument, market participants would adopt rather more conservative values for uncertain parameters and/or model assumptions than those used in the valuation model. Uncertainty adjustments are derived by considering the potential range of derivative portfolio valuation given the available market data. The objective of an uncertainty adjustment is to arrive at a fair value that is not overly prudent but rather reflects a level of prudence believed to be consistent with market pricing practice.

Uncertainty adjustments are applied to various types of exotic OTC derivative. For example, the mean reversion speed of interest rates may be an important component of an exotic derivative value and an uncertainty adjustment may be taken to reflect the range of possible values that market participants may assume for this parameter.

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(iii) Credit risk adjustment

Credit risk adjustments comprise credit valuation adjustments and with effect from 1 January 2013, debit valuation adjustments:

Creditadjustments. The credit valuation adjustment

The Santander UK group adopts a credit risk (CVA) is an adjustment (also frequently known as a ‘creditto the valuation adjustment’) againstof OTC derivative transactionscontracts to reflect within the fair value the possibility that the counterparty may default, and the Santander UK group may not receive the full market value of the transactions. The debit valuation adjustment (DVA) is an adjustment to the valuation of the OTC derivative contracts to reflect within the fair value the possibility that the Santander UK group may default, and that the Santander UK group may not pay full market value of the transactions.

The Santander UK group calculates a separate credit risk adjustmentCVA and DVA for each Santander UK legal entity, and within each entity for each counterparty to which the entity has exposure. The Santander UK group attempts to mitigate credit risk to third parties by entering into netting and collateral arrangements. The net counterparty exposure (i.e. counterparty positions netted by offsetting transactions and both cash and securities collateral) is then assessed for counterparty creditworthiness. The Santander UK group has only a limited exposure to monolines, consisting of exposure to securitisations which are wrapped by monoline insurers. The principal risk exposures are recorded against the securitisations, with the monoline wraps being viewed as secondary sources of repayment, as described in Note 21. The description below relates to the credit risk adjustment taken against counterparties other than monolines.

The Santander UK group calculates the credit risk adjustmentCVA by applying the probability of default of the counterparty to the expected positive exposure to the counterparty, and multiplying the result by the loss expected in the event of default (i.e.i.e. LGD. Conversely, the loss given default (‘LGD’)). The timingSantander UK group calculates the DVA by applying the PD of the Santander UK group, conditional on the non-default of the counterparty, to the expected losses is reflectedpositive exposure of the counterparty to the Santander UK group and multiplying the result by using a discount factor. The calculation isthe LGD. Both calculations are performed over the life of the potential exposure i.e.exposure.

For most products the credit risk adjustment is measured asSantander UK group uses a lifetime expected loss.

The expected positive exposure is calculated at a trade level. The main drivers ofsimulation methodology to calculate the expected positive exposure areto a counterparty. This incorporates a range of potential exposures across the sizeportfolio of the risk positiontransactions with the counterparty alongover the life of the portfolio. The simulation methodology includes credit mitigants such as counterparty netting agreements and collateral agreements with the prevailing market environment. Probabilities of default are calculated using credit default swap prices where available. Where these are not available, probabilities of default are based upon analysis of historic default rates. The credit rating used for a particular counterparty is that determined by the Santander UK group’s internal credit process. The LGD is calculated at the facility level and takes into account the counterparty characteristics. Credit ratings and LGD are updated by the credit team as new relevant information becomes available and at periodic reviews performed at least annually.

Debit valuation adjustment

The Santander UK group also considers its own creditworthiness when determining the fair value of an instrument, including OTC derivative instruments and financial liabilities held at fair value through profit or loss if the Santander UK group believes market participants would take that into account when transacting the respective instrument. In accordance with the requirements of IFRS 13, with effect from 1 January 2013, the approach to measuring the impact of the Santander UK group’s credit risk on an instrument is the same as for third party credit risk. The impact of the Santander UK group’s credit risk is considered when calculating the fair value of an instrument, even when credit risk is not readily observable such as in OTC derivatives. Consequently, the Santander UK group’s adjustment against derivative liabilities, often referred to as a ‘debit valuation adjustment’ was £44m at 31 December 2014 (2013: £38m).counterparty.

For certain types of exotic derivatives where the products are not currently supported by the standard methodology, the Santander UK group adopts an alternative methodology. Alternative methodologies used by the Santander UK group fall into two categories. One method mapsmethodologies. These may involve mapping transactions against the results for similar products which are accommodated byvalued using the standard methodology. Where suchIn other cases, a mapping approach is not appropriate, a bespoke methodology is used, generally following the same principles assimplified version of the standard methodology reflecting the key characteristics of the instruments but in a manner that is computationally less intensive.applied. The calculation is applied at a trade level, with more limited recognition of credit mitigants such as netting or collateral agreements than used in the standard methodology described previously.methodology.

The methodologies do not, in general, account for ‘wrong-way risk’.wrong-way risk. Wrong-way risk arises where the underlying value of the derivative prior to any credit risk adjustment is relatedpositively correlated to the probability of default of the counterparty. A more detailed description ofWhen there is significant wrong-way risk, a trade-specific approach is set out below.

The Santander UK group includes all third-party counterparties inapplied to reflect the creditwrong-way risk adjustment calculation andwithin the Santander UK group does not net credit risk adjustments across Santander UK group entities.

Wrong-way risk

Wrong-way risk arises when there is a strong correlation between the counterparty’s probability of default and the mark-to-market value of the underlying transaction. Wrong-way risk can be seen in the following examples:

>

When the counterparty is resident and/or incorporated in an emerging market and seeks to sell a non-domestic currency in exchange for its home currency;

>

When the trade involves the purchase of an equity put option from a counterparty whose shares are the subject of the option;

>

The purchase of credit protection from a counterparty who is closely associated with the reference entity of the credit default swap or total return swap; and

>

The purchase of credit protection on an asset type which is highly concentrated in the exposure of the counterparty selling the credit protection.

valuation. Exposure to ‘wrong-way risk’wrong-way risk is limited via internal governance processes and deal pricing. The Santander UK group considers that an appropriate adjustment to reflect wrong-way risk is currently £nil (2013:(2014: £nil).

 

 

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Financial statements

 

 

 

Model-related adjustments

These adjustments are primarily related to internal factors, such as the ability of the Santander UK group’s models to incorporate all material market characteristics. A description of each adjustment type is given below:

(i) Model limitation

Models used for portfolio valuation purposes particularly for exotic derivative products, may be based upon a simplifying set of assumptions that do not capture all material market characteristics or may be less reliable under certain market conditions.characteristics. Additionally, markets evolve, and models that were adequate in the past may require development to capture all material market characteristics in current market conditions. In these circumstances, model limitation adjustments are adopted outside the core valuation model. The adjustment methodologies vary according to the nature of the model.adopted. The Quantitative Risk Group (‘QRG’)(QRG), an independent quantitative support function reporting into the Risk Department, highlights the requirement for model limitation adjustments and develops the methodologies employed. Over time, asAs model development progresses, model limitations are addressed within the core revaluation models and a model limitation adjustment is no longer needed.

Day One profits adjustments

Day One profit adjustments are adopted where the fair value estimated by a valuation model is based on one or more significant unobservable inputs, in accordance with IAS 39. Day One profits adjustments are amounts that have yet to be recognised in the income statement, which represent the difference between a transaction price (i.e. the fair value at initial recognition) and the amount that would have arisen had valuation models using unobservable inputs been used on initial recognition), less amounts subsequently recognised.inputs. Day One profits adjustments are calculated and reported on a portfolio basis. The Day One profitsprofit adjustments remain at 31 December 2014 were £2m (2013 and 2012: less than £1m).a low level.

g) Control framework

Fair values are subject to a control framework designed to ensure that they are either determined or validated by a function independent of the risk-taker. To this end, ultimate responsibility for the determination of fair values lies jointly with the Risk Department and the Finance Department. For all financial instruments where fair values are determined by reference to externally quoted prices or observable pricing inputs to models, independent price determination or validation is utilised. In inactive markets, direct observation of a traded price may not be possible. In these circumstances, the Santander UK group will source alternative market information to validate the financial instrument’s fair value, with greater weight given to information that is considered to be more relevant and reliable.

The factors that are considered in this regard include:

 

>-

The extent to which prices may be expected to represent genuine traded or tradeable prices;

prices
>-

The degree of similarity between financial instruments;

instruments
>-

The degree of consistency between different sources;

sources
>-

The process followed by the pricing provider to derive the data;

data
>-

The elapsed time between the date to which the market data relates and the balance sheet date; and

date
>-

The manner in which the data was sourced.

The source of pricing data is considered as part of the process that determines the classification of the level of a financial instrument. Consideration is given to the quality of the information available that provides the current mark-to-model valuation and estimates of how different these valuations could be on an actual trade, taking into consideration how active the market is. For spot assets that cannot be sold due to illiquidity, forward estimates are discounted to provide an estimate of a realisable value over time. All adjustments for illiquid positions are regularly reviewed to reflect changing market conditions.

Internal valuation model review

Models provide a logical framework for the capture and processing of necessary valuation inputs. For fair values determined using a valuation model, the control framework may include, as applicable, independent development or validation of:

>

The logic within valuation models;

>

The inputs to those models;

>

Any adjustments required outside the valuation models; and

>

Where (i) the logic within valuation models; (ii) the inputs to those models; (iii) any adjustments required outside the valuation models; and (iv) where possible, model outputs.

All internal valuation models are validated independently by QRG. A validation report is produced for each model-derived valuation that assesses the mathematical assumptions behind the model and the implementation of the model and its integration within the trading system. Where there is observable market data, the models calibrate to market. Where pricing data is unobservable then the input parameters are regularly reviewed by QRG.

The results of the independent valuation process are presented to the Models Committee UK for formal approval. Various Risk functions are represented including QRG and Trading Market Risk in addition to senior management. The members of the Models Committee UK consider the appropriateness of the model and whether model risk fair value adjustments are required. Any changes to the fair value adjustments methodology must also be approved by the Models Committee UK.

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h) Internal models based on observable market data (Level 2)

1. Trading assets and liabilities

Loans and advances to banks and loans and advances to customers - securities purchased under resale agreements

These instruments consist of repos and reverse repos with both professional non-bank customers and bank counterparties as part of the Santander UK group’s trading activities. The fair value of reverse repos is estimated by using the ‘present value’ method. Future cash flows are evaluated taking into consideration any derivative features of the reverse repos and are then discounted using the appropriate market rates for the applicable maturity and currency. Under these agreements, the Santander UK group receives collateral with a market value equal to, or in excess of, the principal amount loaned. The level of collateral held is monitored daily and if required, further calls are made to ensure the market values of collateral remains at least equal to the loan balance. As a result, there would be no adjustment, or an immaterial adjustment, to reflect the credit quality of the counterparty related to these agreements. As the inputs used in the valuation are based on observable market data, these reverse repos are classified withinas level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.2.

Loans and advances to banks and loans and advances to customers - other

These instruments consist of term deposits placed which are short-term in nature and are both utilised and managed as part of the funding requirements of the trading book. The fair value of loans and advances to banks and loans and advances to customers is estimated using the ‘present value’ method. Expected future cash flows are discounted using the interest rate curves of the applicable currencies. The interest rate curves are generally observable market data and reference yield curves derived from quoted interest rates in appropriate time bandings, which match the timings of the cashflows and maturities of the instruments. As the inputs used in the valuation are based on observable market data, these loans are classified withinas level 22.

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Deposits by banks and deposits by customers - securities sold under repurchase agreements

These consist of repos with both professional non-bank customers and bank counterparties as part of trading activities. The fair value of repos is estimated using the same technique as those reverse repos in trading assets discussed above. Under these agreements, the Santander UK group is required to provide and maintain collateral with a market value equal to, or in excess of, the valuation hierarchy.principal amount borrowed. As a result, there would be no adjustment, or an immaterial adjustment, to reflect the credit quality of the Santander UK group related to these agreements. As the inputs are based on observable market data, these repos are classified as level 2.

Deposits by banks and deposits by customers - other

These consist of certain term and time deposits which tend to be short-term in nature and are both utilised and managed as part of the funding requirements of the trading book. These instruments are valued using the same techniques as those instruments in trading assets - loans and advances to banks and loans and advances to customers discussed above. As the inputs are based on observable market data, these deposits are classified as level 2.

2. Derivative assets and liabilities

These instruments consist of exchange rate, contracts, interest rate, contracts, equity and credit contracts and equity derivatives.commodity contracts. The models used in estimating the fair value of these derivatives do not contain a high level of subjectivity as the methodologies used in the models do not require significant judgement, and the inputs used in the models are observable market data such as plain vanilla interest rate swaps and option contracts. As the inputs used in the valuation are based on observable market data, these derivatives are classified withinas level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.2.

Certain derivatives which represent cross currency swaps, reversionary property interests, credit default swaps and options and forwards contain significant unobservable inputs or are traded less actively or traded in less-developed markets, and so are classified withinas level 3 of the valuation hierarchy.3. The valuation of such instruments is further discussed in the ‘internal models based on information other than market data’ section below.i).

3. Financial assets and liabilities at fair value through profit or loss (‘FVTPL’)(FVTPL)

Loans and advances to customers

These instruments consist of loans secured on residential property to housing associations. The fair value of these social housing loans is estimated using the ‘present value’ model based on a credit curve derived from current market spreads observable in the social housing loan data. Observable market data include current market spreads for new accepted mandates and bids for comparable loans and are used to support or challenge the benchmark level. This provides a range of reasonably possible estimates of fair value. As the inputs used in the valuation are based on market observable data, these loans are classified withinas level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.2.

Certain loans and advances to customers which represent a portfolio of roll-up mortgages contain significant unobservable inputs and so are classified withinas level 3 of the valuation hierarchy.3. The valuation of such instruments is further discussed below.

Debt securities

These instruments consist of holdings of asset-backed securities. A significant portion of these securities are priced using the ‘present value’ models, based on observable market data e.g. LIBOR, credit spreads. Where there are quoted prices, for these instruments, the model value is checked against the quoted prices for reference purposes, but is not used as the fair value as the market for these instruments areis lacking in liquidity and depth. As the inputs used in the valuation are based on observable market data, these debt securities are classified withinas level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.2.

Certain debt securities which represent reversionary property securities and securities issued by Banco Santander entities contain significant unobservable inputs, and so are classified withinas level 33. The valuation of such instruments is further discussed below.

Debt securities in issue

These include commercial paper, medium term notes and other bonds and are valued using the valuation hierarchy.same techniques as those instruments in financial assets at FVTPL - debt securities discussed above. As the inputs used are based on observable market data, these debt securities are classified as level 2.

Certain debt securities in issue which represent the more exotic senior debt issuances, consisting of power reverse dual currency (PRDC) notes contain significant unobservable inputs and so are classified as level 3. The valuation of such instruments is further discussed below.

4. Available-for-sale financial assets

Equity securities

These instruments consist of unquoted equity investments in companies providing infrastructure services to the financial services industry and a small portfolio held within the Santander UK Foundation (which is consolidated by the Santander UK group). In the valuation of equity financial instruments requiring dynamic hedging, proprietary local volatility and stochastic volatility models are used. These types of models are widely accepted in the financial services industry.

Observable market inputs used in these models include the bid-offer spread, foreign currency exchange rates, volatility and correlation between indices. As the inputs used in the valuation are based on observable market data, these equity securities are classified withinas level 22.

Debt securities

These consist of thecertain asset backed securities where quoted market prices are not available, for which valuation hierarchy.

techniques are used to determine fair value and where these techniques use inputs that are based significantly on observable market data.

 

 

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5. Trading liabilities

Deposits by banks and deposits by customers - securities sold under repurchase agreements

These instruments consist of repos with both professional non-bank customers and bank counterparties as part of the Santander UK group’s trading activities. The fair value of repos is estimated using the same technique as those reverse repos in trading assets discussed above. Under these agreements, the Santander UK group is required to provide and maintain collateral with a market value equal to, or in excess of, the principal amount borrowed. As a result, there would be no adjustment, or an immaterial adjustment, to reflect the credit quality of the Santander UK group related to these agreements. As the inputs used in the valuation are based on observable market data, these repos are classified within level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.

Deposits by banks and deposits by customers - other

These instruments consist of certain term and time deposits which tend to be short-term in nature and are both utilised and managed as part of the funding requirements of the trading book. These instruments are valued using the same techniques as those instruments in trading assets - loans and advances to banks and loans and advances to customers discussed above. As the inputs used in the valuation are based on observable market data, these deposits are classified within level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.

6. Financial liabilities at FVTPL

Debt securities in issue

These instruments include commercial paper, medium term notes and other bonds and are valued using the same techniques as those instruments in financial assets at FVTPL - debt securities discussed above. As the inputs used in the valuation are based on observable market data, these debt securities are classified within level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.

Certain debt securities in issue which represent the more exotic senior debt issuances, consisting of power reverse dual currency (‘PRDC’) notes contain significant unobservable inputs and so are classified within level 3 of the valuation hierarchy. The valuation of such instruments is further discussed below.

i) Internal models based on information other than market data (Level 3)

The table below provides an analysis of financial instruments valued using internal models based on information other than market data together with the subsequent valuation technique used for each type of instrument. Each instrument is initially valued at transaction price:

 

     

Balance sheet

value

     Fair value movements recognised
in profit/(loss)
 
  Balance sheet
value
 Amount recognised in
income/(expense)
      2015     2014     2015     2014     2013 
Balance sheet line itemCategoryFinancial instrument product type

    2014

£m

 

    2013

£m

 

    2014

£m

 

    2013

£m

 

    2012

£m

  Category Financial instrument product type    £m     £m     £m     £m     £m 

1. Derivative assets

Exchange rate contractsCross-currency swaps 5   14   (1)   (7)   (5)   Exchange rate contracts Cross-currency swaps     -       5       3       (1)       (7)  

2. Derivative assets

Interest rate contractsBermudan swaptions 20   -   (5)   -   -   Exchange rate contracts Securitisation cross currency swaps     55       -       -       -       -  

3. Derivative assets

Equity and credit contractsReversionary property interests 84   71   18   (5)   2   Interest rate contracts Bermudan swaptions     10       20       (9)       (5)       -  

4. Derivative assets

Credit contractsCredit default swaps 5   13   (7)   (4)   1   Interest rate contracts Securitisation swaps     8       -       -       -       -  

5. Derivative assets

Equity contractsOptions and forwards 38   47   (11)   -   -   Equity and credit contracts Reversionary property interests     81       84       2       18       (5)  

6. FVTPL

Loans and advances to customersRoll-up mortgage portfolio 61   51   15   (6)   3  

7. FVTPL

Debt securitiesReversionary property securities 220   212   36   3   10  

6. Derivative assets

 Credit contracts Credit default swaps     4       5       (2)       (7)       (4)  

7. Derivative assets

 Equity contracts Options and forwards     30       38       (4)       (11)       -  

8. FVTPL

Debt securitiesAsset-backed securities -   58   -   13   4   Loans and advances to customers Roll-up mortgage portfolio     59       61       2       15       (6)  

9. Derivative liabilities

Interest rate contractsBermudan swaptions (6)   -   4   -   -  

10. Derivative liabilities

Equity contractsOptions and forwards (45)   (48)   (11)   8   3  

11. FVTPL

Debt securities in issueNon-vanilla debt securities (13)   (37)   1   7   7  

9. FVTPL

 Debt securities Reversionary property securities     208       220       17       36       3  

10. FVTPL

 Debt securities Asset-backed securities     -       -       -       -       13  

11. AFS

 Equity securities Unlisted equity shares     100       -       -(1)       -       -  

12. Derivative liabilities

 Exchange rate contracts Securitisation cross currency swaps     (55)       -       -       -       -  

13. Derivative liabilities

 Interest rate contracts Bermudan swaptions     (4)       (6)       -       4       -  

14. Derivative liabilities

 Interest rate contracts Securitisation swaps     (6)       -       -       -       -  

15. Derivative liabilities

 Equity contracts Options and forwards     (40)       (45)       (3)       (11)       8  

16. FVTPL

 Debt securities in issue Non-vanilla debt securities     (5)       (13)       (4)       1       7  

Total net assets

 369   381  

Total net assets

     445       369              

Total income

     39   9   25  

Total income

  

          2       39       9  
(1)Gains and losses arising from changes in the fair value of securities classified as available-for–sale are recognised in other comprehensive income.

Valuation techniques

1. Derivative assets - Exchange rate contracts

These cross currency swaps are used to hedge the foreign currency risks arising from the PRDC notes issued, by the Santander UK group, as described in Instrument 11 below.16. These derivatives are valued using a standard valuation model valuing each leg of the swap, with expected future cash flows less notional amount exchanged at maturity date discounted using an appropriate floating rate. The floating rate is adjusted by the relevant cross currency basis spread. Interest rates, foreign exchange rates, cross currency basis spread and long-dated foreign exchange (‘FX’)(FX) volatility are used as inputs to determine fair value. Interest rates, foreign exchange rates are observable on the market.market observable.

Cross currency spreads may be market observable or unobservable depending on the liquidity of the cross currency pair. As the Japanese Yen-US dollar cross currency pair related to the PRDC notes is liquid, the cross currency spreads (including long-dated cross currency spread) for these swaps are market observable. The significant unobservable inputs for the valuation of these financial instruments are the long-dated FX volatility and the correlation between the underlying assets.

The correlation between the underlying assets is assumed to be zero, as there are no actively traded options from which correlations between the underlying assets could be implied. Furthermore, the zero correlation assumption implies that the sources of the long-dated FX volatility are independent.

Long-dated FX volatility -

Long-dated FX volatility is extrapolated from shorter-dated FX volatilities which are directly observable on the market.market observable. Short-dated FX volatility is observable from the trading of FX options. As there is no active market for FX options with maturities greater than five years (long-dated FX options), long-dated FX volatility is not market observable. Furthermore, as historical prices are not relevant in determining the cost of hedging long-dated FX risk, long-dated FX volatility cannot be inferred from historical volatility. The Santander UK group extrapolates the long-dated FX volatility is extrapolated from the shorter-dated FX volatilities using Black’s model.

316Santander UK plc


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FX volatility is modelled as the composition of the domestic interest rate, foreign interest rates and FX spot volatilities using standard Hull-White formulae. The Hull-White approach is used for estimating the future distribution of domestic and foreign zero-coupon rates, constructed from the relevant yield curves. Using short-dated FX options, the FX spot volatility is calculated which is then extrapolated to derive the long-dated FX volatility.

2. Derivative assets - Exchange rate contracts

These are securitisation based swaps for which the notional amount is adjusted to match the changes in the outstanding reference mortgage portfolio with time. These swap are valued using a standard valuation model for which the main inputs used are market observable information in the vanilla swap market and a prepayment parameter. The significant unobservable input for the valuation of these financial instruments is prepayment.

Prepayment- This captures the prepayment, default and arrears of the reference portfolio and is modelled using an analysis of the underlying portfolio plus observed historical market data.

3. Derivative assets - Interest rate contracts

These derivatives assets are options giving the holder the right to enter into an interest rate swap on any one of a number of predetermined dates. These Bermudan swaptions are valued using a standard valuation model.

In determiningvaluing the value of Bermudan swaptions, the main inputs used are market observable information in the vanilla swaption market and a mean reversion parameter. The significant unobservable input for the valuation of these financial instruments is mean reversion.

Mean reversion -

The mean reversion input used in valuing Bermudan swaptions reflects the level of de-correlation in the swaption market. This parameter is not directly observable in the market but can be deduced from broker quotes or using expert judgement. An adjustment is made to reflect this uncertainty by stressing the parameter.

3.

288  Santander UK plc


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4. Derivative assets - Interest rate contracts

These derivatives are the same as Instrument 2

5. Derivative assets - Equity and credit contracts

These reversionary property derivatives are valued using a probability weighted set of HPI forward prices, which are assumed to be a reasonable representation of the increase in value of the Santander UK group’s reversionary interest portfolio underlying the derivatives. The probability used reflects the likelihood of the home owner vacating the property and is calculated from mortality rates and acceleration rates which are a function of age and gender, obtained from the relevant mortality tables. Indexing is felt to be appropriate due to the size and geographical dispersion of the Santander UK group’s reversionary interest portfolio. These are determined using HPI Spot Rates adjusted to reflect estimated forward growth. Launched in 1984, theThe Halifax’s UK HPI is the UK’s longest running monthly house price data series covering the whole country. The indices calculated are standardised and represent the price of a typically transacted house. Both national and regional HPI are published. The national HPI is published monthly. The regional HPI reflects the national HPI disaggregated into 12 UK regions and is published quarterly. Both indices are published on two bases, including and excluding seasonal adjustments in the housing market. The Santander UK group uses the non-seasonallyNon-seasonally adjusted (‘NSA’)(NSA) national and regional HPI are used in itsthe valuation model to avoid any subjective judgement in the adjustment process which is made by Halifax.

The inputs used to determine the value of the reversionary property derivatives are HPI spot, HPI forward growth and mortality rates. The principal pricing parameter is HPI forward growth.

HPI Spot Rate -

The HPI spot rate used in the model is a weighted average of NSA regional HPI spot rates i.e. adjusted for difference in the actual regional composition of the property underlying the Santander UK group’s reversionary interest portfolio and the composition of the published regional indices. The regional HPI spot rate (which is observable market data) is only published on specific quarterly dates. In between these dates, its value is estimated by applying the growth rate over the relevant time period inferred from the national HPI spot rates (which are observable market data and published monthly) to the most recently calculated weighted average regional HPI spot rate based on published regional indices.

An adjustment is also made to reflect the specific property risk i.e. possible deviation between the actual growth in the house prices underlying the Santander UK group’s reversionary interest portfolio and their assumed index-linked growth, which is based on the regional HPI. This adjustment is based on the average historical deviation of price changes of the Santander UK group’s actual property portfolio from that of the published indices over the time period since the last valuation date.

HPI Forward Growth Rate -

Long-dated HPI forward growth rate is not directly observable in the market but is estimated from broker quotes and traded forward contracts. A specific spread is applied to the long-dated forward growth rate to reflect the uncertainty surrounding long-dated data. This spread is calculated by analysing the historical volatility of the HPI, whilst incorporating mean reversion. An adjustment is made to reflect the specific property risk as for the HPI spot rate above.

Mortality Rate -

Mortality rates are obtained from tables published by the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. These mortality rates are adjusted by acceleration rates to reflect the mortality profile of the holders of Santander UK group’s reversionary property products underlying the derivatives. Mortality rates do not have a significant effect on the value of the instruments.

4.6. Derivative assets - Credit contracts

These derivative assets are credit default swaps held against certain bonds. The credit default swaps are valued using the credit spreads of the referenced bonds. These referenced bonds are valued with the assistance of valuations prepared by an independent, specialist valuation firm as a deep and liquid market does not exist.

In valuing the credit default swaps, the main inputs used to determine the underlying cost of credit are quoted risk premiums and the correlation between the quoted credit derivatives of various issuers. The assumptions relating to the correlation between the values of quoted and unquoted assets are based on historical correlations between the impact of adverse changes in market variables and the corresponding valuation of the associated unquoted assets. The measurement of the assets will vary depending on whether a more or less conservative scenario is selected. The other main input is the probability of default of the referenced bonds. The significant unobservable input for the valuation of these financial instruments is the probability of default.

Probability of default -

The probability of default is assessed by considering the credit quality of the underlying referenced bonds. However, as no deep and liquid market exists for these assets the assessment of the probability of default is not directly observable and instead an estimate is calculated using the Standard Gaussian Copula model.

Annual Report 2014317


Financial statements

5.7. Derivative assets - Equity contracts

There are three types of derivatives within this category:

European options – These derivatives are valued using a modified Black-Scholes model where the HPI is log-normally distributed with the forward rates determined from the HPI forward growth.

Asian options – Asian (or average value) options are valued using a modified Black-Scholes model, with an amended strike price and volatility assumption to account for the average exercise period, through a closed form adjustment that reflects the strike price relative to the distribution of stock prices at each relevant date. This is also known as the Curran model.

Forward contracts – Forward contracts are valued using a standard forward pricing model.

The inputs used to determine the value of the above instruments are HPI spot rate, HPI forward growth rate and HPI volatility. The principal pricing parameter is HPI forward growth rate.

HPI Spot Rate -

The HPI spot rate used is the NSA national HPI spot rate which is published monthly and directly observable in the market. This HPI rate used is different from the weighted average regional HPI spot rate used in the valuation of Instrument 35 above, as the underlying of these derivatives is the UK national HPI spot rate.

HPI Forward Growth Rate -

The HPI forward growth rate used is unobservable and is the same as used in the valuation of Instrument 35 above.

HPI Volatility -

Long-dated HPI volatility is not directly observable in the market but is estimated from the most recent traded values. An adjustment is applied to the long-dated HPI volatility rate to reflect the uncertainty surrounding long-dated data. This adjustment is based on the empirical standard deviation of historical volatility over a range of time horizons. HPI volatility rates do not have a significant effect on the value of the instruments.

6.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

8. FVTPL – Loans and advances to customers

These loans and advances to customers represent roll-up mortgages (sometimes referred to as ‘lifetime’lifetime mortgages), which are an equity release scheme under which a property owner takes out a loan secured against their home. The owner does not make any interest payments during their lifetime and the fixed interest payments are rolled up into the mortgage. The loan or mortgage (capital and rolled-up interest) is repaid upon the owner’s vacation of the property and the value of the loan is only repaid from the value of the property. This is known as a ‘no negative pledge’. The Santander UK group suffers a loss if the sale proceeds from the property are insufficient to repay the loan, as it is unable to pursue the homeowner’s estate or beneficiaries for the shortfall.

The value of the mortgage ‘rolls up’ or accretes until the owner vacates the property. In order to value the roll-up mortgages, the Santander UK group uses a probability-weighted set of European option prices (puts) determined using the Black-Scholes model, in which the ‘no negative pledges’ are valued as short put options. The probability weighting applied is calculated from mortality rates and acceleration rates as a function of age and gender, taken from mortality tables.

The inputs used to determine the value of these instruments are HPI spot, HPI forward growth, HPI volatility, mortality rates and repayment rates. The principal pricing parameter is HPI forward growth. The HPI forward growth rate used is unobservable and is the same as used in the valuation of Instrument 3 above.5. The other parameters do not have a significant effect on the value of the instruments.

7.9. FVTPL – Debt securities

These debt securities consistingconsist of reversionary property securities are an equity release scheme, where the property owner receives an upfront lump sum in return for paying a fixed percentage of the sales proceeds of the property when the owner vacates the property. These reversionary property securities are valued using a probability-weighted set of HPI forward prices which are assumed to be a reasonable representation of the increase in value of the Santander UK group’s reversionary interest portfolio underlying the derivatives. The probability weighting used reflects the probability of the home owner vacating the property through death and is calculated from death rates and acceleration factors which are a function of age and gender, obtained from the relevant mortality table.

The inputs used to determine the value of these instruments are HPI spot, HPI forward growth and mortality rates. The principal pricing parameter is HPI forward growth. Discussion of the HPI spot rate, HPI forward growth rate and mortality rates for this financial instrument is the same as Instrument 4 above.5. An adjustment is also made to reflect the specific property risk. Discussion of the specific property risk adjustment is the same as Instrument 3 above.5.

8.10. FVTPL – Debt securities

These securities consist of asset-backed securities issued by Banco Santander group entities. Each instrument is valued with reference to the price from a consensus pricing service. This is then corroborated against the price from another consensus pricing service due to the lack of depth in the number of available market quotes. An average price is used where there is a more than insignificant difference between the two sources. The significant unobservable input is the adjustment to the credit spread embedded in the pricing consensus quotes.

9.11. Available-for-sale financial assets – Equity securities

These consist of unquoted equity investments in companies providing infrastructure services to the financial services industry. In the valuation of equity financial instruments requiring dynamic hedging, proprietary local volatility and stochastic volatility models are used. These types of models are widely accepted in the financial services industry.

Observable market inputs used in these models include equity prices, bid-offer spread, foreign currency exchange rates. The significant unobservable input is contingent litigation costs and related expenses.

Litigation costs and related expenses are estimated by reference to best estimates received from third party legal counsel.

12. Derivative liabilities - Exchange rate contracts

These derivatives are the same as Instrument 2 with the exception that they have a negative fair value.

13. Derivative liabilities - Interest rate contracts

These derivatives are the same as Instrument 3 with the exception that they have a negative fair value.

14. Derivative liabilities - Interest rate contracts

These derivatives are the same as Instrument 2 with the exception that they have a negative fair value.

10.15. Derivative liabilities - Equity contracts

These derivatives are the same as Instrument 57 with the exception that they have a negative fair value.

318Santander UK plc


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11.16. FVTPL - Debt securities in issue

These debt securities in issue are PRDC notes. These notes are financial structured products where an investor is seeking a better return and a borrower/issuer a lower rate by taking advantage of the interest rate differential between two countries. The note pays a foreign interest rate in the investor’s domestic currency. The power component of the name denotes higher initial coupons and the fact that coupons rise as the domestic/foreign exchange rate depreciates. The power feature comes with a higher risk for the investor. Cash flows may have a digital cap feature where the rate gets locked once it reaches a certain threshold. Other add-on features are barriers such as knockouts and cancellation provisions for the issuer.

These debt securities in issue are valued using a three-factor Gaussian Model. The three factors used in the valuation are domestic interest rates, foreign interest rates and foreign exchange rates. The correlations between the factors are assumed to be zero within the valuation.

The Hull-White approach is used for estimating the future distribution of domestic and foreign zero-coupon rates, constructed from the relevant yield curves. A Geometric Brownian Motion model is used for estimating the future distribution of spot foreign exchange rates. The foreign exchange and interest rate volatilities are the most crucial pricing parameters; the model calibrates to the relevant swaption volatility surface.

The significant unobservable inputs for the valuation of these financial instruments are the long dated FX volatility and the correlation between the underlying assets and are the same as Instrument 1.

290  Santander UK plc


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Reconciliation of fair value measurements in Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy

The following table provides a reconciliation of the movement between opening and closing balances of Level 3 financial instruments, measured at fair value using a valuation technique with significant unobservable inputs:

 

Assets  Liabilities            Assets          Liabilities 
Derivatives 

Fair value

through P&L

 Total  Derivatives 

Fair value

through P&L

 Total     Derivatives     Fair value
through P&L
     Available-for-sale     Total          Derivatives     Fair value
through P&L
     Total 
    £m        £m        £m        £m             £m        £m       £m   
At 1 January 2015     152       281       -       433           (51)       (13)       (64)  
Total gains/(losses) recognised in profit/(loss):                        
- Fair value movements     (10)       19       -       9           (3)       (4)       (7)  
Gains recognised in other comprehensive income     -       -       100       100           -       -       -  
Transfers in     63       -       -       63           (61)       -       (61)  
Settlements     (17)       (33)       -       (50)            10       12       22  
At 31 December 2015     188       267       100       555            (105)       (5)       (110)  
Gains/(losses) recognised in profit/(loss) relating to assets and liabilities held at the end of the year     (10)       19       -       9            (3)       (4)       (7)  
£m £m £m  £m £m £m                                        

At 1 January 2014

 145   321   466   (48)   (37)   (85)       145       321       -       466           (48)       (37)       (85)  

Total gains/(losses) recognised in profit/(loss):

                                

- Fair value movements

 (6)   51   45   (7)   1   (6)       (6)       51       -       45           (7)       1       (6)  

- Foreign exchange and other movements

 (7)   (1)   (8)   -   2   2       (7)       (1)       -       (8)           -       2       2  

Transfers in

 29   -   29   (10)   -   (10)       29       -       -       29           (10)       -       (10)  

Transfers out

 -   (58)   (58)   -   -   -       -       (58)       -       (58)           -       -       -  

Sales

 -   -   -   -   -   -  

Settlements

 (9)   (32)   (41)    14   21   35       (9)       (32)       -       (41)            14       21       35  

At 31 December 2014

 152   281   433    (51)   (13)   (64)       152       281       -       433            (51)       (13)       (64)  

Gains/(losses) recognised in profit/(loss) relating to assets and liabilities held at the end of the year

 (13)   50   37    (7)   3   (4)       (13)       50       -       37            (7)       3       (4)  
      

At 1 January 2013

 215   345   560   (57)   (86)   (143)  

Total gains/(losses) recognised in profit/(loss):

- Fair value movements

 (16)   10   (6)   8   7   15  

- Foreign exchange and other movements

 (11)   7   (4)   (11)   12   1  

Sales

 -   (27)   (27)   -   -   -  

Settlements

 (43)   (14)   (57)    12   30   42  

At 31 December 2013

 145   321   466    (48)   (37)   (85)  

(Losses)/gains recognised in profit/(loss) relating to assets and liabilities held at the end of the year

 (27)   17   (10)    (3)   19   16  

Total gains or losses are included in ‘Net trading and other income’ (see Note 5).

2015 compared to 2014

Financial instrument assets valued using internal models based on information other than market data were 1.0% (2014: 0.8%) of total assets measured at fair value and 0.2% (2014: 0.2%) of total assets at 31 December 2015.

Financial instrument liabilities valued using internal models based on information other than market data were 0.3% (2014: 0.2%) of total liabilities measured at fair value and 0.04% (2014: 0.02%) of total liabilities at 31 December 2015.

Losses of £10m in respect of derivative assets principally reflected changes in credit spreads and the HPI Index, and yield curve movements. Gains of £19m in respect of assets designated at fair value through profit or loss principally reflected the mark-to-market volatility on the reversionary property securities arising from a continued low interest rate environment, changes in the HPI index and a maturing portfolio. Losses of £3m in respect of derivative liabilities principally reflected changes in credit spreads and the HPI Index. Losses of £4m in respect of liabilities designated at fair value through profit or loss principally reflected yield curve movements. They are fully matched with derivatives.

2014 compared to 2013

Financial instrument assets valued using internal models based on information other than market data were 0.8% (2013: 0.9%) of total assets measured at fair value and 02%0.2% (2013: 0.2%) of total assets at 31 December 2014.

Derivative assets increased in 2014 principally due to transfers in. Assets designated at fair value through profit or loss decreased in 2014 due to transfers out and settlements.

Financial instrument liabilities valued using internal models based on information other than market data were 0.2% (2013: 0.2%) of total liabilities measured at fair value and 0.02% (2013: 0.03%) of total liabilities at 31 December 2014.

Derivative liabilities were broadly unchanged in 2014 as transfers in and fair value movements were offset by settlements. Liabilities designated at fair value through profit or loss decreased in 2014 due to settlements.

Financial instrument assets and liabilities at 31 December 2013

Financial instrument assets valued using internal models based on information other than market data were 0.9% (2012: 0.9%) of total assets measured at fair value and 0.2% (2012: 0.2%) of total assets at 31 December 2013.

Derivative assets decreased in 2013 principally due to settlements. Assets designated at fair value through profit or loss were broadly unchanged in 2013 as increases due to fair value movements were offset by sales and settlements.

Financial instrument liabilities valued using internal models based on information other than market data were 0.2% (2012: 0.3%) of total liabilities measured at fair value and 0.03% (2012: 0.1%) of total liabilities at 31 December 2013.

Derivative liabilities decreased in 2013 due to settlements. Liabilities designated at fair value through profit or loss decreased in 2013 due to fair value and foreign exchange movements and settlements.

Annual Report 2014319


Financial statements

Gains and losses for the year ended 31 December 2014

Losses of £13m in respect of derivative assets principally reflected changes in credit spreads and the HPI Index, and unfavourable movements in foreign exchange rates. Gains of £50m in respect of assets designated at fair value through profit or loss principally reflected the mark-to-market volatility on the reversionary property securities arising from a continued low interest rate environment, changes in the HPI index and a maturing portfolio.

Losses of £7m in respect of derivative liabilities principally reflected changes in credit spreads and the HPI Index. Gains of £3m in respect of liabilities designated at fair value through profit or loss principally reflected changes in foreign exchange. They are fully matched with derivatives.

Gains and losses for the year ended 31 December 2013

Losses of £27m in respect of derivative assets principally reflected changes in credit spreads and the HPI Index, and unfavourable movements in foreign exchange rates. Gains of £17m in respect of assets designated at fair value through profit or loss principally reflected the mark-to-market volatility on the reversionary property securities arising from a continued low interest rate environment, changes in the HPI index and a maturing portfolio.

Losses of £3m in respect of derivative liabilities principally reflected changes in credit spreads and the HPI Index. Gains of £19m in respect of liabilities designated at fair value through profit or loss principally reflected changes in foreign exchange. They are fully matched with derivatives.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

Effect of changes in significant unobservable assumptions to reasonably possible alternatives (Level 3)

As discussed above, the fair value of financial instruments are, in certain circumstances, measured using valuation techniques that incorporate assumptions that are not evidenced by prices from observable current market transactions in the same instrument and are not based on observable market data and, as such require the application of a degree of judgement. Changing one or more of the inputs to the valuation models to reasonably possible alternative assumptions would change the fair values significantly. The following table shows the sensitivity of these fair values to reasonably possible alternative assumptions.

Favourable and unfavourable changes are determined on the basis of changes in the value of the instrument as a result of varying the levels of the unobservable input as described in the table below. The potential effects do not take into effect any hedged positions.

31 December 2014

2015     Significant unobservable input           Sensitivity 
Balance sheet note line item and product  

Fair
value

£m

  Assumption description    Assumption value           

Favourable

changes

£m

   

Unfavourable
changes

£m

 
       Range(1)     Weighted
average
     Shift       

3. Derivative assets – Interest rate contracts:
– Bermudan swaptions

   10   Mean reversion     0%-4%       2%       1%       1     (1)  

5. Derivative assets – Equity and credit contracts:
– Reversionary property derivatives

   81   

HPI Forward growth rate

HPI Spot rate

     

 

0%-5%

n/a

  

  

     

 

2.65%

688(2)

  

  

     

 

1%

10%

  

  

     

 

11

8

  

  

   

 

(11)

(8)

  

  

6. Derivative assets – Credit contracts:
– Credit default swaps

   4   Probability of default     0%-2%       0.38%       20%       1     (1)  

7. Derivative assets – Equity contracts:
– Options and forwards

   30   

HPI Forward growth rate

HPI Spot rate

     

 

0%-5%

n/a

  

  

     

 

2.09%

659(2)

  

  

     

 

1%

10%

  

  

     

 

1

2

  

  

   

 

(1)

(1)

  

  

8. FVTPL – Loans and advances to customers:
– Roll-up mortgage portfolio

   59   HPI Forward growth rate     0%-5%       2.79%       1%       2     (2)  

9. FVTPL – Debt securities:
– Reversionary property securities

   208   

HPI Forward growth rate

HPI Spot rate

     

 

0%-5%

n/a

  

  

     

 

2.65%

688(2)

  

  

     

 

1%

10%

  

  

     

 

14

19

  

  

   

 

(14)

(19)

  

  

11. AFS – Equity securities:
– Unlisted equity shares

   100   Contingent litigation risk     0%-36%       18%       20%       5(3)    (5)(3) 

13. Derivative liabilities – Interest rate contracts:
– Bermudan swaptions

   (4)   Mean reversion     0%-4%       2%       1%       1     (1)  

15. Derivative liabilities – Equity contracts:
– Options and forwards

   (40)   

HPI Forward growth rate

HPI Spot rate

     

 

0%-5%

n/a

  

  

     

 

2.09%

659(2)

  

  

     

 

1%

10%

  

  

     

 

5

13

  

  

   

 

(5)

(13)

  

  

 

   Significant unobservable input Shift     Reflected in income statement 
 Fair   Assumption value   Favourable Unfavourable 
 value   Range(1)     Weighted       changes changes 
    Balance sheet note line item and product£m  Assumption description       average        £m £m 

2. Derivative assets– Interest rate contracts:

 20  Mean reversion 0%-4%   4%   1%   2   (2)  

- Bermudan swaptions

                   

3. Derivative assets– Equity and credit contracts:

 84  HPI Forward growth rate 0%-5%   2.63%   1%   11   (11)  

– Reversionary property derivatives

   HPI Spot rate n/a   630(2)   10%   8   (8)  

4. Derivative assets– Credit contracts:

 5  Probability of default 0.1%- 0.9%   0.2%   20%   1   (1)  

– Credit default swaps

                   

5. Derivative assets– Equity contracts:

 38  HPI Forward growth rate 0%-5%   2.14%   1%   3   (3)  

– Options and forwards

   HPI Spot rate n/a   607(2)   10%   1   -  

6. FVTPL– Loans and advances to customers:

 61  HPI Forward growth rate 0%-5%   2.78%   1%   2   (2)  

– Roll-up mortgage portfolio

                   

7. FVTPL– Debt securities:

 220  HPI Forward growth rate 0%-5%   2.63%   1%   16   (16)  

– Reversionary property securities

   HPI Spot rate n/a   630(2)   10%   20   (20)  

9. Derivative liabilities– Interest rate contracts:

 (6)  Mean reversion 0%-4%   4%   1%   1   (1)  

- Bermudan swaptions

                   

10. Derivative liabilities– Equity contracts:

 (45)  HPI Forward growth rate 0%-5%   2.14%   1%   4   (4)  

– Options and forwards

   HPI Spot rate n/a   607(2)   10%   14   (16)  

31 December 2013

                    

3. Derivative assets – Equity and credit contracts:

 71  HPI Forward growth rate 0%-5%   2.67%   1%   11   (11)  

– Reversionary property derivative

   HPI Spot rate n/a   578(2)   10%   8   (8)  

4. Derivative assets – Credit contracts:

 13  Probability of default 0.1%-1.2%   0.7%   20%   3   (3)  

– Credit default swaps

                   

5. Derivative assets – Equity contracts:

 47  HPI Forward growth rate 0%-5%   1.62%   1%   5   (5)  

– Options and forwards

 

   

HPI Spot rate

 

 

 

n/a

 

  

 

 

 

565(2)

 

  

 

 

 

10%

 

  

 

 

 

11

 

  

 

 

 

(10)

 

  

 

6. FVTPL – Loans and advances to customers:

 51  HPI Forward growth rate 0%-5%   2.85%   1%   1   (1)  

– Roll-up mortgage portfolio

                   

7. FVTPL – Debt securities:

 212  HPI Forward growth rate 0%-5%   2.67%   1%   15   (16)  

– Reversionary property securities

   HPI Spot rate n/a   578(2)   10%   20   (20)  

8. FVTPL – Debt securities:

 58  Credit spread 0%-15%   5%   10%   6   (6)  

– Mortgage-backed securities

                   

10. Derivative liabilities – Equity contracts:

 (48)  HPI Forward growth rate 0%-5%   1.62%   1%   2   (2)  

– Options and forwards

   HPI Spot rate n/a   565(2)   10%   7   (10)  
2014     Significant unobservable input           Sensitivity 
Balance sheet note line item and product  

Fair
value

£m

  Assumption description    Assumption value           

Favourable

changes

£m

     

Unfavourable

changes

£m

 
       Range(1)     Weighted
average
     Shift         

3. Derivative assets – Interest rate contracts:
– Bermudan swaptions

   20   Mean reversion     0%-4%       4%       1%       2       (2)  

5. Derivative assets – Equity and credit contracts:
– Reversionary property derivatives

   84   

HPI Forward growth rate

HPI Spot rate

     

 

0%-5%

n/a

  

  

     

 

2.63%

630(2)

  

  

     

 

1%

10%

  

  

     

 

11

8

  

  

     

 

(11)

(8)

  

  

6. Derivative assets – Credit contracts:
– Credit default swaps

   5   Probability of default     
 
0.1%-
0.9%
  
  
     0.2%       20%       1       (1)  

7. Derivative assets – Equity contracts:
– Options and forwards

   38   

HPI Forward growth rate

HPI Spot rate

     

 

0%-5%

n/a

  

  

     

 

2.14%

607(2)

  

  

     

 

1%

10%

  

  

     

 

3

1

  

  

     

 

(3)

(1)

  

  

8. FVTPL – Loans and advances to customers:
– Roll-up mortgage portfolio

   61   HPI Forward growth rate     0%-5%       2.78%       1%       2       (2)  

9. FVTPL – Debt securities:
– Reversionary property securities

   220   

HPI Forward growth rate

HPI Spot rate

     

 

0%-5%

n/a

  

  

     

 

2.63%

630(2)

  

  

     

 

1%

10%

  

  

     

 

16

20

  

  

     

 

(16)

(20)

  

  

13. Derivative liabilities – Interest rate contracts:
– Bermudan swaptions

   (6)   Mean reversion     0%-4%       4.00%       1%       1       (1)  

15. Derivative liabilities – Equity contracts:
– Options and forwards

   (45)   

HPI Forward growth rate

HPI Spot rate

     

 

0%-5%

n/a

  

  

     

 

2.14%

607(2)

  

  

     

 

1%

10%

  

  

     

 

4

14

  

  

     

 

(4)

(16)

  

  

(1)(1) 

The range of actual assumption values used to calculate the weighted average disclosure.

(2)(2) 

Represents the HPI spot rate index level at 31 December 20142015 and 2013.

2014.
(3)Gains and losses arising from changes in the fair value of securities classified as available-for-sale are recognised in other comprehensive income; for all other assets and liabilities shown in the tables above, gains and losses arising from changes in their fair value are recognised in the income statement.

No sensitivities are presented for Derivative assets – securitisation cross currency swaps (Instrument 2), Derivative assets –securitisation swaps (Instrument 4) and the FVTPL - debt securities in issue (instrument 11)(Instrument 16) and related exchange rate and interest rate derivatives (instrument 1),(Instrument 1, 12 and 14) as the terms of these instruments are fully matched. As a result, any changes in the valuation of the debt securities in issue would be exactly offset by an equal and opposite change in the valuation of the exchange rate derivatives.

 

 

320Santander UK plc

292  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

j) Maturities of financial assets, liabilities and off-balance sheet commitments

The tabletables below analysesanalyse the maturities of the undiscounted cash flows relating to financial assets, liabilities and off-balance sheet commitments of the Santander UK group based on the remaining period to the contractual maturity date at the balance sheet date. Deposits by customers largely consist of retail deposits.

There are no significant financial liabilities related to financial guarantee contracts. This table isThese tables are not intended to show the liquidity of the Santander UK group.

 

 Group   
    31 December 2014

On
Demand

£m

 

Within 1
month

£m

 

1-3

months

£m

 

3-6

months

£m

 

6-9
months

£m

 

9 months
to 1 year

£m

 

1-2

years

£m

 

2-5

years

£m

 

Over 5 years

£m

 

Total  

£m  

 

Assets

Cash and balances at central banks

 22,244   -   -   -   318   -   -   -   -   22,562    

Trading assets

 5,749   608   4,981   796   1,445   1,410   449   830   5,996   22,264    

Derivative financial instruments

 47   514   441   365   517   865   1,637   3,330   16,889   24,605    

Financial assets designated at FVTPL

 -   -   -   -   -   -   46   244   2,841   3,131    

Loans and advances to banks

 772   11   353   75   -   -   -   309   842   2,362    

Loans and advances to customers

 957   -   2,825   -   4,331   -   -   29,127   197,563   234,803    

Loans and receivables securities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   124   124    

Available-for-sale securities

 -   45   -   -   56   114   1,805   2,654   5,314   9,988    

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   3   4   5   6   10   52   212   718   1,010    

Total financial assets

 29,769   1,181   8,604   1,241   6,673   2,399   3,989   36,706   230,287   320,849    

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

 2,709   188   157   422   497   24   3,353   834   121   8,305    

Deposits by customers

 130,540   2,839   4,275   2,872   3,309   3,942   3,460   1,830   871   153,938    

Trading liabilities

 3,594   5,991   2,904   36   100   1   15   492   2,224   15,357    

Derivative financial instruments:

- Held for trading

 63   390   328   380   568   972   1,595   3,052   15,231   22,579    

- Held for hedging(1)

 -   6   16   49   19   52   107   320   1,123   1,692    

Financial liabilities designated at FVTPL

 -   313   707   227   108   77   331   457   686   2,906    

Debt securities in issue

 -   2,185   4,712   3,779   806   1,260   5,415   13,018   33,584   64,759    

Subordinated liabilities

 -   453   36   53   53   56   217   878   4,525   6,271    

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   1   4   3   29   (8)   120   149    

Total financial liabilities

 136,906   12,365   13,135   7,819   5,464   6,387   14,522   20,873   58,485   275,956    

Off-balance sheet commitments given

 13,126   737   1,334   563   172   3,192   1,168   9,725   7,007   37,024    

31 December 2013

                              

Assets

Cash and balances at central banks

 26,036   -   -   -   315   -   -   -   -   26,351    

Trading assets

 5,807   -   -   -   -   32   14,209   1,677   1,701   23,426    

Derivative financial instruments

 137   313   490   692   736   1,714   1,823   14,005   855   20,765    

Financial assets designated at FVTPL

 -   -   -   -   -   -   2   60   3,199   3,261    

Loans and advances to banks

 1,237   69   3   -   1   -   23   -   1,037   2,370    

Loans and advances to customers

 1,324   2,049   2,567   2,537   2,224   3,008   9,276   29,213   163,356   215,554    

Loans and receivables securities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   106   77   1,099   1,282    

Available-for-sale securities

 9   -   -   -   -   -   -   2,911   2,602   5,522    

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   2   18   3   27   117   995   1,162    

Total financial assets

 34,550   2,431   3,060   3,231   3,294   4,757   25,466   48,060   174,844   299,693    

Liabilities

Deposits by banks

 2,929   195   477   189   22   19   602   3,953   592   8,978    

Deposits by customers

 117,036   2,649   5,640   3,962   4,355   6,532   3,362   3,498   691   147,725    

Trading liabilities

 1,885   11,504   4,631   255   204   304   277   1,279   1,224   21,563    

Derivative financial instruments:

- Held for trading

 159   239   362   302   440   758   1,774   3,252   11,662   18,948    

- Held for hedging(1)

 -   35   30   72   75   28   270   261   929   1,700    

Financial liabilities designated at FVTPL

 -   141   584   214   107   434   370   738   907   3,495    

Debt securities in issue

 -   2,302   2,904   3,292   2,203   1,598   5,148   10,261   35,864   63,572    

Subordinated liabilities

 -   83   40   59   59   63   241   775   5,238   6,558    

Total financial liabilities

 122,009   17,148   14,668   8,345   7,465   9,736   12,044   24,017   57,107   272,539    

Off-balance sheet commitments given

 11,049   444   1,427   3,634   110   380   2,017   7,080   6,846   32,987    

   Group 
2015  

On

Demand

£m

   

Within 1
month

£m

   

1-3

months

£m

   

3-6

months

£m

   

6-9
months

£m

   

9 months

to 1 year

£m

   

1-2

years

£m

   

2-5

years

£m

   

Over 5

years

£m

   

Total

£m

 

Assets

                    

Cash and balances at central banks

   16,502     -     -     -     340     -     -     -     -     16,842  

Trading assets

   4,150     4,321     2,593     2,636     741     854     685     222     8,872     25,074  

Derivative financial instruments

   -     451     512     388     414     374     1,336     4,455     15,655     23,585  

Financial assets designated at FVTPL

   -     -     -     -     -     -     22     501     2,134     2,657  

Loans and advances to banks

   1,561     168     3     5     31     -     275     1,023     516     3,582  

Loans and advances to customers

   1,243     2,245     2,454     2,155     1,906     1,727     6,915     24,572     198,022     241,239  

Loans and receivables securities

   -     -     -     2     -     -     -     -     52     54  

Available-for-sale securities

   -     30     63     79     704     35     706     2,755     5,807     10,179  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

   -     -     9     4     4     6     94     158     565     840  

Total financial assets

   23,456     7,215     5,634     5,269     4,140     2,996     10,033     33,686     231,623     324,052  

Liabilities

                    

Deposits by banks

   3,331     938     326     334     583     1,055     578     1,088     112     8,345  

Deposits by customers

   130,680     1,492     4,244     8,114     4,468     3,989     8,867     2,093     548     164,495  

Trading liabilities

   1,559     6,647     1,080     463     371     3     629     347     1,880     12,979  

Derivative financial instruments:

                    

- Held for trading

   37     710     486     392     449     260     1,018     2,846     14,621     20,819  

- Held for hedging(1)

   2     45     6     7     158     338     166     849     1,224     2,795  

Financial liabilities designated at FVTPL

   -     354     112     297     59     133     157     417     525     2,054  

Debt securities in issue

   -     2,556     3,064     2,489     2,403     2,485     7,643     13,629     26,805     61,074  

Subordinated liabilities

   -     340     50     100     149     202     444     980     5,264     7,529  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

   -     -     -     4     8     5     12     (1)     98     126  

Total financial liabilities

   135,609     13,082     9,368     12,200     8,648     8,470     19,514     22,248     51,077     280,216  

Off-balance sheet commitments given

   663     632     426     1,125     441     319     988     10,498     20,661     35,753  

2014

                                                  

Assets

                    

Cash and balances at central banks

   22,244     -     -     -     318     -     -     -     -     22,562  

Trading assets

   5,749     608     4,981     796     1,445     1,410     449     830     5,996     22,264  

Derivative financial instruments

   47     514     441     365     517     865     1,637     3,330     16,889     24,605  

Financial assets designated at FVTPL

   -     -     -     -     -     -     46     244     2,841     3,131  

Loans and advances to banks

   734     11     353     75     -     -     -     309     842     2,324  

Loans and advances to customers

   925     -     2,825     -     4,346     -     -     29,242     197,417     234,755  

Loans and receivables securities

   -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     124     124  

Available-for-sale securities

   -     45     -     -     56     114     1,805     2,654     5,314     9,988  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

   -     3     4     5     6     10     52     212     718     1,010  

Total financial assets

   29,699     1,181     8,604     1,241     6,688     2,399     3,989     36,821     230,141     320,763  

Liabilities

                    

Deposits by banks

   2,708     189     157     422     497     24     3,353     834     121     8,305  

Deposits by customers

   130,539     2,840     4,275     2,872     3,309     3,942     3,460     1,830     871     153,938  

Trading liabilities

   3,594     5,991     2,904     36     100     1     15     492     2,224     15,357  

Derivative financial instruments:

                    

- Held for trading

   63     390     328     380     568     972     1,595     3,052     15,231     22,579  

- Held for hedging(1)

   -     6     16     49     19     52     107     320     1,123     1,692  

Financial liabilities designated at FVTPL

   -     313     707     227     108     77     331     457     686     2,906  

Debt securities in issue

   -     2,185     4,712     3,779     806     1,260     5,415     13,018     33,584     64,759  

Subordinated liabilities

   -     453     36     53     53     56     217     878     4,525     6,271  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

   -     -     -     1     4     3     29     (8)     120     149  

Total financial liabilities

   136,904     12,367     13,135     7,819     5,464     6,387     14,522     20,873     58,485     275,956  

Off-balance sheet commitments given

   694     737     1,334     563     172     3,192     1,168     9,725     15,249     32,834  
(1)(1) 

Comprises the derivative liabilities for which contractual maturities are essential for an understanding of the timing of the cash flows.

(2) 

Equity has no maturity and therefore has been classified in the ‘over five years’ column.

 

 

Annual Report 2014321


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

 

Company     Company 
31 December 2014

On

Demand

£m

 

Within 1
month

£m

 

1-3

months

£m

 

3-6

months

£m

 

6-9
months

£m

 

9 months
to 1 year

£m

 

1-2

years

£m

 

2-5

years

£m

 

Over 5
years

£m

 

Total  

£m  

 
2015  

On

Demand

£m

   

Within 1
month

£m

   

1-3

months

£m

   

3-6

months

£m

   

6-9
months

£m

   

9 months

to 1 year

£m

   

1-2

years

£m

   

2-5

years

£m

   

Over 5 years

£m

   

Total

£m

 

Assets

                    

Cash and balances at central banks

 17,821   -   -   -   281   -   -   -   -   18,102       14,262     -     -     -     300     -     -     -     -     14,562  

Trading Assets

 5,749   608   4,981   796   1,445   1,410   449   830   5,996   22,264    

Derivative financial instruments

 7   20   25   13   43   8   54   270   3,258   3,698       -     12     28     38     28     33     142     448     2,951     3,680  

Financial assets designated at FVTPL

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   91   91       -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     68     68  

Loans and advances to banks

 2,901   737   721   288   18   67   756   320   695   6,503       5,608     -     8,079     964     954     1,606     649     513     639     19,012  

Loans and advances to customers

 967   -   1,677   -   2,386   -   -   19,820   188,451   213,301       1,096     1,940     1,883     1,841     1,448     1,632     4,959     18,584     194,740     228,123  

Loans and receivables securities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   4,825   4,825       -     -     -     -     236     -     244     -     4,672     5,152  

Available-for-sale securities

 -   45   -   -   56   114   291   2,374   4,368   7,248       -     30     63     79     76     35     400     2,469     5,807     8,959  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   8   8       -     -     -     -     -     (1)     2     (32)     (7)     (38)  

Total financial assets

 27,445   1,410   7,404   1,097   4,229   1,599   1,550   23,614   207,692   276,040       20,966     1,982     10,053     2,922     3,042     3,305     6,396     21,982     208,870     279,518  

Liabilities

                    

Deposits by banks

 9,277   1,155   536   307   411   5   341   500   23   12,555       7,172     6,911     305     1,378     1,939     1,571     2,200     4,914     1,892     28,282  

Deposits by customers

 127,529   968   3,974   2,465   2,955   3,005   3,333   2,417   41,236   187,882       128,093     1,426     4,908     8,054     5,248     3,884     8,532     2,068     29,924     192,137  

Derivative financial instruments:

                    

- Held for trading

 266   6   5   5   7   8   88   163   1,420   1,968       11     124     24     6     141     136     165     382     1,656     2,645  

- Held for hedging(1)

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   342   342       2     -     1     6     6     10     34     208     396     663  

Debt securities in issue

 -   2   1   2   108   1   -   -   -   114       -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -  

Subordinated liabilities

 -   515   34   50   50   53   205   841   4,008   5,756       -     406     50     100     149     202     444     980     4,921     7,252  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

   -     -     -     -     -     -     (5)     -     -     (5)  

Total financial liabilities

 137,072   2,646   4,550   2,829   3,531   3,072   3,967   3,921   47,029   208,617       135,278     8,867     5,288     9,544     7,483     5,803     11,370     8,552     38,789     230,974  

Off-balance sheet commitments given

 13,124   686   1,175   -   50   2,944   7   1,496   5,034   24,516       662     67     50     512     45     40     184     1,065     18,441     21,066  

31 December 2013

          

2014

                              

Assets

                    

Cash and balances at central banks

 21,099   -   -   -   277   -   -   -   -   21,376       17,821     -     -     -     281     -     -     -     -     18,102  

Derivative financial instruments

 579   10   3   4   5   7   130   382   1,459   2,579       7     20     25     13     43     8     54     270     3,258     3,698  

Financial assets designated at FVTPL

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   1   1       -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     91     91  

Loans and advances to banks

 18,191   3,615   28,021   3,203   4,842   2,240   21,560   21,946   6,301   109,919       2,767     737     721     288     18     67     756     320     695     6,369  

Loans and advances to customers

 1,072   2,073   1,427   1,755   1,640   2,073   6,312   19,879   132,678   168,909       939     -     1,677     -     2,386     -     -     19,820     188,451     213,273  

Loans and receivables securities

 -   -   -   -   -   -   106   56   827   989       -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     4,825     4,825  

Available-for-sale securities

 11   -   -   -   -   -   -   834   1,439   2,284       -     45     -     -     56     114     291     2,374     4,368     7,248  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -       -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     8     8  

Total financial assets

 40,952   5,698   29,451   4,962   6,764   4,320   28,108   43,097   142,705   306,057       21,534     802     2,423     301     2,784     189     1,101     22,784     201,696     253,614  

Liabilities

                    

Deposits by banks

 17,946   6,929   14,414   10,485   10,026   3,453   18,265   22,280   14,786   118,584       9,277     1,155     536     307     411     5     341     500     23     12,555  

Deposits by customers

 113,072   818   5,672   3,598   4,138   4,118   3,571   3,213   46,460   184,660       127,529     968     3,974     2,465     2,955     3,005     3,333     2,417     41,236     187,882  

Derivative financial instruments:

                    

- Held for trading

 19   1   8   4   5   6   19   286   1,477   1,825       266     6     5     5     7     8     88     163     1,420     1,968  

- Held for hedging(1)

 -   -   -   -   -   -   1   1   200   202       -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     342     342  

Debt securities in issue

 -   2   1   2   2   43   110   -   -   160       -     2     1     2     108     1     -     -     -     114  

Subordinated liabilities

 -   74   34   52   52   54   209   627   3,896   4,998       -     515     34     50     50     53     205     841     4,008     5,756  

Total financial liabilities

 131,037   7,824   20,129   14,141   14,223   7,674   22,175   26,407   66,819   310,429       137,072     2,646     4,550     2,829     3,531     3,072     3,967     3,921     47,029     208,617  

Off-balance sheet commitments given

 4,158   412   1,303   3,385   15   66   427   696   4,952   15,414       691     597     1,175     -     50     2,944     7     1,496     13,365     20,325  
(1)(1) 

Include the remaining contractual maturities for which contractual maturities are essential for an understanding of the timing of the cash flows.

(2) 

Equity has no maturity and therefore has been classified in the ‘over five years’ column.

As the above table istables are based on contractual maturities, no account is taken of a customer’s ability to repay early where it exists or call features related to subordinated liabilities. The repayment terms of debt securities may be accelerated in line with the covenants described in Note 32.31. In addition, no account is taken of the possible early repayment of the Santander UK group’s mortgage-backed non-recourse finance which is redeemed by the Santander UK group as funds become available from redemptions of the residential mortgages. The Santander UK group has no control over the timing and amount of redemptions of residential mortgages.

 

 

322Santander UK plc

294  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

45.44. OFFSETTING FINANCIAL ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

In accordance with IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation, the Santander UK group reports financial assets and financial liabilities are reported on a net basis on the balance sheet only if there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis, or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously. The following table showstables show the impact of netting arrangements on:

 

>-

All financial assets and liabilities that are reported net on the balance sheet; and

sheet
>-

All derivative financial instruments and repurchase agreements and other similar secured lending and borrowing agreements that are subject to enforceable master netting arrangements or similar agreements, but do not qualify for balance sheet netting.

The table identifiestables below identify the amounts that have been offset in the balance sheet and also those amounts that are covered by enforceable netting arrangements (offsetting arrangements and financial collateral) but do not qualify for netting under the requirements of IAS 32 described above.

For derivative contracts, the ‘Financial instruments’ column identifies financial assets and liabilities that are subject to set off under netting agreements, such as the ISDA Master Agreement or derivative exchange or clearing counterparty agreements, whereby all outstanding transactions with the same counterparty can be offset and close-out netting applied across all outstanding transaction covered by the agreements if an event of default or other predetermined events occur. Financial collateral refers to cash and non-cash collateral obtained, typically daily or weekly, to cover the net exposure between counterparties by enabling the collateral to be realised in an event of default or if other predetermined events occur.

For repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements and other similar secured lending and borrowing, the ‘Financial instruments’ column identifies financial assets and liabilities that are subject to set off under netting agreements, such as global master repurchase agreements and global master securities lending agreements, whereby all outstanding transactions with the same counterparty can be offset and close-out netting applied across all outstanding transaction covered by the agreements if an event of default or other predetermined events occur. Financial collateral typically comprises highly liquid securities which are legally transferred and can be liquidated in the event of counterparty default.

The Santander UK group engages in a variety of counterparty credit mitigation strategies in addition to netting and collateral arrangements. Therefore, the net amounts presented in the tables below do not purport to represent the Santander UK group’s actual credit exposure.

 

                        Group   
 Amounts subject to enforceable netting arrangements     
 Effects of offsetting on balance sheet  Related amounts not offset     

    31 December 2014

 

Gross
amounts
£m
 

Amounts
offset

£m

 

Net amounts

reported on

the balance

sheet

£m

   Financial
instruments
£m
 

Financial

collateral(1)

£m

 Net amount
£m
 

Assets not subject

to enforceable

netting

arrangements(2)

£m

 

Balance sheet  

total(3)  

£m  

 

Derivative financial assets

 27,348   (4,879)   22,469   (19,149)   (1,340)   1,980   552   23,021    

Reverse repurchase, securities borrowing & similar agreements:

- Trading assets

 8,487   (5,502)   2,985   (810)   (2,175)   -   -   2,985    

- Loans and advances to banks

 273   -   273   -   (273)   -   -   273    

Loans and advances to customers and banks(4)

 8,220   (1,623)   6,597    -   -   6,597   183,878   190,475    

Total assets

 44,328   (12,004)   32,324    (19,959)   (3,788)   8,577   184,430   216,754    

Derivative financial liabilities

 26,850   (4,879)   21,971   (19,149)   (2,499)   323   761   22,732    

Repurchase, securities lending & similar agreements:

- Trading liabilities

 13,577   (5,502)   8,075   (605)   (7,470)   -   473   8,548    

- Deposits by banks

 5,297   -   5,297   (205)   (5,092)   -   -   5,297    

Deposits by customers and banks(4)

 1,623   (1,623)   -    -   -   -   156,523   156,523    

Total liabilities

 47,347   (12,004)   35,343    (19,959)   (15,061)   323   157,757   193,100    

31 December 2013

                        

Derivative financial assets

 21,104   (1,832)   19,272   (15,443)   (1,688)   2,141   777   20,049    

Reverse repurchase, securities borrowing & similar agreements:

- Trading assets

 18,622   (10,215)   8,407   (3,372)   (5,035)   -   22   8,429    

- Loans and advances to banks

 323   -   323   -   (323)   -   -   323    

Loans and advances to customers and banks(4)

 8,154   (1,890)   6,264    -   -   6,264   180,347   186,611    

Total assets

 48,203   (13,937)   34,266    (18,815)   (7,046)   8,405   181,146   215,412    

Derivative financial liabilities

 20,512   (1,832)   18,680   (15,443)   (1,872)   1,365   183   18,863    

Repurchase, securities lending & similar agreements:

- Trading liabilities

 24,339   (10,215)   14,124   (3,235)   (10,889)   -   -   14,124    

- Deposits by banks

 5,933   -   5,933   (137)   (5,796)   -   502   6,435    

Deposits by customers and banks(4)

 3,975   (1,890)   2,085    -   -   2,085   147,343   149,428    

Total liabilities

 54,759   (13,937)   40,822    (18,815)   (18,557)   3,450   148,028   188,850    

   Group 
   Amounts subject to enforceable netting arrangements         
   Effects of offsetting on balance sheet      Related amounts not offset         
2015  

Gross

amounts

£m

   

Amounts

offset

£m

   

Net amounts

reported on

the balance

sheet

£m

       

Financial

instruments

£m

   

Financial

collateral(1)

£m

   

Net

amount

£m

   

Assets not subject

to enforceable

netting

arrangements(2)

£m

   

Balance sheet

total(3)

£m

 

Derivative financial assets

   24,670     (4,861)     19,809       (17,257)     (1,050)     1,502     1,102     20,911  

Reverse repurchase, securities borrowing

& similar agreements:

                  

    - Trading assets

   6,860     (1,516)     5,344       (427)     (4,917)     -     -     5,344  

    - Loans and advances to banks

   1,247     -     1,247       (459)     (788)     -     -     1,247  

Loans and advances to customers and banks(4)

   5,164     (1,494)     3,670        -     -     3,670     196,676     200,346  

Total assets

   37,941     (7,871)     30,070        (18,143)     (6,755)     5,172     197,778     227,848  

Derivative financial liabilities

   25,612     (4,861)     20,751       (17,257)     (2,997)     497     757     21,508  

Repurchase, securities lending & similar agreements:

                  

    - Trading liabilities

   7,772     (1,516)     6,256       (541)     (5,715)     -     1,402     7,658  

    - Deposits by banks and customers

   3,588     -     3,588       (345)     (3,243)     -     1,123     4,711  

Deposits by customers and banks(4)

   4,048     (1,494)     2,554        -     -     2,554     165,087     167,641  

Total liabilities

   41,020     (7,871)     33,149        (18,143)     (11,955)     3,051     168,369     201,518  

2014

                                          

Derivative financial assets

   27,348     (4,879)     22,469       (19,149)     (1,340)     1,980     552     23,021  

Reverse repurchase, securities borrowing

& similar agreements:

                  

    - Trading assets

   8,487     (5,502)     2,985       (810)     (2,175)     -     -     2,985  

    - Loans and advances to banks

   273     -     273       -     (273)     -     -     273  

Loans and advances to customers and banks(4)

   8,220     (1,623)     6,597        -     -     6,597     183,878     190,475  

Total assets

   44,328     (12,004)     32,324        (19,959)     (3,788)     8,577     184,430     216,754  

Derivative financial liabilities

   26,850     (4,879)     21,971       (19,149)     (2,499)     323     761     22,732  

Repurchase, securities lending & similar agreements:

                  

    - Trading liabilities

   13,577     (5,502)     8,075       (605)     (7,470)     -     473     8,548  

    - Deposits by banks and customers

   5,297     -     5,297       (205)     (5,092)     -     -     5,297  

Deposits by customers and banks(4)

   1,623     (1,623)     -        -     -     -     156,523     156,523  

Total liabilities

   47,347     (12,004)     35,343        (19,959)     (15,061)     323     157,757     193,100  
(1)(1) 

Financial collateral is reflected at its fair value, but has been limited to the net balance sheet exposure so as not to include any over-collateralisation.

(2)(2) 

This column includes contractual rights of set-off that are subject to uncertainty under the laws of the relevant jurisdiction.

(3)(3) 

The balance sheet total is the sum of ‘Net amounts reported on the balance sheet’ that are subject to enforceable netting arrangements and ‘Amounts not subject to enforceable netting arrangements’.

(4)(4) 

The amounts offset within loans and advances to customers/banks or deposits by customers/banks relate to offset mortgages and film deals which are classified as either and that are subject to netting.

 

 

Annual Report 2014323


Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

 

 

 

 

                         Company     Company 
Amounts subject to enforceable netting arrangements        Amounts subject to enforceable netting arrangements            
Effects of offsetting on balance sheet  Related amounts not offset        Effects of offsetting on balance sheet      Related amounts not offset            
31 December 2014Gross
amounts
 

Amounts

offset

 

Net amounts  

reported on  

the balance  

sheet  

  Financial
instruments
 

Financial

collateral(1)

 

Net  

amount  

  Assets not subject
to enforceable
netting
arrangements(2)
 Balance sheet  
total(3)  
 
£m £m £m    £m £m £m    £m £m     Gross
amounts
   

    Amounts

offset

   

Net amounts

reported on the
balance

sheet

             Financial
instruments
   

Financial

collateral(1)

   Net
amount
      

Assets not subject

to enforceable

netting

arrangements(2)

   Balance sheet
total(3)
 
2015  £m   £m   £m      £m   £m   £m      £m   £m 

Derivative financial assets

   3,250     -     3,250       (2,922)     (56)     272       52     3,302  

Loans and advances to customers and
banks(4)

   46,220     (23,097)     23,123       (2,295)     -     20,828       177,447     200,570  

Total assets

   49,470     (23,097)     26,373       (5,217)     (56)     21,100       177,499     203,872  

Derivative financial liabilities

   3,002     -     3,002       (2,922)     (73)     7       26     3,028  

Repurchase, securities lending & similar agreements:

                    

- Deposits by banks and customers

   2,066     -     2,066       -     (2,066)     -       -     2,066  

Deposits by customers and banks(4)

       81,138     (23,097)     58,041       (2,295)     -     55,746       157,452     215,493  

Total liabilities

   86,206     (23,097)     63,109       (5,217)     (2,139)     55,753       157,478     220,587  

2014

                            

Derivative financial assets

 3,371   -   3,371     (2,048)   (80)   1,243     41   3,412       3,371     -     3,371       (2,048)     (80)     1,243       41     3,412  

Reverse repurchase, securities borrowing & similar agreements:

                    

- Trading assets

 -   -   -     -   -   -     -   -    

- Loans and advances to banks

 972   -   972     -   (972)   -     -   972       972     -     972       -     (972)     -       -     972  

Loans and advances to customers and banks(4)

 30,243   (18,883)   11,360     (5,931)   -   5,429     163,952   175,312       30,243     (18,883)     11,360       (5,931)     -     5,429       163,952     175,312  

Total assets

 34,586   (18,883)   15,703     (7,979)   (1,052)   6,672     163,993   179,696       34,586     (18,883)     15,703       (7,979)     (1,052)     6,672       163,993     179,696  

Derivative financial liabilities

 2,127   -   2,127     (2,048)   (69)   10     27   2,154       2,127     -     2,127       (2,048)     (69)     10       27     2,154  

Repurchase, securities lending & similar agreements:

                    

- Trading liabilities

 -   -   -     -   -   -     -   -    

- Deposits by banks

 1,283   -   1,283     -   (1,283)   -     -   1,283    

- Deposits by banks and customers

   1,283     -     1,283       -     (1,283)     -       -     1,283  

Deposits by customers and banks(4)

 70,790   (18,883)   51,907     (5,931)   -   45,976     143,151   195,058       70,790     (18,883)     51,907       (5,931)     -     45,976       143,151     195,058  

Total liabilities

 74,200   (18,883)   55,317     (7,979)   (1,352)   45,986     143,178   198,495       74,200     (18,883)     55,317       (7,979)     (1,352)     45,986       143,178     198,495  

31 December 2013

        

Derivative financial assets

 2,330   -   2,330     (19)   (233)   2,078     131   2,461    

Reverse repurchase, securities borrowing & similar agreements:

- Trading assets

 -   -   -     -   -   -     -   -    

- Loans and advances to banks

 1,005   -   1,005     (402)   (603)   -     -   1,005    

Loans and advances to customers and banks(4)

 244,847   (131,320)   113,527(4)     (107,751)   -   5,776     159,128   272,655    

Total assets

 248,182   (131,320)   116,862     (108,172)   (836)   7,854     159,259   276,121    

Derivative financial liabilities

 1,779   -   1,779     (19)   (74)   1,686     24   1,803    

Repurchase, securities lending & similar agreements:

- Trading liabilities

 -   -   -     -   -   -     -   -    

- Deposits by banks

 1,769   -   1,769     (402)   (1,367)   -     502   2,271    

Deposits by customers and banks(4)

 242,928   (131,320)   111,608     (107,751)   -   3,857     180,738   292,346    

Total liabilities

 246,476   (131,320)   115,156     (108,172)   (1,441)   5,543     181,264   296,420    
(1)(1) 

Financial collateral is reflected at its fair value, but has been limited to the net balance sheet exposure so as not to include any over-collateralisation.

(2)(2) 

This column includes contractual rights of set-off that are subject to uncertainty under the laws of the relevant jurisdiction.

(3)(3) 

The balance sheet total is the sum of ‘Net amounts reported on the balance sheet’ that are subject to enforceable netting arrangements and ‘Amounts not subject to enforceable netting arrangements’.

(4)(4) 

The amounts offset within loans and advances to customers/banks or deposits by customers/banks relate to offset mortgages and film deals which are classified as either and that are subject to netting.

As part of the banking reform programme,In 2015, the intercompany funding arrangements between Santander UK plc and its subsidiary Abbey National Treasury Services plc have beenwere amended so that onlymanagement of the net funding requirement of the commercial bank is passed between Santander UK plc andgroup was transferred from Abbey National Treasury Services plc rather thanto Santander UK plc. These steps were taken as part of a programme that began in 2014 and is still ongoing, to facilitate the gross funding requirements as previously. In preparation for this change, a rationalisationorderly implementation of the current booking model was carried out in 2014. Following this, the legal agreements between Santander UK plc and Abbey National Treasurygroup strategy to transition into a ring-fenced structure in due course pursuant to the requirements of the Financial Services plc were changed. As a result, only trades that generate the actual net funding requirement are reported. The intercompany balances between Santander UK plc and Abbey National Treasury Services plc reduced by £100bn predominantly due to this change.

(Banking Reform) Act 2013.

 

 

324Santander UK plc

296  Santander UK plc


IndependentPrimary FinancialNotes to the
Auditor’s reportstatementsfinancial statements
IndependentPrimary financialNotes to the
          Auditor’s Reportstatements

financial statements    

 

46.45. CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCES

This note reflects the transactions and amounts reported on a basis consistent with the Santander UK group’s regulatory filings at 31 December 2014, following the adoption of CRD IV with effect from 1 January2015 and 2014. The amounts presented for 2013 have been prepared on a consistent basis, to aid comparability. The amounts presented for 2013 have not been adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as set out in Note 1. The adjustment would not have had a material effect on Santander UK’s regulatory position.

Capital management and capital allocation

Santander UK plc and its subsidiaries are a UK banking group effectively subject to two tiers of supervision. Santander UK is subject to prudential supervision by both the PRA (as a UK authorised bank)banking group) and Banco de España (the Bank of Spain)the ECB (as a member of the Banco Santander group). The ECB commenced supervision of the Banco Santander group in 2014 as part of the Single Supervisory Mechanism. As a PRA regulated entity, Santander UK is expected to satisfy the PRA liquidity and capital requirements on a standalone basis. Similarly, Santander UK must demonstrate to the PRA that it can withstand liquidity and capital stress tests without parental support. Reinforcing the corporate governance framework adopted by Santander UK, the PRA exercises oversight through its rules and regulations on the Santander UK Board and senior management appointments.

The Board is responsible for capital management strategy and policy and ensuring that capital resources are appropriately monitored and controlled within regulatory and internal limits. Authority for capital management flows to the CEO and from him to specific individuals who are members of the Santander UK Capital Committee.

The Capital Committee adopts a centralised capital management approach that is driven by the Santander UK group’s corporate purpose and strategy. This approach takes into account the regulatory and commercial environment in which the Santander UK group operates, the Santander UK group’s risk appetite,Risk Appetite, the management strategy for each of the Santander UK group’s material risks (including whether or not capital provides an appropriate risk mitigant) and the impact of appropriate adverse scenarios and stresses on the Santander UK group’s capital requirements. This approach is reviewed annually as part of the Santander UK group’s Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (‘ICAAP’).ICAAP.

The Santander UK group manages its capital requirements, debt funding and liquidity on the basis of policies and plans reviewed regularly by the Capital Committee. Capital requirements are also reviewed as part of the ICAAP while debt funding and liquidity are also reviewed as part of the Internal Liquidity Adequacy Assessment (‘ILAA’)ILAA process. To support its capital and senior debt issuance programmes, Santander UK plc is rated on a stand alone basis from Banco Santander, S.A..stand-alone basis.

On an ongoing basis, and in accordance with the latest ICAAP review, the Santander UK group forecasts its regulatory and internal capital requirements based on the approved capital volumes allocated to business units as part of the corporate planning process which generates the Santander UK group’s strategic 3-Year Plan. Alongside this plan, the Santander UK group develops a series of macro economicmacro-economic scenarios to stress test its capital requirements and confirm that it has adequate regulatory capital resources to meet its projected and stressed regulatory capital requirement and to meet its obligations as they fall due. Internally assigned buffers augment the various regulatory minimum capital criteria. Buffers are held in order to ensure there is sufficient time for management actions to be implemented against unexpected movements.

Decisions on the allocation of capital resources are conducted as part of the Santander UK group’s strategic three year planning process based on the relative returns on capital using both economic and regulatory capital measures. Capital allocations are reviewed in response to changes in risk appetiteRisk Appetite and risk management strategy, changes to the commercial environment, changes in key economic indicators or when additional capital requests are received.

This combination of regulatory and economic capital ratios and limits, internal buffers and restrictions, together with the relevant costs of differing capital instruments and a consideration of the various other capital management techniques are used to shape the most cost-effective structure to fulfil the Santander UK group’s capital needs.

Capital adequacy

The Santander UK group manages its capital on a Basel IIICRD IV basis. During the years ended 31 December 20142015 and 2013,2014, the Santander UK group held capital over and above its regulatory requirements, and managed internal capital allocations and targets in accordance with its capital and risk management policies.

Annual Report 2014325


Financial statements

Santander UK plc, Abbey National Treasury Services plc, and Cater Allen Limited, which are the three PRA-regulated entities within the Santander UK group, are party to a capital support deed dated 23 December 2015 (the Capital Support Deed) with certain other non-regulated subsidiaries of Santander UK plc and Santander UK Group Holdings plc. The parties to the Capital Support Deed constitute a core UK group as defined in the PRA Rulebook. Exposures of each of the three regulated entities to other members of the core UK group are exempt from large exposure limits that would otherwise apply. The purpose of the Capital Support Deed is to facilitate the prompt transfer of available capital resources from, or repayment of liabilities by, the non-regulated parties to any of the regulated parties in the event that one of the regulated parties has breached or is at risk of breaching its capital resources requirements or risk concentrations requirements. The core UK group permission expires on 31 December 2018.

Group capital

 

2014

£m

 

2013  

£m  

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

 

Core Equity Tier 1 (‘CET 1’) capital before regulatory adjustments

 13,054   11,916    

Common Equity Tier 1 (CET 1) capital before regulatory adjustments

     13,853       13,054  

Regulatory adjustments to CET 1 capital

 (3,298)   (2,947)         (3,870)       (3,298)  

CET 1 capital

 9,756   8,969         9,983       9,756  

Additional Tier 1 (‘AT1’) capital

 1,866   1,298    

Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital

     2,258       1,866  

Tier 1 capital

 11,622   10,267         12,241       11,622  

Tier 2 capital

 3,072   3,020         3,381       3,072  

Total capital

 14,694   13,287         15,622       14,694  

Tier 1 includes audited profits for the years ended 31 December 20142015 and 20132014 after adjustment to comply with PRA rules. Tier 1 deductions primarily relate to goodwill and expected losses. The expected losses deduction represents the difference between expected loss calculated in accordance with the Santander UK group’s CRD IV Retail Internal Rating-Based (‘IRB’)(IRB) and Advanced Internal Rating-Based (‘AIRB’)(AIRB) models, and the impairment loss allowances calculated in accordance with IFRS. The Santander UK group’s accounting policy for impairment loss allowances is set out in Note 1. Regulatory expected losses are calculated using risk parameters based on either through-the-cycle, or economic downturn estimates, and are subject to conservatism due to the imposition of regulatory floors. They are therefore currently higher than the impairment loss allowances under IFRS which only reflect losses incurred at the balance sheet date. In addition, the Santander UK group has elected to deduct certain securitisation positions from capital rather than treat these exposures as a risk weighted asset. Tier 2 deductions also represent expected losses and securitisation positions described above.

Annual Report 2015

Financial statements

During 2014,2015, CET 1 capital increased by £787m£227m to £9,756m (2013: £8,969m)£9,983m (2014: £9,756m). This increase was largely due to retained profits for the year.year attributable to equity holders of the parent of £939m, less interim ordinary dividends approved of £427m. During 2014,2015, the increase in AT1 capital increased by £568m to £1,866m (2013: £1,298m)was due to the issuance of £800m£750m Perpetual Capital Securities to the Company’s immediate parent company as detailed in Note 38.36. This increase was partially offsetoff-set by the repurchase of £265m£173m of £300mFixed/Floating Rate Tier One Preferred Income Capital Securities, £21m of fixed/floating rate non-cumulative callable preference shares, as detailed in Note 38.£62m of Step-up Callable Perpetual Reserve Capital Instruments and £47m of Non-cumulative Trust Preferred Securities.

47. EVENTS AFTER THE BALANCE SHEET DATE46. ACQUISITION OF PSA FINANCE UK LIMITED

On 3 February 2015, the Santander UK group through Santander Consumer (UK) plc (‘SCUK’)(SCUK) entered into an agreement with Banque PSA Finance, S.A. (‘BPF’)(BPF), the auto finance unit of Group PSA Peugeot Citroën, to purchase 50% of the shares of PSA Finance UK Limited (‘PSA’)(PSA). PSA, BPF and SCUK have set up a corporationcooperation to offer a range of consumer finance and insurance products and services for individuals, businesses and distribution networks in the automotive industry. SCUK has control over PSA through its ability to direct the activities that most significantly affect SCUK’s returns.

The aggregate net consideration paid by SCUK for the shares was £109m. The following table shows the amounts recognised at the acquisition date for the net assets acquired:

Net assets acquired:£m

Assets

Loans and advances to customers

2,461

Other assets

56

Liabilities

Deposits by customers

(1,219)

Debt securities in issue

(1,014)

Other liabilities

(66)

Net identified assets and liabilities

218

Non-controlling interests (50%)

(109)

Consideration

109

Satisfied by:

Cash and cash equivalents

109

Less: Cash and cash equivalents in business acquired

-

Net cash outflow

109

The acquisition of PSA strengthened Santander UK’s market position. No intangible assets in respect of brands and customer database, key employees, patents or intellectual property rights were identified. The fair value of the non-controlling interest in PSA was estimated by using the purchase price paid for the acquisition of 50% of the shares of PSA by SCUK.

The initial allocation of ‘Other assets’ acquired was revised from £60m to £56m as part of the final allocation of the fair value of the net assets acquired. In accordance with the sale and purchase agreement, the difference was settled between SCUK and BPF reducing the amount paid by SCUK as shown above.

Financial effect of the acquisition

The total operating income and profit before tax included in the Consolidated Income Statement for the year ended 31 December 2015 contributed by the PSA business since the acquisition (before deducting non-controlling interests) were £67,754m and £62,212m, respectively. Had PSA been consolidated from 1 January 2015, Santander UK would have included total operating income of £73,096m and profit before tax of £65,658m (before deducting non-controlling interests) for the year.

Analysis of loans and advances acquired:

Net assets acquired:    

Fair value

£m

     

Gross contractual
amounts receivable

£m

   

Estimated uncollectible gross
contractual amounts receivable

£m

 

Loans and advances to customers

     2,461       2,567     2  

47. EVENTS AFTER THE BALANCE SHEET DATE

There have been no significant events between 31 December 2015 and the date of approval of these financial statements which would require a change to or additional disclosure in the financial statements.

48. PROFIT/(LOSS)PROFIT AFTER TAX OF THE COMPANY

The profit/(loss)profit after tax of the Company attributable to shareholders was £115m (2014: £1,346m, (2013: £225m, 2012: £(756)m)2013: £225m). As permitted by Section 408 of the UK Companies Act 2006, the Company’s individual income statement has not been presented. The loss in 2012 was attributable to the reversal of temporary mark-to-market gains recognised in 2011 of £1,224m on derivatives with other entities in the Santander UK group which eliminate on consolidation. Excluding this mark-to-market volatility, there would have been a profit of £464m in 2012.

 

 

326Santander UK plc

298  Santander UK plc


Risk

Contact and

Glossary

Forward-looking

Selected Financial

Factors

other Information

Statements

Data

        Risk  Contact and Subsidiaries, joint ventures    Forward looking  Selected
        Factorsother informationand associatesGlossarystatements

financial data

Shareholder information

300     Risk factors

321Contact and other information

322Subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates

325Glossary

330Forward-looking statements

331Selected financial data

 

 

Annual Report 2015

Shareholder information

Risk Factorsfactors

An investment in Santander UK plc (the ‘Company’)Company) and its subsidiaries (‘us’, ‘we’(us, we or ‘SantanderSantander UK group’)group) involves a number of risks, the material ones of which are set out below.

We rely on recruiting, retaining and developing appropriate senior management and skilled personnel

Our continued success depends in part on the continued service of key members of our management team. The ability to continue to attract, train, motivate and retain highly qualified and talented professionals is a key element of our strategy. The successful implementation of our growth strategy depends on the availability of skilled management, both at our head office and in each of our business units. If we or one of our business units or other functions fails to staff its operations appropriately, or loses one or more of its key senior executives and fails to replace them in a satisfactory and timely manner, our business, financial condition and results of operations, including control and operational risks, may be adversely affected.

In addition, the financial services industry has and may continue to experience more stringent regulation of employee compensation, which could have an adverse effect on our ability to hire or retain the most qualified employees. If we fail or are unable to attract and appropriately train, motivate and retain qualified professionals, our business may also be adversely affected.

We are vulnerable to disruptions and volatility in the global financial markets

Over the past seveneight years, financial systems worldwide have experienced difficult credit and liquidity conditions and disruptions leading to reduced liquidity, greater volatility (such as volatility in spreads) and, in some cases, a lack of price transparency on interbank lending rates. Uncertainties remain concerning the outlook and the future economic environment despite recent improvements in certain segments of the global economy, including the United Kingdom (the ‘UK’)UK). There can be no assurance that economic conditions in these segments will continue to improve or that the global economic condition as a whole will improve significantly or at all. Such economic uncertainties could have a negative impact on our business and results of operations. The acute economic risks in the eurozone are being addressed by on-going policy initiatives, and the prospects for many of the European economies are improving. Investors remain cautious and a slowing or failing of the economic recovery would likely aggravate the adverse effects of difficult economic and market conditions on us and on others in the financial services industry.

In particular, we may face, among others, the following risks related to any future economic downturn:

>-

Increased regulation of our industry. Compliance with such regulation maywill continue to increase our costs, may affect the pricing of our products and services, and limit our ability to pursue business opportunities.

opportunities
>-

Reduced demand for our products and services.

services
>-

Inability of our borrowers to comply fully or in a timely manner with their existing obligations.

obligations
>-

The process we use to estimate losses inherent in our credit exposure requires complex judgements, including forecasts of economic conditions and how such economic conditions may impair the ability of our borrowers to repay their loans. loans

-The degree of uncertainty concerning economic conditions may adversely affect the accuracy of our estimates, which may, in turn, impact the reliability of the process and the sufficiency of our loan loss allowances.

allowances
>-

The value and liquidity of the portfolio of investment securities that we hold may be adversely affected.

affected
>-

Any worsening of the global economic conditions may delay the recovery of the international financial industry and impact our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

prospects
>-

Adverse macroeconomic shocks may negatively impact the household income of our retail customers, which may adversely affect the recoverability of our retail loans, and result in increased loan losses.

Continued or worsening disruption and volatility in the global financial markets could have a material adverse effect on us, including our ability to access capital and liquidity on financial terms acceptable to us, if at all. If capital markets financing ceases to become available, or becomes excessively expensive, we may be forced to raise the rates we pay on deposits to attract more customers and we may become unable to maintain certain liability maturities. Any such increase in capital markets funding costs or deposit rates could have a material adverse effect on our interest margins, liquidity and profitability.

If all or some of the foregoing risks were to materialise, this could have a material adverse effect on us.

Our operating results, financial condition and prospects may be materially impacted by economic conditions in the UK

Our business activities are concentrated in the UK and we offer a range of banking and financial products and services to UK retail and corporate customers. As a consequence, our operating results, financial condition and prospects are significantly affected by the general economic conditions in the UK.

Our financial performance is intrinsically linked to the UK economy and the economic confidence of consumers and businesses. The sustainability of the UK economic recovery, along with its concomitant impacts on our profitability, remainremains a risk. Conversely, a strengthened UK economic performance may increase the possibility of a higher interest rate environment. In such a scenario other market participants might offer more competitive product pricing resulting in increased customer attrition.

Adverse changes in global growth may pose the risk of a further slowdown in the UK’s principal export markets which would have an adverse effect on the broader UK economy.

300  Santander UK plc


        RiskContact andSubsidiaries, joint venturesForward lookingSelected
        Factorsother informationand associatesGlossarystatements

financial data

In addition, adverse changes in the credit quality of our borrowers and counterparties or a general deterioration in UK or global economic conditions could reduce the recoverability and value of our assets and require an increase in our level of provisions for bad and doubtful debts. Likewise, a significant reduction in the demand for our products and services could negatively impact our business and financial condition. UK economic conditions and uncertainties may have an adverse effect on the quality of our loan portfolio and may result in a rise in delinquency and default rates. There can be no assurance that we will not have to increase our provisions for loan losses in the future as a result of increases in non-performing loans and/or for other reasons beyond our control. Material increases in our provisions for loan losses and write-offs/charge-offs could have an adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Annual Report 2014327


Shareholder Information

The UK government has taken measures to address the rising and high level of national debt, including reducing its borrowing and public spending cuts. Credit quality could be adversely affected by a renewed increase in unemployment. Any related significant reduction in the demand for our products and services could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Exposure to UK political developments could have a material adverse effect on us

Any significant changes in the UK government policies or political structurepublic policy environment could have an impact on our business, including asbusiness. The UK government has committed to hold a result of the UK general election in 2015. In particular, the second half of 2014 saw increased debate aroundreferendum on the UK’s relationship withmembership of the European Union (‘EU’), including in(EU) by the contextend of the general election. The outcome of any future2016. Future UK political developments, including but not limited to any changes in government structure and policies, could affect the fiscal, monetary and regulatory landscape to which we are subject and also therefore our financing availability and terms. Consequently no assurance can be given that our operating results, financial condition and prospects would not be adversely impacted as a result.

We are subject to regulatory capital and leverage requirements that could limit our operations, and changes to these requirements may further limit and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects

We are subject to capital adequacy requirements applicable to banks and banking groups under directly applicable EU legislation and as adopted by the Prudential Regulation Authority (‘PRA’)(PRA) of the Bank of England.England (BoE). We are required to maintain a minimum ratio of Common Equity Tier 1 (CET 1) capital to risk-weighted assets, (instead of Core Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets), Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets, total capital to risk-weighted assets and Tier 1 capital to total adjusted assets for leverage monitoring purposes. Any failure by us to maintain such ratios above prescribed regulatory minimum levels may result in administrative actions or sanctions; these could potentially include requirements on us to cease all or certain lines of new business, to raise new capital resources or, in certain circumstances, a requirement for our existing capital instruments (potentially including our debt securities) to be subjected to bail-in or write down (see(For more information, see the Risk Factorfactor entitled ‘Bail-in and write down powers under the Banking Act and the BRRD’ on pages 341BRRD may adversely affect our business and 342 for further detail).

The PRA requires the capital resourcesvalue of large UK banks to be maintained at levels which exceed the base capital requirements prescribed by its rules and, following the PRA 2013 capital shortfall exercise,securities we have been required to hold Common Equity Tier 1 capital reserves equivalent to at least 7 per cent. of our risk-weighted assets and to maintain a minimum 3 per cent. Tier 1 leverage ratio. From 1 January 2015 further increases to capital requirements have been implemented by the PRA, partly informed by the concurrent stress testing process conducted by the PRA in 2014 and planned to be conducted annually thereafter. In the future, the PRA could, through supervisory actions (beyond the changes described below), require UK banks, including us, to increase their capital resources further, and could also increase capital ratios as part of the exercise of UK macro-prudential capital regulation tools.may issue’).

The Capital Requirements Directive IV (‘CRD(CRD IV Directive’)Directive) and the Capital Requirements Regulation (together ‘CRD IV’)(CRD IV Regulation and together with the CRD IV Directive, CRD IV) legislative package implemented the changes prepared by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (the ‘Basel Committee’)Basel Committee) to the capital adequacy framework, known as ‘Basel III’ in the European Union.EU. The CRD IV Regulation is directly applicable in each member state of the European UnionEU (each a ‘Member State’)Member State) and does not therefore require national implementing measures, whilst the CRD IV Directive must behas been implemented by Member States.States though national legislative processes. CRD IV was published in the Official Journal on 27 June 2013 and came into effect on 1 January 2014, with particular requirements to be fully effective by 2019. CRD IV substantially reflects the Basel III capital and liquidity standards and facilitates the applicable implementation timeframes. On 19 December 2013, the PRA published the initial version of its rules and supervisory statements associated with the implementation of CRD IV, which cover prudential rules for banks, building societies and investment firms. Certain issues, however, continue to remain under discussion and certain details remain to be clarified in further binding technical standards to be issuedadopted by the European Banking Authority,Commission (Commission), which creates some uncertainty as to the final impactlevel of capital requirements which will apply under CRD IV.

Under the ‘Pillar 2’ framework, the PRA requires the capital resources of UK banks to be maintained at levels which exceed the base capital requirements prescribed by CRD IV and to cover relevant risks in their business. In addition, a series of capital buffers has been established under CRD IV and PRA rules to ensure a bank can withstand a period of stress. These buffers, which must be met by CET 1 capital, include the counter-cyclical capital buffer, sectoral capital requirements, a PRA buffer and the capital conservation buffer. The total size of the capital buffers will be informed by the results of the annual concurrent UK stress testing exercises undertaken by the PRA. The BoE’s approach to stress testing the UK banking system was outlined in October 2015. The BoE is aiming to develop an approach that is explicitly countercyclical, with the severity of the stress test and the associated regulatory capital buffers varying systematically with the state of the financial cycle. Furthermore, the framework is aiming to support a continued improvement in UK banks’ risk management and capital planning capabilities, and the BoE expects participating UK banks to demonstrate sustained improvements in their capabilities over time. The PRA can take action if a bank fails to meet the required capital ratio hurdle rates in the stress testing exercise, and the banks which fail to do so will be required to take action to strengthen their capital position over an appropriate timeframe. If a bank does not meet expectations in its risk management and capital planning capabilities in the stress testing exercise, this may inform the setting of its capital buffers. Though the results of the PRA’s 2015 stress test did not impact on us.the level of capital that we are required to hold, the PRA could, in the future, as a result of stress testing exercises and as part of the exercise of UK macro-prudential capital regulation tools, or through supervisory actions (beyond the changes described below), require UK banks, including us, to increase our/their capital resources further.

The Financial Services Act 2012 empowers the Financial Policy Committee of the BankBoE (FPC), which is a sub-committee of England (‘FPC’) setthe Court of Directors of the BoE, to give directions to the PRA and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) so as to ensure implementation of macroprudential measures intended to manage systemic risk. The FPC sets the counter-cyclical capital buffer rate at 0 per cent. from October 2014 and then subsequentlyfor the UK on a quarterly basis. At its most recent meeting in November 2015, the FPC announced on 16 December 2014 that the counter-cyclical buffer rate would remain at 0 per cent. 0%.

The UK Government has stated that it intends that the FPC should also be able to require the PRA to impose additional specific capital requirements on banks to address risks to the UK market for banking services and the UK Government has indicated that it intends to provideFinancial Services Act 2012 provides the FPC with certain other macro-prudential tools for the management of systemic risk. Since 6 April 2015, these tools have included powers of direction relating to directleverage ratios. In July 2015, the FPC made certain directions to the PRA in relation to set leverage ratio requirements and buffers. The Bank of England, acting through the FPC, undertook a review of the leverage ratio during 2014,ratio. In December 2015, the resultsPRA issued a policy statement setting out how it would implement the FPC’s direction and recommendations on the leverage ratio. Since 1 January 2016, all major UK banks (including us) have been required to hold enough Tier 1 capital (75% of which were published on 31 October 2014. The FPC recommended that it should have the powermust be CET 1 capital) to direct the PRA to set (i)satisfy a minimum leverage ratio requirement; (ii) a supplementary leverage ratio buffer;requirement of 3% and (iii)enough CET 1 capital to satisfy a countercyclical leverage ratio buffer and recommended thatof 35% of each bank’s institution-specific counter-cyclical capital buffer rate. The FPC also directed the PRA establishto require UK globally systemically important banks (G-SIBs) and domestically systemically important banks, building societies and PRA-regulated investment firms (including us) to hold enough CET 1 capital to meet a supplementary leverage ratio buffer requirementof 35% of the institution-specific G-SIB buffer rate or Systemic Risk Buffer (SRB) for major domestic UK banks equal to 35 per cent. of each bank’s risk-weighted systemic buffer. HM Treasury has consulteddomestically systemically important banks. The supplementary leverage ratio buffer was implemented on draft legislation granting the FPC new powers of direction over the PRA1 January 2016, in line with the FPC’s recommendations and published a paper, datedG-SIB buffer rate imposed by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), with the SRB to be applicable from 1 January 2014, explaining the outcome of this consultation. The final scope of this framework, and the precise timing for its introduction, is currently unclear, however the FPC has recommended that its leverage ratio framework should be applied to systemically important institutions as soon as practicable, and to all other PRA-regulated firms in 2018, subject to a review of international progress in 2017.2019. The FPC published a draft policy statementcan also direct the PRA to adjust capital requirements in February 2015relation to be considered alongside Parliament’s scrutinyparticular sectors through the imposition of the associated secondary legislation.sectoral capital requirements. Action taken in the future by the FPC in exercise of any suchof its powers could result in the regulatory capital requirements applied to us being increased.

Annual Report 2015

Shareholder information

Regulators in the UK and worldwide have also proposed that additional capitalloss absorbency requirements should be applied to systemically important institutions to ensure that there is sufficient loss absorbing and recapitalisation capacity available in resolution. The Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (the ‘Banking Reform Act’) amended the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (‘FSMA’) and provides HM Treasury with the power to require a bank to issue any type of debt instruments or to ensure that any part of its debt consists of debt instruments of a particular kind. This power is in addition to the regulatory capital requirements under CRD IV. HM Treasury has indicated that it intends to use this power, as appropriate, to impose requirements for firms to meet total loss-absorbing capital (‘TLAC’) requirements proposed by the Financial Stability Board or, in accordance with the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (‘BRRD’) and(BRRD) requires Member States to ensure that EU banks meet a Minimum Requirement for Eligible Liabilities (‘MREL’) requirements. HM Treasury(MREL). The BRRD was transposed into UK law in January 2015, with the provisions on MREL taking effect from 1 January 2016. On 11 December 2015, the BoE published a consultation paper on its proposed statement of policy on its approach to setting MREL. The PRA also published a consultation paper and a draft supervisory statement on the relationship between MREL and capital and leverage buffers. On 9 November 2015, the FSB also published its final Total Loss-Absorbing Capital (TLAC) standards for G-SIBs. The BoE has consultedindicated that it will set MREL on a draft Ordercase-by-case basis, and that will regulateit intends to set MREL for G-SIBs as necessary to implement the exerciseTLAC standard. The BoE has also indicated that it intends to set consolidated MREL in 2016 no higher than institutions’ current regulatory minimum capital requirements and consequently there should be no immediate change in regulatory requirements for loss absorbency capacity. For most institutions, the BoE proposes to set a final MREL conformance date of this power on institutions, although in July 2014 it announced that the finalisation of detailed requirements would be delayed pending international agreement in relation to TLAC and MREL requirements. The power is expected to become exercisable on or before 1 January 2016, at which time2020, although it expects UK G-SIBs to meet the power may be usedinterim TLAC minimum requirement by 1 January 2019. The deadline for responses to introducethe consultation papers is 11 March 2016. The final impact of TLAC and MREL requirements affecting us. is not yet known as this will depend on the way in which our regulators choose to implement these requirements.

In addition, since 31 December 2014, the PRA has had the power under the FSMAFinancial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) to make rules requiring a parent undertaking of a bank to make arrangements to facilitate the exercise of resolution powers, including a power to require a group to issue debt instruments. Such powers could have an impact on the liquidity of our debt instruments and could materially increase our cost of funding.

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Since 1 January 2014, we have also been subject to certain recovery and resolution planning requirements (popularly known as ‘living wills’) for banks and other financial institutions as set out in the PRA Rulebook. These requirements were updated in January 2015 to implement the recovery and resolution framework under the BRRD. The updated requirements impose more regular and detailed reporting obligations, including the requirement to submit recovery plans and resolution packs to the PRA and to keep them up to date.

In addition to the above, regulators in the UK and worldwide have produced a range of proposals for future legislative and regulatory changes which could force us to comply with certain operational restrictions or take steps to raise further capital, or could increase our expenses, or otherwise adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects. These include:changes, which could affect the Santander UK group as a whole, include the implementation of the Basel Committee on Banking Standards’ (BCBS) new market risk framework, which will take effect in 2019 and includes rules made as a result of the BCBS’ fundamental review of the trading book. The new market risk framework includes:

>-

the introduction of recovery and resolution planning requirements (popularly known as ‘living wills’) for banks and other financial institutions as contingency planning for the failure of a financial institution that may affect the stability of the financial system, as set out in the PRA’s final rules on recovery and resolution planning which came into force on 1 January 2014;

>

the introduction of more regular and detailed reporting obligations;

>

a move to pre-funding of the deposit protection scheme in the UK;

>

proposed revisions to the approaches for determining trading book capital requirements and banking book risk-weighted assets from the Basel Committee; and

>

proposed revisionsRevisions to the standardised approach to credit risk (‘Standardised Approach’) by the Basel Committee(Standardised Approach) to address certain weaknesses in the Standardised Approach identified by the Basel Committee. These weaknesses include an over-relianceCommittee

-Additional constraints on externalthe use of internal model approaches for credit ratings, a lackrisk
-The development of risk sensitivity and a lack of comparability and misalignment of treatment with exposures risk weighted under the internal ratings-based (‘IRB’) approach to credit risk. Among other revisions, the Basel Committee is proposing to impose a Standardised Approach floor on modelled credit risk capital requirements with the aims of: (i) constraining variation in risk-weighted assets across banks using the IRB approach (with respect to portfolios with similar risk profiles); and (ii) protecting against the risk that modelled parameters result in capital requirements that are too low.

requirements.

The BCBS has also announced proposals to revise the advanced measurement approach for operational risk and finalise the calibration and design of the leverage ratio by the end of 2016.

These measures could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, and consequently, on our business, financial condition and prospects. There is a risk that changes to the UK’s capital adequacy regime (including any increase to the minimum leverage ratio)ratios) may result in increased minimum capital requirements, which could reduce available capital for business purposes and thereby adversely affect our cost of funding, profitability and ability to pay dividends, continue organic growth (including increased lending), or pursue acquisitions or other strategic opportunities (alternatively we could restructure our balance sheet to reduce the capital charges incurred pursuant to the PRA’s rules in relation to the assets held, or raise additional capital but at increased cost and subject to prevailing market conditions). In addition, changes to the eligibility criteria for Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital may affect our ability to raise Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital and impact the recognition of existing Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital resources in the calculation of our capital position. Furthermore increased capital requirements may negatively affect our return on equity and other financial performance indicators.

Our business could be affected if our capital is not managed effectively or if these measures limit our ability to manage our balance sheet and capital resources effectively or to access funding on commercially acceptable terms. Effective management of our capital position is important to our ability to operate our business, to continue to grow organically and to pursue our business strategy. For additional information aboutmore on our capital position and capital management, see ‘Risk Reviewreview - Capital management and resources’risk’ on pages 118129 to 124.138.

We are subject to liquidity requirements that could limit our operations, and changes to these requirements may further limit and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects

On 5 October 2009, the FSA published liquidity rules that significantly broadened the scope of the existing liquidity regime. These were designed to enhance regulated firms’ liquidity risk management practices. As part of these reforms, the FSA implemented requirements for financial institutions to hold prescribed levels of specified liquid assets and have in place other sources of liquidity to address institution-specific and market-wide liquidity risks that institutions may face in short-term and prolonged stress scenarios. These rules have applied to us since June 2010 with some subsequent technical revisions. These rules will continue to apply to us until implementation of the Basel III standards.

As from 1 April 2013, the PRA, an independent subsidiary of the Bank of England,BoE, took over the responsibility for micro-prudential regulation of banks and certain other financial institutions from the FSA. TheFinancial Services Authority (FSA). Before the implementation of CRD IV, the PRA currently operatesoperated its own liquidity rules based on the following elements:

>-

principlesPrinciples of self-sufficiency and adequacy of liquidity resources;

resources
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enhancedEnhanced systems and control requirements;

requirements
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quantitativeQuantitative requirements, including Individual Liquidity Adequacy Standards, coupled with a narrow definition of liquid assets; and

assets
>-

frequentFrequent regulatory reporting.

Santander UK currently meets the minimum requirements set by the PRA. However, there can be no assurance that future changes to such requirements would not adversely impact on our operating results financial condition and prospects.

Under CRD IV, banks will beare required to meet two new liquidity standards, comprising the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (‘LCR’)(LCR) and the Net Stable Funding Ratio (‘NSFR’)(NSFR) metrics, which are aimed to promote:

>-

theThe short-term resilience of banks’ liquidity risk profiles by ensuring they have sufficient high-quality liquid assets to survive a significant stress scenario; and

scenario
>-

aA longer-term resilience by creating incentives for banks to fund their activities with more stable sources of funding on an on-going basis.

In June 2015, the PRA issued its policy statement on the transfer of the liquidity regime to the CRD IV standard, confirming that the existing regime under BIPRU 12 would cease to apply with effect from 1 October 2015, although certain of the BIPRU requirements are reflected in the new regime.

LCR

The LCR is intended to ensure that a bank maintains an adequate level of unencumbered, high quality liquid assets which can be used to offset the net cash outflows the bank could encounter under a short-term significant liquidity stress scenario.

The LCR will bewas introduced in 2015 and the minimum requirement under CRD IV will begin at 60 per cent.UK on 1 October 2015, rising2015. The PRA has opted to impose higher liquidity coverage requirements than the minimum required by 10 percentage points on each of 1 January 2016 and 1 January 2017 and by 20 percentage pointsCRD IV during the phase-in period to reach 100 per cent. on 1 January 2018. The PRA published a consultation on implementation of the liquidity rules in November 2014, which proposes that an 80 per cent.current minimum requirement should apply from October 2015,for UK banks is set at 80%, rising to 90% on 1 January 2017. This consultation will close2017 and 100% on 27 February 2015.1 January 2018. We currently meet the minimum requirements set by the PRA, however there can be no assurance that future changes to the applicable liquidity requirements would not have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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NSFR

In October 2014, the Basel Committee published its final standard of the NSFR which will take effect on 1 January 2018. The NSFR is defined as the amount of available stable funding relative to the amount of required stable funding. Banks are expected to hold aan NSFR of at least 100 per cent.100% on an on-going basis and report its NSFR at least quarterly. Ahead of its planned implementation on 1 January 2018, the NSFR will remain subject to an observation period.

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There is a risk that implementing and maintaining existing and new liquidity requirements, such as through enhanced liquidity risk management systems, may incur significant costs, and more stringent requirements to hold liquid assets may materially affect our lending business as more funds may be required to acquire or maintain a liquidity buffer, thereby reducing future profitability. This could in turn adversely impact our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Exposure to UK Government debt could have a material adverse effect on us

Like many other UK banks, we invest in debt securities of the UK Government largely for liquidity purposes. As of 31 December 2014,2015, approximately 1 per cent.1% of our total assets and 22 per cent.18% of our securities portfolio were comprised of debt securities issued by the UK Government. Any failure by the UK Government to make timely payments under the terms of these securities, or a significant decrease in their market value, will have a material adverse effect on us.

We may suffer adverse effects as a result of the economic and sovereign debt tensions in the eurozone

EurozoneConditions in the capital markets and economiesthe economy generally in the eurozone, which, although improving recently, continue to show signs of fragility and volatility, with recession in some national economies.volatility. Interest rate differentials among eurozone countries indicate continued doubts about some governments’ ability to fund themselvesare affecting government finance and affect borrowing rates in those economies. Further, the possibility remains that one or more eurozone countriesThis could depart from the euro or that the euro could be abandoned as a currency altogether, which could have negative effects on both existing contractual relations and the fulfilment of obligations by us, our counterparties and/or our customers. This in turn would have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

There is currently no established legal or practical framework to facilitate a Member State’s exit from the euro. Apart from the exit process, uncertainties that heighten the risk of re-denomination include how an exiting Member State would deal with its existing euro-denominated assets and liabilities and the valuation of any newly-adopted currency against the euro. A break-up of the eurozone could be associated with a deterioration in the economic and financial environment in the UK and could have a material adverse impact on the whole financial sector, creating new challenges in sovereign and corporate lending and resulting in significant disruptions in financial activities at both the market and retail levels. This could materially and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

The European Central Bank (‘ECB’)(ECB) and European Council have taken actions in 2012 and 2013 with the aim of reducing the risk of contagion in the eurozone and beyond.beyond and improving economic and financial stability. These included the creation of the Open Market Transaction facility of the ECB and the decision by eurozone governments to progress towards the creation of a banking union. In January 2015, the ECB announced an extensive quantitative easing scheme. The scheme comprises a60bn-a-month bond-buying programme across the eurozone, such programme to last until at least September 2016, with a potential for extension if inflation in the eurozone does not meet the ECB target of 2 per cent.2%. In December 2015, the ECB announced that it was extending its quantitative easing scheme until at least March 2017. Notwithstanding these measures, a significant number of financial institutions throughout Europe have substantial exposures to sovereign debt issued by eurozone (and other) nations, which are under financial stress. Should any of those nations default on their debt, or experience a significant widening of credit spreads, major financial institutions and banking systems throughout Europe could be destabilised, resulting in the further spread of the recent economic crisis.

The high cost of capital for some European governments impacted the wholesale markets in the UK, which resulted in an increase in the cost of retail funding and greater competition in the savings market. In the absence of a permanent resolution of the eurozone crisis, conditions could deteriorate.

Although we conduct the majority of our business in the UK, we have direct and indirect exposure to financial and economic conditions throughout the eurozone economies.economies (as market instability surrounding Greece’s membership of the eurozone demonstrated in the earlier part of 2015). While concerns relating to sovereign defaults or a partial or complete break-up of the European Monetary Union, including potential accompanying redenomination risks and uncertainties, seemed to have abated during 2014, such concerns resurfaced to some extent in the earlier part of 2015 with the election of a new government in Greece. For further description of our country risk exposures, including eurozone and peripheral eurozone exposures and redenomination risk, see the ‘Country Risk Exposure’ section in the Risk Review‘Risk review – Country risk exposure’ on pages 136154 to 143.159. In addition, general financial and economic conditions in the UK, which directly affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects, may deteriorate as a result of conditions in the eurozone.

We are exposed to risks faced by other financial institutions

We routinely transact with counterparties in the financial services industry, including brokers and dealers, commercial banks, investment banks, mutual funds, hedge funds and other institutional clients. Defaults by, and even rumours or questions about the solvency of certain financial institutions and the financial services industry generally, have led to market-wide liquidity problems and could lead to losses or defaults by other institutions. Many of the routine transactions we enter into expose us to significant credit risk in the event of default by one of our significant counterparties. The European sovereign debt crisis and the risk it poses to financial institutions throughout Europe have had, and may continue to have, an adverse effect on interbank financial transactions in general. A default by a significant financial counterparty, or liquidity problems in the financial services industry generally, could have a material adverse effect on us.

Liquidity and funding risks are inherent in our business and could have a material adverse effect on us

Liquidity risk is the risk that we, although solvent, either do not have available sufficient financial resources to meet our obligations as they fall due or can secure them only at excessive cost. This risk is inherent in any retail and commercial banking business and can be heightened by a number of enterprise-specific factors, including over-reliance on a particular source of funding, changes in credit ratings or market-wide phenomena such as market dislocation. While we implement liquidity management processes to seek to mitigate and control these risks, unforeseen systemic market factors in particular make it difficult to eliminate completely these risks. Adverse constraints in the supply of liquidity, including inter-bank lending, which arose between 2009 and 2013, materially and adversely affected the cost of funding our business, and extreme liquidity constraints affected may affect our operations and limited growth.our ability to fulfil regulatory liquidity requirements, as well as limit growth possibilities. There can be no assurance that such constraints will not reoccur.

Disruption and volatility in the global financial markets could have a material adverse effect on our ability to access capital and liquidity on financial terms acceptable to us.

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Our cost of obtaining funding is directly related to prevailing market interest rates and to our credit spreads. Increases in interest rates and our credit spreads can significantly increase the cost of our funding. Changes in our credit spreads are market-driven, and may be influenced by market perceptions of our creditworthiness. Changes to interest rates and our credit spreads occur continuously and may be unpredictable and highly volatile.

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If wholesale markets financing ceases to become available, or becomes excessively expensive, we may be forced to raise the rates we pay on deposits, with a view to attracting more customers, and/or to sell assets, potentially at depressed prices. The persistence or worsening of these adverse market conditions or an increase in base interest rates could have a material adverse effect on our ability to access liquidity and cost of funding (whether directly or indirectly).

Although centralCentral banks around the world, haveincluding the US Federal Reserve Bank and the ECB, made coordinated efforts to increase liquidity in the financial markets in response to the financial crisis and haveput in place additional facilities, by takingand took measures such as increasing the amounts they lend directly to financial institutions, lowering interest rates and ensuring that currency swaps markets remain liquid, it is only gradually becoming known internationallyliquid. It remains uncertain for how long these central bank schemessuch measures will continue or onremain in place and to what terms. The ECB has yetextent they may be added to clarify its long-term approach to liquidity support, although in the second halflight of 2014 it initiated the purchase of covered bonds and asset backed securities. Ineconomic developments. For example, in January 2015, the ECB announced an extensive quantitative easing scheme. The scheme comprisescomprised a60bn-a-month bond-buying programme across the eurozone, such programme to last until at least September 2016, with a potential for extension if inflation in the eurozone does not meet the ECB target of 2 per cent.2%. In December 2015, the ECB announced that it was extending its quantitative easing scheme until at least March 2017. If these current facilities were rapidly removed or significantly reduced, this could have an adverse effect on our ability to access liquidity and on our funding costs. In the United States (US), the Federal Reserve increased its policy interest rate by 25 basis points in December 2015.

In October 2013, the Bank of EnglandBoE updated its Sterling Monetary Framework to provide more transparent liquidity insurance support in exceptional circumstances. The Indexed Long-Term Repo Facility will now be available to support regular bank requirements for liquidity while the Discount Window Facility has been reinforced as support for banks experiencing idiosyncratic stress. The Collateralised Term Repo Facility will be made available to support markets in the event of a market wide liquidity stress.

The Bank of EnglandBoE and HM Treasury announced changes to the terms of the Funding for Lending Scheme (‘FLS’)(FLS) on 28 November 2013 to re-focus its incentives in the revised scheme towards supporting business lending in 2014. The FLS extension allowed participants to draw from the scheme from February 2014 until January 2015, but household lending in 2014 no longer generated any additional borrowing allowances as it did in the initial scheme. Instead, additional allowances only reflected lending to businesses in 2014. Any initial borrowing allowances in the FLS extension already earned by household and business lending in 2013 were unaffected. On 2 December 2014, the Bank of EnglandThe BoE and HM Treasury announced a furthersecond extension of the FLS to allowon 2 December 2014, allowing participants to borrow from the FLS until January 2016 with incentivesand a third extension on 30 November 2015 allowing participants to boostborrow from the FLS until January 2018. However, under the latest extension current participants cannot generate additional drawing allowances from their lending skewed towards small and medium sized enterprises.beyond the end of 2015; the extension is therefore only in relation to the drawdown window. As at 31 December 2014,2015, we had drawn £2.2bn of UK treasury bills under the FLS.

The availability of Bank of EnglandBoE facilities for UK financial institutions, to the extent that they provide us with access to cheaper and more attractive funding than other sources, reduces our reliance on retail and/or wholesale markets. To the extent that we make use of Bank of England facilities,BoEfacilities, any significant reduction or withdrawal of those facilities would increase our funding costs.

Each of the factors described above: the persistence or worsening of adverse market conditions, and the lack of availability, or withdrawal, of such central bank schemes or an increase in base interest rates, could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and the cost of funding (whether directly or indirectly).

We aim for a funding structure that is consistent with our assets, avoids excessive reliance on short term wholesale funding, attracts enduring commercial deposits and provides diversification in products and tenor. We therefore rely, and will continue to rely, on commercial deposits to fund a significant proportion of lending activities. The ongoing availability of this type of funding is sensitive to a variety of factors outside our control, such as general economic conditions and the confidence of commercial depositors in the economy, in general, and in the financial services industry, and the availability and extent of deposit guarantees, as well as competition between banks for deposits. Anydeposits or competition with other products, such as mutual funds. A change in any of these factors could significantly increase the amount of commercial deposit withdrawals in a short period of time, thereby reducing our ability to access commercial deposit funding on appropriate terms, or at all, in the future.

We anticipate that our customers will continue to make short-term deposits (particularly demand deposits and short-term time deposits), and we intend to maintain our emphasis on the use of banking deposits as a source of funds. The short-term nature of this funding sourcesome deposits could cause liquidity problems for us in the future if deposits are not made in the volumes we expect or are not renewed. If a substantial number of our depositors withdraw their demand deposits or do not roll over their time deposits upon maturity, we may be materially and adversely affected. For additional information about our liquidity position and other liquidity matters, including the policies and procedures we use to manage our liquidity risks, see ‘Risk Reviewreview – Liquidity risk’ on pages 101111 to 115.128.

A sudden or unexpected shortage of funds in the banking system could lead to increased funding costs, a reduction in the term of funding instruments or require us to liquidate certain assets. If these circumstances were to arise, this could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

An adverse movement in our external credit rating would likely increase our cost of funding, require us to post additional collateral or take other actions under some of our derivative contracts and adversely affect our interest margins and results of operations

Credit ratings can in some instances affect the cost and other terms upon which we are able to obtain funding. Credit rating agencies regularly evaluate us, and their credit ratings of our institution and our debt in issue are based on a number of factors, including our financial strength and that of the UK economy and conditions affecting the financial services industry generally.

Any downgrade in the external credit ratings assigned to us or any of our debt securities could have an adverse impact on us. In particular, such downgrade in our credit ratings could increase our borrowing costs and could require us to post additional collateral or take other actions under some of our derivative contracts, and could limit our access to capital markets and adversely affect our commercial business. For example, a credit rating downgrade could adversely affect our ability to sell or market certain of our products, engage in certain longer-term transactions and derivatives transactions and retain our customers, particularly customers who need a minimum rating threshold in order to invest.

In addition, under the terms of certain of our derivative contracts, we may be required to maintain a minimum credit rating or otherwise our counterparties may be able to terminate such contracts. Any of these results of a credit rating downgrade could, in turn, reduce our liquidity and have an adverse effect on us, including our operating results, financial condition and prospects. For example, we estimate that as at 31 December 2014,2015, if Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s were concurrently to downgrade our long-term credit ratings by one notch, and thereby trigger a short-term credit rating downgrade, this could result in an outflow of £5.9bn£4.6bn of cash and collateral. A hypothetical two notch downgrade would result in a further outflow of £1.2bn£0.3bn of cash and collateral. These outflow requirements are however captured under the LCR regime.

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However, while certain potential impacts are contractual and quantifiable, the full consequences of a credit rating downgrade are inherently uncertain, as they depend upon numerous dynamic, complex and inter-related factors and assumptions, including market conditions at the time of any downgrade, whether any downgrade of a firm’s long-term credit rating precipitates downgrades to its short-term credit rating, and assumptions about the potential behaviours of various customers, investors and counterparties. Actual outflows could be higher or lower than this hypothetical example, depending upon certain factors including any management or restructuring actions that could be taken to reduce cash outflows and the potential liquidity impact from a loss of unsecured funding (such as from money market funds) or loss of secured funding capacity.

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Although unsecured and secured funding stresses are included in our stress testing scenarios and a portion of our total liquid assets is held against these risks, it is still the case that a credit rating downgrade could have a material adverse effect on us. In addition, if certain counterparties terminated derivative contracts with us and we were unable to replace such contracts, our market risk profile could be altered.

Included in the currentThe Company’s long-term credit ratings of Santander UK plc from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s are two credit rating notches of ratings support, arising from an assumptiondebt is currently rated investment grade by the major rating agencies of UK Government intervention and of support for the bank should it be at risk of failing. On 3 February 2015, Standard & Poor’s placed on CreditWatchagencies: A1 with negative implications the long-term ratings of Santander UK plc and many other banks in the UK, Germany and Austria, including those of our main UK peers. CreditWatchstable outlook by Moody’s Investors Service, A with negative implications highlights Standard & Poor’s opinion regarding the potential direction of a rating. These rating actions followed Standard & Poor’s review of government support in countries which had fully implemented the BRRD. Standard & Poor’s view is that there is a reduced likelihood of extraordinary government support being made available to UK banks in the future. It is therefore possible that Santander UK plc’s long-term credit rating could be downgraded by up to two credit rating notchesstable outlook by Standard & Poor’s in the first half of 2015.Ratings Services and A with positive outlook by Fitch Ratings. If a downgrade of our long-term credit ratings (whether by Standard & Poor’s and/or other rating agencies) were to occur, it could also impact our short-term credit ratings. With theShould there be any removal of systemic support by the UK Government, all things being equal, the impact on our long-term credit-rating could potentially increase the cost of some of our wholesale borrowing and our ability to secure both long-term and short-term funding may be reduced.

Likewise, a downgrade of the UK sovereign credit rating, or the perception that such a downgrade may occur, may have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition, prospects and the marketability and trading value of our securities. This might also impact on our own credit rating, borrowing costs and our ability to secure funding. A UK sovereign credit rating downgrade or the perception that such a downgrade may occur could also have a material effect in depressing consumer confidence, restricting the availability, and increasing the cost, of funding for individuals and companies, further depressing economic activity, increasing unemployment and/or reducing asset prices.

In light of the difficulties in the financial services industry and the financial markets, thereThere can be no assurance that the credit rating agencies will maintain our current credit ratings or outlooks. Our failure to maintain favourable credit ratings and outlooks could increase our cost of funding and adversely affect our interest margins, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

Our financial results are constantly exposed to market risk. We are subject to fluctuations in interest rates and other market conditions,risks, which may materially adversely affect us

Market risk refers to the probability of variations in our net interest income or in the market value of our assets and liabilities due to volatility of interest rates, exchange rates or equity prices. Changes in interest rates would affect the following areas, among others, of our business:

>-

netNet interest income;

income
>-

theThe volume of loans originated;

originated
>-

theThe market value of our securities holdings;

holdings
>-

gainsGains from sales of loans and securities; and

securities
>-

gainsThe worsening pensions deficit

-Gains and losses from derivatives.

Variations in short-term interest rates could affect our net interest income, which comprises the majority of our revenue, reducing our growth rate and potentially resulting in losses. When interest rates rise, we may be required to pay higher interest on our floating-rate borrowings while interest earned on our fixed-rate assets does not rise as quickly, which could cause profits to grow at a reduced rate or decline in some parts of our portfolio. Interest rates are highly sensitive to many factors beyond our control, including increased regulation of the financial sector, monetary policies, domestic and international economic and political conditions and other factors. Variations in interest rates could affect our net interest income, which comprises the majority of our revenue, reducing our growth rate and potentially resulting in losses. This results from the different effect that a change in interest rates may have on the interest earned on our assets and the interest paid on our borrowings. In addition, we may incur costs (which, in turn, will impact our results) as we implement strategies to reduce future interest rate exposures.

Increases in interest rates may reduce the volume of loans we originate. Sustained high interest rates have historically discouraged customers from borrowing and have resulted in increased delinquencies in outstanding loans and deterioration in the quality of assets. Increases in interest rates may also reduce the propensity of our customers to prepay or refinance fixed-rate loans, reduce the value of our financial assets and reduce gains or require us to record losses on sales of our loans or securities.

If interest rates decrease, although this is likely to reduce our funding costs, it is likely to compress our interest margin, as well as adversely impact our income from investments in securities and loans with similar maturities, which could have a negative effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

The market value of a security with a fixed interest rate generally decreases when prevailing interest rates rise, which may have an adverse effect on our earnings and financial condition. In addition, we may incur costs (which, in turn, will impact our results) as we implement strategies to reduce future interest rate exposure. The market value of an obligation with a floating interest rate can be adversely affected when interest rates increase, due to a lag in the implementation of re-pricing terms or an inability to refinance at lower rates.

We are also exposed to foreign exchange rate risk as a result of mismatches between assets and liabilities denominated in different currencies. Fluctuations in the exchange rate between currencies may negatively affect our earnings and value of our assets and securities. Our capital is stated in poundpounds sterling and we do not fully hedge our capital position against changes in currency exchange rates. Although we seek to hedge most of our currency risk, through hedging and the purchase of cross-currency swaps, these hedges do not eliminate currency risk and we can make no assurance that we will not suffer adverse financial consequences as a result of currency fluctuations. Significant exchange rate volatility and the depreciation of the pound sterling in particular could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and our ability to meet our US dollar and euro-denominated obligations, and which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

We are also exposed to equity price risk in connection with our trading investments in equity securities as part of our normal course of business as a commercial bank.in the banking book and in the trading portfolio. The performance of financial markets may cause changes in the value of our investment and trading portfolios. The volatility of world equity markets, due to the continued economic uncertainty and sovereign debt tensions, has had a particularly strong impact on the financial sector.

Continued volatility may affect the value of our investments in entities in this sectorequity securities and, depending on their fair value and future recovery expectations, could become a permanent impairment, which would be subject to write-offs against our results. To the extent any of these risks materialise, our net interest income or the market value of our assets and liabilities could be adversely affected.

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Market conditions have resulted in, and could continue to result in, material changes to the estimated fair values of our financial assets. Negative fair value adjustments could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects

In the past seveneight years, financial markets have been subject to significant stress resulting in steep falls in perceived or actual financial asset values, particularly due to volatility in global financial markets and the resulting widening of credit spreads. We have material exposures to securities, loans, derivatives and other investments that are recorded at fair value and are therefore exposed to potential negative fair value adjustments. Asset valuations in future periods, reflecting then prevailing market conditions, may result in negative changes in the fair values of our financial assets and these may also translate into increased impairments.assets. In addition, the value ultimately realised by us on disposal may be lower than the current fair value. Any of these factors could require us to record negative fair value adjustments, which may have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

In addition, to the extent that fair values are determined using financial valuation models, such values may be inaccurate or subject to change, as the data used by such models may not be available or may become unavailable due to changes in market conditions, particularly for illiquid assets and in times of economic instability. In such circumstances, our valuation methodologies require us to make assumptions, judgements and estimates in order to establish fair value.

This is a challenging task as reliable assumptions are difficult to make and are inherently uncertain. Moreover, valuation models are complex, making them inherently imperfect predictors of actual results. Any consequential impairments or write-downs could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Failure to successfully implement and continue to improve our credit risk management systems could materially and adversely affect our business

As a commercial bank,banking group, one of the main types of risks inherent in our business is credit risk. For example, an important feature of our credit risk management system is to employ our own credit rating system to assess the particular risk profile of a customer. This system is primarily generated internally but, in the case of counterparties with a global presence, also builds off the credit assessment assigned by other Banco Santander group members. As this process involves detailed analyses of the customer or credit risk, taking into account both quantitative and qualitative factors, it is subject to human error.or IT systems errors. In exercising their judgement on current or future credit risk behaviour of our customers, our employees may not always be able to assign a correct credit rating, to a customer or credit risk, which may result in our exposure to higher credit risks than indicated by our risk rating system.

In addition, we have refined our credit policies and guidelines to address potential risks associated with particular industries or types of customers, such as affiliated entities and group customers. However, we may not be able to detect theseall possible risks before they occur, or our employees may not be able to effectively implement our credit policies and guidelines due to limited tools available to us, which may increase our credit risk. Failure to effectively implement, consistently follow or continuously refine our credit risk management system may result in an increase in the level of non-performing loans and a higher risk exposure for us, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

We are subject to various risks associated with our derivative transactions that could have a material adverse effect on us

We enter into derivative transactions for trading purposes as well as for hedging purposes. We are subject to various risks associated with these transactions, including market risk, operational risk, basis risk (the risk of loss associated with variations in the spread between the asset yield and the funding and/or hedge cost) and credit or counterparty risk (the risk of insolvency or other inability of the counterparty to a particular transaction to perform its obligations thereunder, including providing sufficient collateral).

Market practices and documentation for derivative transactions in the UK may differ from those in other countries. In addition, the execution and performance of these transactions dependsdepend on our ability to develop adequate control and administration systems and to hire and retain qualified personnel. Moreover, our ability to adequately monitor, analyse and report derivative transactions continues to depend, to a great extent, on our information technology systems. This factor further increases the risks associated with these transactions and could have a material adverse effect on us.

Operational risks, including risks relating to data and information collection, processing, storage and security are inherent in our business

Our businesses dependLike other financial institutions with a large customer base, we manage and hold confidential personal information of customers in the conduct of our banking operations, as well as a large number of assets. Accordingly, our business depends on the ability to process a large number of transactions efficiently and accurately, and on our ability to rely on our people, digital technologies, computer and email services, software and networks, as well as the secure processing, storage and transmission of confidential and other information in our computer systems and networks. The proper functioning of financial control, accounting or other data collection and processing systems is critical to our businesses and to our ability to compete effectively. Losses can result from inadequate personnel, human error, inadequate or failed internal control processes and systems or from external events that interrupt normal business operations. We also face the risk that the design of our controls and procedures prove to be inadequate or are circumvented. Although we work with our clients, vendors, service providers, counterparties and other third parties to develop secure transmission capabilities and prevent against information security risk, we routinely exchange personal, confidential and proprietary information by electronic means, and we may be the target of attempted hacking. If we cannot maintain an effective data collection, management and processing system, we may be materially and adversely affected.

Infrastructure and technology resilience

We take protective measures and continuously monitor and develop our systems to safeguard our technology infrastructure and data from misappropriation or corruption, but our systems, software and networks nevertheless may be vulnerable to unauthorised access, misuse, computer viruses or other malicious codescode and other events that could have a security impact.

An interception, misuse or mishandling of personal, confidential or proprietary information sent to or received from a client, vendor, service provider, counterparty or third party could result in legal liability, regulatory action and reputational harm. Furthermore, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to modify our protective measures or to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities or other exposures. There can be no assurance that we will not suffer material losses from operational risks in the future, including those relating to any security breaches.

 

 

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Cyber security

In particular, we have seen in recent years computer systems of companies and organisations being targeted, not only by cyber criminals, but also by activists and rogue states. WeIn common with other large UK financial institutions with a large customer base, we manage and hold confidential personal information of customers in the conduct of our banking operations, as well as a large number of assets. Accordingly we have been and continue to facebe subject to a hostrange of cyber threatsattacks, such as denial of service, malware and phishing. Cyber attacks could give rise to the loss of significant amounts of customer data and other sensitive information, as well as significant levels of liquid assets (including cash). In addition, cyber attacks could give rise to the disablement of our information technology systems used to service our customers. As attempted attacks continue to evolve in scope and sophistication, we may incur significant costs in our attempt to modify or enhance our protective measures against such attacks, or to investigate or remediate any vulnerability or resulting breach.breach, or in communicating cyber attacks to our customers. If we fail to effectively manage our cyber security risk, e.g. by failing to update our systems and processes in response to new threats, this could harm our reputation and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects.prospects through the payment of customer compensation, regulatory penalties and fines and/or through the loss of assets.

Procedure and policy compliance

We also manage and hold confidential personal information of customers in the conduct of our banking operations. Although we have procedures and controls to safeguard personal information in our possession, unauthorised disclosures could subject us to legal actions and administrative sanctions as well as damages that could materially and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Further, our businesses arebusiness is exposed to risk from potential non-compliance with policies, employee misconduct or negligence and fraud, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious reputational or financial harm. In recent years, a number of multinational financial institutions have suffered material losses due to the actions of ‘rogue traders’ or other employees. It is not always possible to deter or prevent employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not always be effective.

We may be required to report events related to information security issues (including any cyber security issues), events where customer information may be compromised, unauthorised access and other security breaches, to the relevant regulatory authorities. Any material disruption or slowdown of our systems could cause information, including data related to customer requests, to be lost or to be delivered to our clients with delays or errors, which could reduce demand for our services and products and could materially and adversely affect us.

Any failure to effectively improve or upgrade our information technology infrastructure and management information systems in a timely manner could have a material adverse effect on us

Our businesses and our ability to remain competitive depends to a significant extent upon the functionality of our information technology systems (including Partenon, the global banking information technology platform utilised by Santander UK and Banco Santander S.A)SA), and on our ability to upgrade and expand the capacity of our information technology on a timely and cost-effective basis. The proper functioning of our financial control, risk management, credit analysis and reporting, accounting, customer service and other information technology systems, as well as the communication networks between branches and main data processing centres, are critical to our businesses and our ability to compete. We must continually make significant investments and improvements in our information technology infrastructure in order to remain competitive. We cannot be certain that in the future we will be able to maintain the level of capital expenditure necessary to support the improvement, expansion or upgrading of our information technology infrastructure as effectively as our competitors; this may result in a loss of the competitive advantages that we believe our information technology systems provide. Any failure to effectively improve, expand or upgrade our information technology infrastructure and management information systems in a timely manner could have a material adverse effect on us.

We may be exposed to unidentified or unanticipated risks despite our risk management policies, procedures and methods

The management of risk is an integral part of our activities. We seek to monitor and manage our risk exposure through a variety of risk reporting systems. For further description of our risk management policies see the Risk Reviewreview on pages 2536 to 144.159. While we employ a broad and diversified set of risk monitoring and risk mitigation techniques, such techniques and strategies may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all economic market environments or against all types of risk, including risks that we fail to identify or anticipate.

Some of our qualitative tools and metrics for managing risk are based upon our use of observed historical market behaviour. We apply statistical and other tools to these observations to arrive at quantifications of our risk exposures. These qualitative tools and metrics may fail to predict future risk exposures. These risk exposures could, for example, arise from factors we did not anticipate or correctly evaluate in our statistical models. This would limit our ability to manage our risks. Our losses thus could be significantly greater than the historical measures indicate. In addition, our quantified modelling does not take all risks into account. Our more qualitative approach to managing those risks could prove insufficient, exposing us to material, unanticipated losses. We could face adverse consequences as a result of decisions, which may lead to actions by management, based on models that are poorly developed, implemented or used, or as a result of the modelled outcome being misunderstood. If existing or potential customers or counterparties believe our risk management is inadequate, they could take their business elsewhere.elsewhere or seek to limit their transactions with us. This could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Competition with other financial institutions could adversely affect us

We face substantial competition in all parts of our business, including in originating loans and in attracting deposits.deposits through our banking subsidiaries. The competition in originating loans comes principally from other domestic and foreign banks, mortgage banking companies, consumer finance companies, insurance companies and other lenders and purchasers of loans. The market for UK financial services is highly competitive and we face substantial competition in all parts of our business. As such, we constantly monitor competition, which arises from a number of financial institutions of different sizes and with a range of business models. Moreover, the recent financial crisis continues to reshape the banking landscape in the UK, particularly the financial services and mortgage markets, reinforcing both the importance of a retail deposit funding base and the strong capitalisation of an institution. Lenders have moved increasingly towards a policy of concentrating on the highest quality customers and there is strong competition for these customers. The supply of credit is more limited for those potential customers without

Additionally, a large deposit or good credit history.number of new entrants are increasingly entering the UK financial services market place. Again we identify and closely monitor this set of new entrants and take account of this in the firm’s management actions. Their arrival has further intensified competition as they seek to gain market share in a number of banking sector areas, including for example payments, investments, lending, foreign exchange and data aggregators.

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We expect competition to intensify in response to consumer demand, technological changes, the potential impact of consolidation, regulatory actions and other factors. In particular, the Independent Commission on Banking (the ‘ICB’), chaired by Sir John Vickers, recommended that steps be taken to increase competition in the personal and small business banking sector (including, for example, strengthening the objectives of the Financial Conduct Authority (the ‘FCA’) (as successor to the FSA) for the role of conduct supervision, such that it is obliged to regulate in a manner which promotes competition). On 19 December 2011, HM Treasury published its response to the ICB report, agreeing with the majority of the ICB’s recommendations. The Financial Services Act 2012 has amended the FSMA with effect from 1 April 2013 to include in the FCA’s operational objectives the objective of promoting effective competition in the interests of consumers in the markets for regulated financial services. Since 1 April 2015, the FCA has also been able to use concurrent competition powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Competition Act 1998 to promote competition. A strong political and regulatory will to foster consumer choice in retail financial

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services could lead to even greater competition in the UK personal and small business banking sectors (for further detail,(For more information, see the section on competition under the Risk Factorfactor entitled ‘We are subject to substantial regulation and government oversight which could adversely affect our business and operations’ on page 337)).

We consider competition in our management actions as appropriate, such as pricing and product decisions. Increasing competition could requiremean that we increase our rates offered on deposits or lower the rates we charge on loans, which could also have a material adverse effect on us, including our profitability. It may also negatively affect our business results and prospects by, among other things, limiting our ability to increase our customer base and expand our operations and increasing competition for investment opportunities.

In addition, ifWhile we have successfully increased our customer service levels werein recent years, should these levels ever perceived by the market to be materially below those of our competitor financial institutions, we could lose existing and potential business. If we are not successful in retaining and strengthening customer relationships, we may lose market share, incur losses on some or all of our activities or fail to attract new deposits or retain existing deposits, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

If financial markets remain unstable, financial institution consolidation may continue. Financial institution consolidation could also result from the UK Government disposingGovernment’s recent disposals of its stakestakes in those financial institutions it currently controls.previously controlled and any future disposals of retained stakes in other financial institutions. Such consolidation could adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects. There can be no assurance that this increased competition will not adversely affect our growth prospects, and therefore our operations. We also face competition from non-bank competitors, such as supermarkets, department stores and technology firms, and generally from other loan or credit providers.

Our ability to maintain our competitive position depends, in part, on the success of new products and services we offer our customers and our ability to continue offering products and services from third parties, and we may not be able to manage various risks we face as we expand our range of products and services that could have a material adverse effect on us

The success of our operations and our profitability depends, in part, on the success of new products and services we offer our customers. However, we cannot guarantee that our new products and services, will be responsive to customer demands or successful once they are offered to our customers, or that they will be successful in the future. In addition, our customers’ needs or desires may change over time, and such changes may render our products and services obsolete, outdated or unattractive, and we may not be able to develop new products that meet our customers’ changing needs. If we cannot respond in a timely fashion to the changing needs of our customers, we may lose customers, which could in turn materially and adversely affect us.

As we expand the range of our products and services, some of which may be at an early stage of development in the UK market, we will be exposed to new and potentially increasingly complex risks, including conduct risk and development expenses. Our employees and risk management systems, as well as our experience and that of our partners, may not be sufficient or adequate to enable us to properly handle or manage such risks. In addition, the cost of developing products that are not launched is likely to affect our operating results.

Further, our customers may raise complaints and seek redress if they consider that they have suffered loss from our products and services; for example, as a result of any alleged missellingmis-selling or incorrect application of the terms and conditions of a particular product. This could in turn subject us to the risk of potential legal action by our customers and intervention by our regulators. For further detail on our legal and regulatory risk exposures, please see the Risk Factorfactors entitled ‘We are exposed to risk of loss from legal and regulatory proceedings’ on page 339 and the Risk Factor entitled ‘Potential intervention by the FCA, the PRA or an overseas regulator may occur, particularly in response to customer complaints’ on page 340..

Any or all of the above factors, individually or collectively, could have a material adverse effect on us.

If we are unable to effectively control the level of non-performing loans increases or poorthe credit quality of our loans deteriorates in the future, or if our loan loss reserves are insufficient to cover future loan losses, this could have a material adverse effect on us

Risks arising from changes in credit quality and the recoverability of loans and amounts due from counterparties are inherent in a wide range of our businesses. Non-performing or low credit quality loans have in the past, and can continue to, negatively impact our operating results, financial condition and prospects. We cannot be sure that we will be able to effectively control the level of impaired loans in our total loan portfolio. In particular, the amount of our reported non-performing loans may increase in the future as a result of growth in our total loan portfolio, including as a result of loan portfolios that we may acquire in the future, or factors beyond our control, such as adverse changes in the credit quality of our borrowers and counterparties, a general deterioration in the UK or global economic conditions, the impact of political events, events affecting certain industries or events affecting financial markets and global economies. We cannot be sure that we will be able to effectively control the level of impaired loans in, or the credit quality of, our total loan portfolio.

Our current loan loss reserves may not be adequate to cover an increase in the amount of non-performing loans or any future deterioration in the overall credit quality of our total loan portfolio. Our loan loss reserves are based on our current assessment of and expectations concerning various factors affecting the quality of our loan portfolio. These factors include, among other things, our borrowers’ financial condition, repayment abilities and repayment intentions, the realisable value of any collateral, the prospects for support from any guarantor, government macroeconomic policies, interest rates and the legal and regulatory environment. As the recent global financial crisis has demonstrated, many of these factors are beyond our control. As a result, there is no precise method for predicting loan and credit losses, and we cannot assure youprovide any assurance that our current or future loan loss reserves will be sufficient to cover actual losses.

If our assessment of and expectations concerning the above mentioned factors differ from actual developments, if the quality of our total loan portfolio deteriorates, for any reason, including the increase in lending to individuals and small and medium enterprises, the volume increase in the credit card portfolio and the introduction of new products or if the future actual losses exceed our estimates of incurred losses, we may be required to increase our loan loss reserves, which may adversely affect us. If we are unable to control or reduce the level of our non-performing or poor credit quality loans, this could have a material adverse effect on usus.

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Interest rates payable on a significant portion of our outstanding mortgage loan products fluctuate over time due to, among other factors, changes in the Bank of EnglandBoE base rate. As a result borrowers with variable interest rate mortgage loans are exposed to increased monthly payments when the related mortgage interest rate adjusts upward. Similarly, borrowers of mortgage loans with fixed or introductory rates adjusting to variable rates after an initial period are exposed to the risk of increased monthly payments at the end of this period. Over the last few years both variable and fixed interest rates have been at relatively low levels, which has benefited borrowers of new loans and those repaying existing variable rate loans regardless of special or introductory rates.

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Future increases in borrowers’ required monthly payments may result in higher delinquency rates and losses in the future. Borrowers seeking to avoid these increased monthly payments by refinancing their mortgage loans may no longer be able to find available replacement loans at comparably low interest rates. These events, alone or in combination, may contribute to higher delinquency rates and losses for us.

Our loan portfolio is subject to risk of prepayment, which could have a material adverse effect on us

Our loan portfolio is subject to prepayment risk, which results from the ability of a borrower or issuer to pay a debt obligation prior to maturity. Generally, in a declininglow interest rate environment, prepayment activity increases, which reduces the weighted average lives of our earning assets and could have a material adverse effect on us. We would also be required to amortise net premiums into income over a shorter period of time, thereby reducing the corresponding asset yield and net interest income. Prepayment risk also has a significant adverse impact on credit card and collateralised mortgage loans, since prepayments could shorten the weighted average life of these assets, which may result in a mismatch in our funding obligations and reinvestment at lower yields. Prepayment risk is inherent to our commercial activity and an increase in prepayments could have a material adverse effect on us.

The value of the collateral, including real estate, securing our loans may not be sufficient, and we may be unable to realise the full value of the collateral securing our loan portfolio

The value of the collateral securing our loan portfolio may significantly fluctuate or decline due to factors beyond our control, including macroeconomic factors affecting the UK’s economy. Our residential mortgage loan portfolio is one of our principal assets, comprising 79 per cent.77% of our loan portfolio as of 31 December 2014.2015. As a result, we are highly exposed to developments in the residential property market in the UK.

The housing market has performed stronger than anticipatedIn 2015 the value of approvals was 15% higher compared to the same period in 2014, at £220.6bn. Gross advances were 8% higher year-on-year at £220.1bn, while the value of net lending was comfortably above the 2014 total (£33.6bn in 2015 compared to £23.7bn in 2014)Source: BoE.In the near-term the outlook remains positive, with an increase in both house pricespurchase activity supported by positive economic fundamentals driving consumer demand, including low mortgage rates, healthy consumer confidence levels, falling unemployment and positive real earnings growth. This should support market confidence and activity heading into 2016, notwithstanding the volume of property transactions. However, these increases have not so far resulted in strong growth in net mortgagepotential for further FPC measures to curb excessive lending, particularly in the market. Any furtherbuy-to-let sector. Nevertheless, any increase in house prices may be limited by the high level of prices relative to household earnings given the continued weakness seen inshould real earnings growth.growth weaken. The depth of the previous house price declines as well as the continuing uncertainty as to the extent and sustainability of the UK economic recovery will mean that losses could be incurred on loans should they go into possession.

The value of the collateral securing our loan portfolio may also be adversely affected by force majeure events such as natural disasters like floods or landslides. Any force majeure event may cause widespread damage and could have an adverse impact on the economy of the affected region and may therefore impair the asset quality of our loan portfolio in that area.

We may also not have sufficiently up-to-date information on the value of collateral, which may result in an inaccurate assessment for impairment losses of our loans secured by such collateral. If any of the above were to occur, we may need to make additional provisions to cover actual impairment losses of our loans, which may materially and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

We have a core strategy to develop our operations organically and through acquisitions, but ifIf we are unable to manage such development effectively,the growth of our operations, this could have an adverse impact on our profitability

We allocate management and planning resources to develop strategic plans for organic development,growth, and to identify possible acquisitions and disposals and areas for restructuring our businesses. We cannot provide assurance that we will, in all cases, be able to manage our growth effectively or deliver our strategic development objectives. Challenges that may result from our strategic development decisions include our ability to:

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manage efficiently our operations and employees of expanding businesses;

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maintain or grow our existing customer base;

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assess the value, strengths and weaknesses of investment or acquisition candidates;

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finance strategic opportunities, investments or acquisitions;

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fully integrate strategic investments, or newly-established entities or acquisitions, in line with our strategy;

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align our current information technology systems adequately with those of an enlarged group;

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apply our risk management policy effectively to an enlarged group; and

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manage a growing number of entities without over-committing management or losing key personnel.

Any failure to manage our development effectively, including any or all of the above challenges associated with our development plans, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

businesses when necessary. From time to time, we evaluate acquisition and partnership opportunities that we believe could offer additional value to our shareholders and are consistent with our business strategy. However, we may not be able to identify suitable acquisition or partnership candidates, and we may not be able to acquire promising targets or form partnerships on favourable terms, or at all. Furthermore, preparations for acquisitions that we do not complete can be disruptive. We base our assessment of potential acquisitions and partnerships on limited and potentially inexact information and on assumptions with respect to value, operations, profitability and other matters that may prove to be incorrect. Our ability to benefit from any such acquisitions and partnerships will depend in part on our successful integration of those businesses. Such integration entails significant risks such as challenges in retaining the customers and employees of the acquired businesses, unforeseen difficulties in integrating operations and systems and unexpected liabilities or contingencies such asrelating to the acquired businesses, including legal claims. We can give no assurances that our expectations with regards to integration and synergies will materialise. We cannot provide assurance that we will, in all cases, be able to manage our growth effectively or deliver our strategic growth decisions including our ability to:

-Manage efficiently our operations and employees of expanding businesses
-Maintain or grow our existing customer base
-Assess the value, strengths and weaknesses of investment or acquisition candidates
-Finance strategic opportunities, investments or acquisitions
-Fully integrate strategic investments, or newly-established entities or acquisitions, in line with our strategy
-Align our current information technology systems adequately with those of an enlarged group
-Apply our risk management policy effectively to an enlarged group
-Manage a growing number of entities without over-committing management or losing key personnel.

Any failure to manage growth effectively, including any or all of the above challenges associated with our growth plans, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

In addition, any acquisition or venture could result in the loss of key employees and inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures and policies.

Moreover, the success of the acquisition or venture will at least in part be subject to a number of political, economic and other factors that are beyond our control. Any or all of these factors, individually or collectively, could have a material adverse effect on us.

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Goodwill impairments may be required in relation to acquired businesses

We have made business acquisitions in recent years and may make further acquisitions in the future. It is possible that the goodwill which has been attributed, or may be attributed, to these businesses may have to be written-down if our valuation assumptions are required to be reassessed as a result of any deterioration in their underlying profitability, asset quality and other relevant matters. Impairment testing in respect of goodwill is performed annually, and more frequently if there are impairment indicators present, and comprises a comparison of the carrying amount of the cash-generating unit with its recoverable amount. Goodwill impairment does not however affect our regulatory capital. Whilst no impairment of goodwill was recognised in 20132014 or 2014,2015, there can be no assurances that we will not have to write down the value attributed to goodwill in the future, which would adversely affect our results and net assets.

We are subject to substantial regulation and governmental oversight which could adversely affect our business and operations

Supervision and new regulation

As a financial institution, we are subject to extensive financial services laws, regulations, administrative actions and policies in the UK, the European UnionEU and each other location in which we operate, including in the United States.US. As well as being subject to UK regulation, as part of the Banco Santander group, we are also impacted indirectly through regulation by the Banco de España (the Bank of Spain) and, at a corporate level, by the ECB (following the introduction of the Single Supervisory Mechanism in November 2014). The statutes, regulations and policies to which we are subject may be changed at any time. In addition, the interpretation and the application of those laws and regulations by regulators are also subject to change. Extensive legislation affecting the financial services industry has recently been adopted in regions that directly or indirectly affect our business, including Spain, the United States,US, the European Union,EU, Latin America and other jurisdictions, and new regulations are in the process of being implemented. The manner in which those laws and related regulations are applied to the operations of financial institutions is still evolving. Moreover, to the extent these recently adopted regulations are implemented inconsistently in the UK, we may face higher compliance costs. Any legislative or regulatory actions and any required changes to our business operations resulting from such legislation and regulations could result in significant loss of revenue, limit our ability to pursue business opportunities in which we might otherwise consider engaging and limit our ability to provide certain products and services. They may also affect the value of assets that we hold, requiring us to increase our prices and therefore reduce demand for our products, impose additional compliance and other costs on us or otherwise adversely affect our businesses. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that future changes in regulations or in their interpretation or application will not adversely affect us.

During recent periods of market turmoil, there have been unprecedented levels of government and regulatory intervention and scrutiny, and changes to the regulations governing financial institutions and the conduct of business. In addition, in light of the financial crisis, regulatory and governmental authorities are considering, or may consider, further enhanced or new legal or regulatory requirements intended to prevent future crises or otherwise assure the stability of institutions under their supervision. This intensive approach to supervision has been maintained by the PRA and the FCA (as successor regulatory authorities to the FSA).

Recent proposals and measures taken by governmental, tax and regulatory authorities and further future changes in supervision and regulation, in particular in the UK, which are beyond our control, could materially affect our business, the value of assets and operations and result in significant increases in operational costs. Products and services offered by us could also be affected. Changes in UK legislation and regulation to address the stability of the financial sector may also affect our competitive position, particularly if such changes are implemented before international consensus is reached on key issues affecting the industry, for instance in relation to capital requirements, including leverage and TLAC requirements (and the MREL), liquidity risk management and also the UK Government’s introduction of the bank levy.industry. Although we work closely with our regulators and continually monitor the situation, future changes in law, regulation, fiscal or other policies can be unpredictable and are beyond our control. No assurance can be given generally that laws or regulations will be adopted, enforced or interpreted in a manner that will not have an adverse effect on our business.

Banking Reform

On 18 December 2013, the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act (the Banking Reform Act) was enacted. The Banking Reform Act was enacted. Among other things,implements the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Banking Reform Act either directly, or through amendments to FSMA:and of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, including:

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provides HM Treasury and the PRA powers to implement the ICB recommendations including by introducing requirements forEstablishing a ring-fencing of core retail banking activitiesframework under FSMA pursuant to which UK banksbanking groups that undertakehold significant retail deposit taking activities (including us) will bedeposits are required to place these deposit takingseparate their retail banking activities into a ring-fenced bank;

from their wholesale banking activities by 1 January 2019
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introducesIntroduces a Senior Managers Regime and Certification Regime from 7 March 2016, replacing the Approved Persons Regime established under FSMA (as amended by the Financial Services Act 2012);

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introducesIntroduces a new criminal offence for reckless misconduct in the management of a bank;

bank
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establishesEstablishes a new Payment Systems Regulator; and

Regulator
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amendsAmends the Banking Act 2009 (the ‘Banking Act’)Banking Act) to include a bail-in stabilisation power forming part of the special resolution regime (seeregime. For more information, see the Risk Factorfactor entitled ‘Bail-in and write-downwrite down powers under the Banking Reform Act and the BRRD’ on pages 341BRRD may adversely affect our business and 342 for further detail)the value of securities we may issue’.

Secondary legislation setting out the scope of the ring fence requiredThe ring-fencing provisions introduced into FSMA by the Banking Reform Act was adopted inhave been supplemented by two statutory instruments that define the ring-fence perimeter. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Ring-fenced Bodies and Core Activities) Order 2014 defines the UK banks that are subject to the ring-fencing requirements (a ring-fenced bank) and the core deposits (broadly deposits from individuals and small businesses) that must be held within a ring-fenced bank. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Excluded Activities and Prohibitions) Order 2014 defines the activities that a ring-fenced bank is prohibited from undertaking, including dealing in investments or commodities as principal, incurring exposures to certain financial institutions and maintaining non-EEA branches or holding participating interests on non-EEA undertakings, subject in each case to limited exceptions. The ring-fencing provisions of FSMA require the PRA to make ring-fencing rules that essentially set the ring-fence height and are designed to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, that a ring-fenced bank is not adversely affected by the FCA are currently developing theiracts or omissions, and would be able to continue on the insolvency of other members of its group and is able to take decisions independently of other members of its group in carrying on its business. In October 2015, the PRA published a consultation paper (CP37/15) entitled ‘The implementation of ring-fencing: prudential requirements, intragroup arrangements and use of financial market infrastructures’ in which it outlined its ‘near-final’ ring-fencing rules and related supervisory statement. The PRA plans to publish the final ring-fencing rules and supervisory statement by mid-2016, in advance of the implementation date for ring-fencing of 1 January 2019 to provide firms with sufficient time for implementation. Finally, the Banking Reform Act introduced a new form of transfer scheme, the ring-fencing transfer scheme, under Part VII of FSMA to enable UK banks to implement the ring-fencing requirements. This is a court process that requires the PRA to approve the scheme (in consultation with the FCA) and provide a certificate of adequate financial resources in relation to the transferee and an independent expert (approved by the PRA, after consultation with the FCA) to provide a scheme report that any adverse effect on persons affected by the scheme is not greater than is necessary to achieve the ring-fencing requirements. In January 2015, affected banks submitted preliminary plans for ring-fencingpurposes of the scheme.

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The Santander UK group is subject to the PRA and the FCA in response to their consultation paper on legal structure, governance and the continuity of services and facilities. Further consultations containing key details of the regime are expected in late 2015, with final rules anticipated in 2016. As the regulatory framework is still being developed, there remain key uncertainties around the final scope and effect of the requirements and, consequently, as to the specific effect on us, including in relation to the scope of permissible intragroup exposures. Consequently, it is too early to assess the full impact ofring-fencing requirement under the Banking Reform Act and, any ancillary secondary legislation. However, it is expected that changesas a consequence, the Santander UK group will need to our structureseparate its core activities from its prohibited activities. The Santander UK group continues to work closely with regulators on developing its business and business, for example, will be necessary for usoperating model to comply with the Banking Reform Act,ring-fencing requirements and such changessubmitted its plans to both the PRA and FCA on 29 January 2016. The ring-fencing model that the Santander UK group ultimately implements will depend on a number of factors and is likely to entail a legal and organisational restructuring of the Santander UK group’s businesses and operations, including transfers of customers and transactions through a ring-fencing transfer scheme. In light of the scale and complexity of this process, the operational and execution risks for the Santander UK group may be material. This restructuring and migration of customers and transactions could have ana material impact on how the Santander UK group conducts its business. The Santander UK group is unable to predict with certainty the attitudes and reaction of its customers.

The restructuring of the Santander UK group’s business pursuant to the developing ring-fencing regime will take a substantial amount of time and cost to implement, the separation process and the structural changes which may be required could have a material adverse effect on ourits business, operating results, financial condition, profitability and prospects.

Further detailEU fiscal and banking union

The project of achieving a European banking union was launched in the summer of 2012. Its main goal is to resume progress towards a European single market for financial services by restoring confidence in the European banking sector and ensuring the proper functioning of monetary policy in the eurozone.

The European banking union is expected to be achieved through new harmonized banking rules (in a single rulebook) and a new institutional framework with stronger systems for both banking supervision and resolution that will be managed at a European level. Its two main pillars are the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) and the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM).

The SSM (comprised of both the ECB and the national competent authorities) is expected to assist in making the banking sector more transparent, unified and safer. In accordance with Article 104 of the CRD IV Directive, as implemented by Article 68 of Law 10/2014, and similarly Article 16 of Council Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013 of 15 October 2013 conferring specific tasks on the potentialECB concerning policies relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (the SSM Regulation), the ECB fully assumed its new supervisory responsibilities within the SSM, in particular direct supervision of the 123 largest banks (as of 30 September 2015) in the eurozone including Banco Santander SA, on 4 November 2014. In preparation for this step, between November 2013 and October 2014, the ECB conducted, together with national supervisors, a comprehensive assessment of 130 banks, which together hold more than 80% of eurozone banking assets. The exercise consisted of three elements: (i) a supervisory risk assessment, which assessed the main balance sheet risks posedincluding liquidity, funding and leverage; (ii) an asset quality review, which focused on credit and market risks; and (iii) a stress test to examine the need to strengthen capital or take other corrective measures.

The SSM represents a significant change in the approach to bank supervision at a European and a global level. The SSM will result in the direct supervision of 123 eurozone financial institutions (as discussed above) and indirect supervision of around 3,500 financial institutions. The new supervisor will be one of the largest in the world in terms of assets under supervision. In the coming years, the SSM is expected to work to establish a new supervisory culture importing best practices from the 19 supervisory authorities that will be part of the SSM. Several steps have already been taken in this regard such as the recent publication of supervisory guidelines and the approval of the Regulation (EU) No 468/2014 of the ECB of 16 April 2014, establishing the framework for cooperation within the SSM between the ECB and national competent authorities and with national designated authorities (SSM Framework Regulation). In addition, this new body will represent an extra cost for the financial institutions that will fund it through payment of supervisory fees.

Other EU Member States (such as the UK) are able to establish close co-operation with the ECB in which case the ECB could become responsible for the authorisation and supervision of credit institutions in such Member States.

The other main pillar of the EU banking union is the SRM, the main purpose of which is to ensure a prompt and coherent resolution of failing banks in Europe at minimum cost for the tax-payers and the economy. Regulation (EU) No. 806/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU (the SRM Regulation), which was passed on 15 July 2014, and became effective from 1 January 2015, establishes uniform rules and a uniform procedure for the resolution of credit institutions and certain investment firms in the framework of the SRM and Single Resolution Fund (SRF). Under an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) signed by 26 EU Member States on 21 May 2014, contributions by banks to the SRF raised at national level will be transferred to the SRF. The new Single Resolution Board (SRB), which is the central decision-making body of the SRM, started operating from 1 January 2015 and fully assumed its resolution powers on 1 January 2016. The SRB is responsible for managing the SRF and its mission is to ensure that credit institutions and other entities under its remit, which face serious difficulties, are resolved effectively with minimal costs to tax-payers and the real economy. A SRF is also in place, funded by contributions from European banks in accordance with the methodology approved by the Banking Reform Act canCouncil of the EU (the Council). The SRF is intended to reach a total amount of55 billion by 2024 and to be foundused as a separate backstop only after an 8% bail-in of a bank’s liabilities has been applied to cover capital shortfalls (in line with the BRRD).

By allowing for the consistent application of EU banking rules through the SSM and the SRM, the European banking union is expected to help resume momentum towards European economic and monetary union. In order to complete such union, a single deposit guarantee scheme is still needed which may require a change to the existing European treaties. This is the subject of continued negotiation by European leaders to ensure further progress is made in European fiscal, economic and political integration.

Regulations adopted towards achieving a banking and/or fiscal union in the Risk Factors entitled ‘The Banking ActEU and decisions adopted by the ECB in its capacity as Banco Santander SA’s main supervisory authority may adversely affect our business’have a material impact on Santander UK’s business, financial condition and ‘Bail-inresults of operations. In addition, if the UK established close co-operation with the ECB, or joined the European Monetary Union, the ECB could become responsible for the direct supervision of Santander UK which may differ in significant respects from that carried out by the PRA and write-down powers underFCA and, depending on the Banking Actcircumstances, could have a material impact on Santander UK’s business, financial condition and the BRRD’.

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results of operation.

European Structural Reformstructural reform

On 29 January 2014, the European Commission (the ‘Commission’) published proposals on structural measures to improve the resilience of EU credit institutions which included potential separation of certain trading activities from retail banking activities and a ban on proprietary trading. The proposal currently contemplates that Member States that have already implemented ring-fencing legislation, such as the UK, may apply for a derogation from the separation of trading activities provisions included in the proposals if they can satisfy the Commission that such local legislation meets the objectives and requirements set out in the EU proposal. On 7 January 2015, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs published a draft report proposing amendments to the Commission’s proposal, including a proposed removal of the derogation. The Council published its general approach on the proposal in June 2015. The European Parliament and the Council are currently considering the Commission proposal envisages thatand will seek to achieve political agreement on the draft Regulation will be adopted by June 2015 and thatproposals during 2016. Notwithstanding the separation requirements will become effective on 1 July 2018. Theproposed derogation referred to above, the adoption of this proposal in its current, or in an amended, form may require further changes to our structure and business and could require us to modify our plans in connection with compliance with the Banking Reform Act.

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Other regulatory reforms adopted or proposed in the wake of the financial crisis

On 16 August 2012, the EU regulation on over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories, referred to as the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) (formally known as Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and the Council on Over-The-Counter Derivatives, Central Counterparties and Trade Repositories), entered into force. While a number of the compliance requirements introduced by EMIR already apply, the European Securities and Markets Authority is still in the process of finalising some of the implementing rules mandated by EMIR. EMIR introduced a number of requirements, including clearing obligations for certain classes of OTC derivatives and various reporting and disclosure obligations. Although the full impact of these changes is not yet foreseeable, the implementation of EMIR has already led and may yet lead to changes which may negatively impact our profit margins, require us to adjust our business practices or increase our costs (including compliance costs). The Markets in Financial Instruments legislation, which comprises the Directive 2014/65 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Directive 2002/92/EC and Directive 2011/61/EU (MiFID) and the Regulation 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (MiFIR), the substantive provisions of which will become applicable on 3 January 2017, introduces an obligation to trade certain classes of OTC derivative contracts on trading venues. We will also be impacted by the BCBS-IOSCO final minimum standards for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives, for which enabling legislation exists in the EU (EMIR), though the extent to which these requirements will impact on us depends on how they are implemented in each jurisdiction.

US Regulationregulation

In the United States,US, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the ‘Dodd-Frank Act’)Dodd-Frank Act) enacted in 2010, has been implemented in part and continues to be implemented by various US federal regulatory agencies. The Dodd-Frank Act, among other things, imposes a new regulatory framework on swap transactions, including swaps of the sort that we enter into, requires regulators to adopt new rules governing the retention of credit risk by securitisers or originators of securitisations and significantly expands the coverage and scope of regulations that limit affiliate transactions within a banking organisation. Over 2012-2015, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the CFTC) and the US Prudential Regulators adopted a host of new regulations for swaps markets, including swap dealer registration, business conduct, mandatory clearing, exchange trading and margin regulations. Most of these regulations are either already effective or will come into effect in 2016. Abbey National Treasury Services plc, which became provisionally registered as a swap dealer with the CFTC on 4 November 2013. Although many significant2013, is currently subject to these regulations applicable to swap dealers arefor its US facing swaps activities. These rules have already in effect, some of the most important rules, such as margin requirements for uncleared swaps, have not yet been implementedincreased and wecould continue to assess how complianceincrease the costs associated with these new rules willour swaps business. In addition, certain cross-border regulatory conflicts could adversely affect the profitability of our business.swaps business by reducing the range of counterparties with which we can trade effectively.

In October 2014, US regulators adopted a joint final rule requiring sponsors of asset-backed securitisation transactions, which would include Santander UK in relation to its residential mortgage-backed securities programmes, to retain 5 per cent.5% of the credit risk of the assets subject to the securitisation. At a general level, the rule permits sponsors to satisfy the risk retention requirement through the acquisition and retention of either 5 per cent.5% (measured by fair value) of the most subordinated interest in the securitisation, or 5 per cent.5% (measured by nominal value) of each tranche of interests issued by the securitisation, or some combination of the two. The rule also permits certain exceptions and methods of compliance in respect of specific types of asset-backed securities transactions. The final rule will taketook effect for residential mortgage-backed securities transactions on 24 December 2015, and will take effect on 24 December 2016 for other securitisation transactions.

Within the Dodd-Frank Act, the so-called Volcker Rule prohibits ‘banking entities’, including the Santander UK group, from engaging in certain forms of proprietary trading or from sponsoring or investing in certain covered funds, in each case subject to certain exemptions, including exemptions permitting foreign banking entities to engage in trading and fund activities that take place solely outside of the United States.US. The final rules contain exclusions and certain exemptions for market-making, hedging, underwriting, trading in US government and agency obligations as well as certain foreign government obligations, trading solely outside the US, and also permit ownership interests in certain types of funds to be retained. On 10 December 2013, the US bank regulators issued final regulations implementing the Volcker Rule, and the Federal Reserve also issued an order extending the conformance period for all banking entities until 21 July 2015. On 18 December 2014 the US Federal Reserve announced an additional extension of the conformance period that would give banking entities until 21 July 2016 to conform investments in and relationships with covered funds and certain foreign funds that may be subject to the Volcker Rule and that were in place prior to 31 December 2013,and additional extensions are possible. Banking entities must bring their activities and investments into compliance with the requirements of the Volcker Rule by the end of the applicable conformance period. We are assessinghave assessed how the final rules implementing regulations for the Volcker Rule will affect our businesses and have been developing and implementing plansadopted the necessary measures to bring affected businessesour activities into compliance.compliance with the rules.

Each of these aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act, as well as the changes in the US banking regulations, may directly and indirectly impact various aspects of our business. The full spectrum of risks that the Dodd-Frank Act, including the Volcker Rule, pose to us is not yet known, however, such risks could be material and we could be materially and adversely affected by them.

Competition

In the UK and elsewhere, there is continuing political, competitive and regulatory scrutiny of the banking industry and, in particular, retail banking. Political involvement in the regulatory process, in the behaviour and governance of the UK banking sector and in the major financial institutions in which the UK Government has a direct financial interest is likely to continue. Under the Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act 2013 the Office of Fair Trading (‘OFT’)(OFT) and the Competition Commission were replaced by the Competition and Markets Authority (‘CMA’)(CMA) on 1 April 2014. The CMA is now the UK’s main competition authority responsible for ensuring that competition and markets work well for consumers. In addition, under the Banking Reform Act, the FCA will have new powers fromas of 1 April 2015, the FCA has the power to enforce against breaches of the Competition Act 1998 and to refer markets to the CMA for in-depth investigation in the areas of financial services in the UK. As of 1 April 2015, the Payments Systems Regulator also has an objective and powers equivalent to those of the FCA to promote competition in the payments industry.

Following a market study and review, the CMA is currently undertaking a Market Investigationmarket investigation into competition in the personal current account and SME retail banking marketsmarkets. The CMA published its provisional findings on 28 October 2015, suggesting a list of potential remedies which included, among other things, the introduction of requirements to prompt customers to review the services that has athey receive from their bank at certain trigger points and to promote public awareness of account switching. The CMA recently extended the investigation from its May 2016 statutory deadline of Mayand the final report will now be published by no later than November 2016. Given the wide ranging powers available to the CMA, this investigation may result in significant industry-wide remedies. In addition, the FCA has recently undertaken, and is currently undertaking, a number of competition related studies and reviews. When it becomes operational on 1 April 2015 the Payments Systems Regulator will also have an objective and powers equivalent to those of the FCA to promote competition in the payments industry. The resolution of a number of issues, including regulatory reforms, investigations and reviews and court cases, affecting the UK financial services industry, could have an adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects, or our relations with our customers and potential customers.customers

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The structure of the financial regulatory authorities in the UK and the UK regulatory framework that applies to us hashave been reformed and reorganised and we are subject to any potential resulting uncertainty and changes to the UK regulatory regime in general

Under the Financial Services Act 2012, the UK Government introduced a range of structural reforms to UK financial regulatory bodies. As a result of those reforms, as of 1 April 2013, the Santander UK’sUK group’s primary micro-prudential supervisor is the PRA, while its conduct supervisor is the FCA. Key changes which took effect in 2014 included the transfer of consumer credit regulation to the FCA from the OFT on 1 April 2014 and the creation of the Payment Systems Regulator as an autonomous subsidiary of the FCA on 1 April 2014, which will take effect as an economic regulator frombecoming fully operational on 1 April 2015.

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Within the current regulatory framework the Santander UK group is subject to each regulator’s respective supervisory regimes and approaches, and any policy development, change or new regulation which may be brought in. In turn the UK regulatory framework is subject to amendment or change by the UK Government (as occurred following the 2010 General Election,general election, when the FSA was abolished and replaced by the current PRA/FCA structure).

The Financial Services Act 2012 also established the FPC within the Bank of EnglandBoE responsible for macro-prudential regulation and with a statutory objective to contribute to the achievement by the Bank of EnglandBoE of its financial stability objective and otherwise supporting the UK Government’s economic policy. In addition to monitoring the stability of the UK financial system, the FPC may exercise its statutory powers to give directions or make recommendations to the PRA and/or FCA. While the FPC is not permitted to give directions or make recommendations in relation to a specific regulated institution, any such directions and/or recommendations could impact on the UK banking sector, which includes the Santander UK.UK group.

Various reforms to the mortgage lending and personal loans market have been proposed which could require significant implementation costs or changes to our business strategy

Mortgage Lending

In December 2011, the FSA published a consultation paper that consolidated proposals arising out of its wide-ranging ‘mortgage market review’, which was launched in October 2009 to consider strengthening rules and guidance on, among other things, affordability assessments, product regulation, arrears charges and responsible lending.lending

The final rules in relation to the FCA Mortgage Market Review (‘MMR’)(MMR) came into force on 26 April 2014. These rules requirerequired a number of material changes to the mortgages sales process both in terms of advice provision in nearly all scenarios and significantly enhanced affordability assessment and evidencing. The new rules permit interest-only loans. However, there is a clear requirement for a clearly understood and credible strategy for repaying the capital (evidence of which the lender must obtain before making the loan).

The impact of the changes is now largely clear and in line with other lenders, the reforms presage a period of significant change for the mortgage lending business requiring changes to mortgage sales delivery systems, associated documentation and the risk assessment of prospective mortgage customers. We have implemented certain changes to implement the MMR requirements. However, thereThe FCA continues to assess firms’ implementation of the rules introduced as a result of the MMR and commenced a review of responsible lending practices in April 2015. The responsible lending review aims to help to inform a wider assessment of barriers to competition with a view to launching a market study in early 2016 on those aspects of the mortgage market that are not working to the benefit of consumers. Feedback is expected from the FCA by the second quarter of 2016. There can be no assurance that we will not make any future changes to our mortgage lending business, whether as a result of the MMR or other mortgage lending reforms, and that such changes would not adversely affect us.

In March 2011, the Commission published a proposal for a directive on credit agreements relating to residential immovable property for consumers (the ‘MortgageMortgage Credit Directive’)Directive). The Mortgage Credit Directive was published in the Official Journal on 28 February 2014 and must be implemented by Member States by 21 March 2016. The Mortgage Credit Directive requires, among other things, standard pre-contractual information, calculation of the annual percentage rate of charge in accordance with a prescribed formula, and a right of the borrower to make early repayment. HM Treasury and the FCA each published consultations in September 2014 on the necessary legislation and rules required to implement the Mortgage Credit Directive in the UK. They have indicated that they intend to adopt final versions of the necessary legislation and rules by the end of March 2015, and HMUK.HM Treasury published a consultation response and final draft legislation in January 2015. UntilThe UK has decided to implement the Mortgage Credit Directive into UK implementing legislation is adopted and the FCA rules are finalised, it is not certain what effect the adoption and implementationlaw by way of the Mortgage Credit Directive Order (the MCD Order) which was published on 26 March 2015. The MCD Order, which is not yet fully effective, will havecome into effect in phases, with all provisions becoming effective on our mortgage business. As a result, we mayor before the 21 March 2016 final implementation deadline. The FCA published its final rules implementing the Mortgage Credit Directive on 27 March 2015. These rules will also come into effect on 21 March 2016. We will be required to make further changes to our mortgage lending business to comply with the reforms and such reforms could therefore have an adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Consumer Creditcredit

On 1 April 2014, consumer credit regulation (which includes regulation of new and existing second charge mortgages), was transferred from the OFT to the FCA in accordance with the provisions under the Financial Services Act 2012. Firms that held an OFT licence and had registered with the FCA by 31 March 2014, including the Company, have been granted an interim permission under the new regime and must apply to the FCA for full authorisation during an application period notified by the FCA. Under the new regime: (i) carrying on certain credit-related activities (including in relation to servicing credit agreements) otherwise than in accordance with permission from the FCA will render the credit agreement unenforceable without FCA approval; and (ii) the FCA has the power to make rules providing that contracts made in contravention of its rules on cost and duration of credit agreements, or in contravention of its product intervention rules, are unenforceable. While some entities within the Santander UK group are fully authorised to carry out consumer credit-related regulated activities, others (including the Company) are still operating under interim permissions. If the Company is not granted full authorisation by the FCA, or if the FCA were to impose certain conditions attached to such authorisation, this could have an adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

We are exposed to risk of loss from legal and regulatory proceedings

We face various issues that may give rise to risk of loss from legal and regulatory proceedings. These issues, including inappropriately dealing with potential conflicts of interest, and legal and regulatory requirements, could result in claims against us or subject us to regulatory enforcement actions, fines and/or penalties. The current regulatory environment, with its increased supervisory focus and associated enforcement activity, combined with uncertainty about the evolution of the regulatory regime, may lead to material operational and compliance costs. These include the risk that:

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the Bank of England,The BoE, the PRA and the FCA, HM Treasury, HM Revenue & Customs (‘HMRC’)(HMRC), the CMA, the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Financial Ombudsman Service (‘FOS’)(FOS), the Payment Systems Regulator or the courts, may determine that certain aspects of our business have not been or are not being conducted in accordance with applicable laws or regulations, or, in the case of the FOS, with what is fair and reasonable in the FOS’s opinion;

opinion

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theThe alleged missellingmis-selling of financial products, such as Payment Protection Insurance (‘PPI’)(PPI), including as a result of having sales practices and/or rewards structures that are deemed to have been inappropriate, results in Enforcementenforcement action (including fines) or requires us to amend sales processes, withdraw products or provide restitution to affected customers, all of which may require additional provisions to be recorded in our financial statements and could adversely impact future revenues from affected products;

products
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weWe hold bank accounts for entities that might be or are subject to interest from various regulators, including the UK’s Serious Fraud Office and regulators in the US and elsewhere. We are not currently subject to any investigation into us as a result of any such enquiries,interest, but cannot exclude the possibility of our conduct being reviewed as part of any such investigation; and

investigation
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weWe may be liable for damages to third parties harmed by the conduct of our business.

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We are from time to time subject to certain claims and party to certain legal proceedings in the normal course of our business, including in connection with our lending activities, relationships with our employees and other commercial or tax matters. These can be brought against us under UK regulatory processes or in the UK courts, or under regulatory processes in other jurisdictions, such as the European UnionEU and the United States,US, where some Santander UK group entities operate. In view of the inherent difficulty of predicting the outcome of legal matters, particularly where the claimants seek very large or indeterminate damages, or where the cases present novel legal theories, involve a large number of parties or are in the early stages of discovery, we cannot state with confidence what the eventual outcome of these pending matters will be or what the eventual loss, fines and/or penalties related to each pending matter may be and these pending matters are not disclosed by name because they are under assessment. We believe that we have made adequate provisions related to these various claims and legal proceedings. These provisions are reviewed periodically. However, in light of the uncertainties involved in such claims and proceedings, there can be no assurance that the ultimate resolution of these matters will not exceed the provisions currently accrued by us. As a result, the outcome of a particular matter may be material to our operating results for a particular period, depending upon, among other factors, the size of the loss or liability imposed and our level of income for that period.

The FCA carries out regular and frequent reviews of the conduct of business by financial institutions including banks. An adverse finding by a regulator could result in the need for extensive changes in systems and controls, business policies, and practices coupled with suspension of sales, withdrawal of services, customer redress, fines and reputational damage.

Failure to manage these risks adequately could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Potential intervention by the FCA, the PRA or an overseas regulator may occur, particularly in response to customer complaints

The PRA and the FCA now have a more outcome-focused regulatory approach than their predecessor the FSA. This involves more proactive enforcement and more punitive penalties for infringement. As a result, we and other PRA and/or FCA-authorised firms face increased supervisory intrusion and scrutiny (resulting in increasing internal compliance costs and supervision fees), and in the event of a breach of their regulatory obligations are likely to face more stringent penalties.

In particular, the FCA has a strong focus on consumer protection,an operational objective to protect consumers, and it is taking a more interventionist approach in its increasing scrutiny of product terms and conditions. FSMA (as amended by the Financial Services Act 2012) gives the FCA the power to make temporary product intervention rules either to improve a firm’s systems and controls in relation to product design, product management and implementation, or to address problems identified with products which may potentially cause significant detriment to consumers because of certain product features or firms’ flawed governance and distribution strategies. Such rules may prevent firms from entering into product agreements with consumers until such problems have been rectified.

The regulatory regime requires us to be in compliance across all aspects of our business, including the training, authorisation and supervision of personnel, systems, processes and documentation. If we fail to be compliant with relevant regulations, there is a risk of an adverse impact on our business from sanctions, fines or other action imposed by the regulatory authorities. Customers of financial services institutions, including our customers, may seek redress if they consider that they have suffered loss as a result of the missellingmis-selling of a particular product, or through incorrect application of the terms and conditions of a particular product. Given the inherent unpredictability of litigation and the evolution of judgements by the FOS, it is possible that an adverse outcome in some matters could have a material adverse effect on our, operating results, financial condition and prospects arising from any penalties imposed or compensation awarded, together with the costs of defending such an action.

Under the Financial Services Act 2010, the FCA also has the power to requireimpose its own customer redress scheme on authorised firms, including us, to establish a customer redress scheme if it considers that consumers have suffered loss or damage as a consequence of a regulatory failing, including misselling.mis-selling.

In recent years there have been several industry-wide issues in which the FSA (now the FCA) has intervened directly. One such issue is the missellingmis-selling of PPI. In August 2010,PPI where, following an unsuccessful legal challenge by the FSA published a policy statement entitled ‘The assessment and redressBritish Bankers’ Association (BBA) in 2011 of Payment Protection Insurance complaints’ (the ‘Policy Statement’). The Policy Statement containednew FSA rules which altered the basis on which regulated firms (including the Company and certain members of our group) must consider and deal with complaints in relation to the sale of PPI, and potentially increasedSantander UK, along with other institutions, revised its provision for PPI complaint liabilities in 2011 to reflect the amount of compensation payable to customers whose complaints are upheld. A legal challenge of thesechange in rules by the British Bankers’ Association was unsuccessful. In light of this and the consequential increase in claims levels we performed a detailed review of our provision requirements in the first half of 2011 and, as a result, revised our provision for PPI complaint liabilities to reflect the new information. The overall effect of the above was a substantial increase in the provision requirement for 2011.levels. No additional provisions were made for PPI in 2012 or in 2013. In 2014, a total charge of £140m, including related costs, was made for further conduct remediation. Of this, £95m related to PPI. In November 2015, the FCA issued a consultation paper (Consultation Paper) outlining its proposed approach to PPI followingin light of the 2014 decision of the Supreme Court in Plevin v Paragon Personal Finance Ltd (Plevin) and its proposal to set a review of recent claims activity, which indicated that claims are now expected to continuetwo year deadline for longer than originally anticipated.PPI claims. The FCA has asked for responses to the Consultation Paper by the end of February 2015. In Plevin, the Supreme Court ruled that a failure to disclose a large commission payment on a single premium PPI policy sold in connection with a secured personal loan made the relationship between the lender and the borrower unfair under section 140A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Regarding the two year deadline for PPI claims, the FCA has outlined details of a £42.2m media campaign, funded by the 18 firms (including us) that have reported the most PPI complaints. The FOS is also currently considering its position with respect to the impact of Plevin on PPI complaints. When assessing the adequacy of our provision, we have applied our interpretation of the proposed rules and guidance in the Consultation Paper to our current assumptions. This application has resulted in an additional £450m provision charge in December 2015, which represents our best estimate of the remaining redress and costs, notwithstanding the ongoing nature of the consultation. New legislation was introduced in 2015 which has the effect of restricting the corporation tax deductibility for a large proportion of this cost. This new legislation is further detailed in the Risk factor entitled ‘Changes in taxes and other assessments may adversely affect us’. Having announced earlier in 2015 that it willwould gather evidence on current trends in PPI to assess the current process for PPI complaints. It willcomplaints and consider whether any new intervention is necessary, the FCA issued a consultation paper in November 2015 (the Consultation Paper) outlining its proposed approach to PPI in light of the 2014 decision of the Supreme Court in Plevin v Paragon Personal Finance Ltd (Plevin) and reportits proposal to set a two year deadline for PPI claims. In Plevin, the Supreme Court ruled that a failure to disclose a large commission payment on a single premium PPI policy sold in connection with a secured personal loan made the matterrelationship between the lender and the borrower unfair under section 140A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The FOS is also currently considering its position with respect to the impact of Plevin on PPI complaints. We are considering the impact of the FCA’s consultation paper on our PPI complaint liabilities and made an additional provision of £450m in December 2015 for further conduct remediation. New legislation was introduced in 2015 which has the effect of restricting the corporation tax deductibility for a large proportion of this cost. This new legislation is further detailed in the summer of 2015.Risk factor entitled ‘Changes in taxes and other assessments may adversely affect us’.

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Given the above, the ultimate financial impact on us of the claims arising from PPI complaints is still uncertain and will depend on a number of factors, including the implementationimpact of the Policy Statement,Supreme Court’s decision in Plevin, the nature and content of the FCA’s final rules and/or guidance arising from the Consultation Paper, changes to FOS’ approach to handling customer complaints (if any), the rate at which new complaints arise, the length of any complaints, the content and quality of the complaints (including the availability of supporting evidence) and the average uphold rates and redress costs. We can make no assurance that expenses associated with PPI complaints will not exceed the provision we have made relating to these claims. More generally, we can make no assurance that our estimates for potential liabilities, based on the key assumptions we used, are correct, and the reserves taken as a result may prove inadequate. If we were to incur additional expenses that exceed provisions for PPI liabilities or other provisions were to be incurred, these expenses could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects. For further information about the provisions for PPI complaint liabilities and other conduct remediation see Note 3633 to ourthe Consolidated Financial Statements.

All the above is similarly relevant to any future industry-wide missellingmis-selling or other issues that could affect us, such as the sale of other retail financial products and interest-rate derivative products sold to SMEs. This may lead from time to time to: (i) significant direct costs or liabilities (including in relation to misselling)mis-selling); and (ii) changes in the practices of such businesses which benefit customers at a cost to shareholders.

Decisions taken by the FOS (or any overseas equivalent that has jurisdiction) could, if applied to a wider class or grouping of customers, have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

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The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Designated Consumer Bodies) Order 2013 (the ‘Order’)Designated Consumer Bodies Order) was made on 16 December 2013 and came into force on 1 January 2014. The Designated Consumer Bodies Order designates the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, the Consumers’ Association, the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland and the National Federation of Self Employed and Small Businesses as consumer bodies that may submit a ‘super-complaint’ to the FCA. A ‘super-complaint’ is a complaint made by any of these designated consumer bodies to the FCA on behalf of consumers of financial services where it considers that a feature, or a combination of features, of the market for financial services in the UK is seriously damaging the interests of these customers. Complaints about damage to the interests of individual consumers will continue to be dealt with by the FOS. If a ‘super-complaint’ were to be made against usa Santander UK group entity by a designated consumer body under thisthe Designated Consumer Bodies Order, any response published or action taken by the FCA could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

The Banking Act may adversely affect our business

The Banking Act came into force on 21 February 2009. The special resolution regime set out in the Banking Act provides HM Treasury, the Bank of England,BoE, the PRA and the FCA (and their successor bodies) with a variety of powers for dealing with UK deposit taking institutions (and, in certain circumstances, their holding companies) that are failing or likely to fail, including: (i) to take a bank or bank holding company into temporary public ownership; (ii) to transfer all or part of the business of a bank to a private sector purchaser; or (iii) to transfer all or part of the business of a bank to a ‘bridge bank’. The special resolution regime also comprises a separate insolvency procedure and administration procedure each of which is of specific application to banks. These insolvency and administration measures may be invoked prior to the point at which an application for insolvency proceedings with respect to a relevant institution could be made.

In addition, pursuant to recent amendments made to the Banking Act, which came into force on 1 August 2014, provision has been made for various tools to be used in respect of a wider range of UK entities, including investment firms and certain banking group companies, provided that certain conditions are met. Secondary legislation specifies that the Banking Act powers can be applied to investment firms that are required to hold initial capital of730,000 or more and to certain UK incorporated non-bank companies in our group.

If an instrument or order were made under the Banking Act in respect of the Company or another Santander UK group entity, such instrument or order (as the case may be) may, (amongamong other things):things: (i) result in a compulsory transfer of shares or other securities or property of the Company;Company or such other entity; (ii) impact on the rights of the holders of shares or other securities in the Company or such other entity or result in the nullification or modification of the terms and conditions of such shares or securities; or (iii) result in the de-listing of the Company’s shares and/or other securities.securities of the Company or such other entity in the Santander UK group. In addition, such an order may affect matters in respect of the Company or such other entity and/or other aspects of the Company’s shares or other securities of the Company or such other entity in the Santander UK group, which may negatively affect the ability of the Company or such other entity to meet its obligations in respect of such shares or securities.

Further, amendments to the Insolvency Act 1986 and secondary legislation have introduced changes to the treatment and ranking of certain debts with the result that certain eligible deposits will rank in priority to the claims of ordinary (i.e. non-preferred) unsecured creditors in the event of an insolvency. This may negatively affect the ability of the Company or another Santander UK group entity to meet its obligations in respect of its unsecured creditors in an insolvency scenario.

Bail-in and write down powers under the Banking Act and the BRRD may adversely affect our business and the value of securities we may issue

The Banking Reform Act as of 31 December 2014 amended the Banking Act to introduce a UK ‘bail-in power’. On 6 May 2014, the EU Council of the European Union adopted the BRRD, which contains a similar bail-in power and requires Member States to provide resolution authorities with the power to write down the claims of unsecured creditors of a failing institution and to convert unsecured debt claims to equity (subject to certain parameters). The BRRD provides that resolution authorities shall not exercise these write down or conversion powers in relation to secured liabilities. The UK Government decided to implement the BRRD bail-in power from 1 January 2015. The new PRA and FCA rules and supervisory statements took effect from 19 January 2015, (withwith the exception of provisions requiringthe rules that require a contractual recognition of UKclause recognising bail-in powers in foreign law governedliabilities. These rules were phased in, with the first phase, which applies to debt instruments, having commenced on 19 February 2015. The second phase, which applies to all other relevant liabilities which will be implemented through FCA and PRA rules between February 2015 and 1 January 2016) and has introduced secondary legislation which came into forcecommenced on 1 January 2015 to amend the UK bail-in power to implement the BRRD.2016.

The UK bail-in power is an additional power available to the UK resolution authorities under the special resolution regime provided for in the Banking Act to enable them to recapitalise a failed institution by allocating losses to such institution’s shareholders and unsecured creditors, subject to the rights of such shareholders and unsecured creditors to be compensated under a bail-in compensation order, which is based on the principle that such creditors should receive no less favourable treatment than they would have received had the bank entered into insolvency immediately before the coming into effect of the bail-in power. The bail-in power includes the power to cancel or write down (in whole or in part) certain liabilities or to modify the terms of certain contracts for the purposes of reducing or deferring the liabilities of a UK bank entity under resolution and the power to convert certain liabilities from one form to another. The conditions for use of the UK bail-in power are generally that (i) the regulator determines the relevant UK bank entity is failing or likely to fail; (ii) it is not reasonably likely that any other action can be taken to avoid such a UK bank’sbank entity’s failure; and (iii) the relevant UK resolution authority determines that it is in the public interest to exercise the bail-in power. Certain liabilities are excluded from the scope of the bail-in powers, including liabilities to the extent that they are secured.

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According to the Banking Act, as well as similar principles in the BRRD, the relevant UK resolution authority should have regard to the insolvency treatment principles when exercising the UK bail-in power. The insolvency treatment principles are that (i) the exercise of the UK bail-in power should be consistent with treating all liabilities of the bank in accordance with the priority that they would enjoy on a liquidation and (ii) any creditors who would have equal priority on a liquidation should bear losses on an equal footing with each other. HM Treasury may, by order, specify further matters or principles to which the relevant UK resolution authority must have regard when exercising the UK bail-in power. These principles may be specified in addition to, or instead of the insolvency treatment principles. If the relevant UK resolution authority departs from the insolvency treatment principles when exercising the UK bail-in power, it must report to the Chancellor of the Exchequer stating the reasons for its departure.

The bail-in power under the Banking Act and the BRRD may potentially be exercised in respect of any unsecured debt securities issued by a financial institution under resolution or by a relevant member of ourthe Santander UK group, regardless of when they were issued. Accordingly, the bail-in power under the Banking Act and the BRRD could be exercised in respect of our debt securities. TheWe consider that the use of the bail-in tool, and the occurrence of circumstances in which bail-in powers would need to be exercised in respect of us would likely have a negative impact on our business.

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The BRRD also contains a mandatory write down power which requires Member States to grant powers to resolution authorities to recapitalise institutions and/or their EEA parent holding companies that are in severe financial difficulty or at the point of non-viability by permanently writing down Tier 1 orand Tier 2 capital instruments issued by such institutions and/or their EEA parent holding companies, or converting those capital instruments into shares. The mandatory write down provision has been implemented in the UK through the Banking Act. Before determining that any institution has reached a point of non-viability (and accordingly, before taking any form of resolution action or applying any resolution power set out in the BRRD),BRRD, the UK resolution authorities have the power (and are obliged when specified conditions are determined to have been met) to write down, or convert Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital instruments issued by that institution into CET1CET 1 capital instruments.instruments before, or simultaneously with, the entry into resolution of the relevant entity. These measures could be applied to certain of our debt securities; the occurrence of circumstances in which write down powers would need to be exercised in respect of us would be likely to have a negative impact on our business.

In contrast to the creditor protections afforded in the event of the bail-in powers being exercised, holders of capital instruments will not be entitled to the ‘no creditor worse off’ protections under the Banking Act in the event that their capital instruments are written down or converted to equity under the mandatory write-down tool (unless the mandatory write-down tool were to be used alongside a bail-in).

Furthermore, in circumstances where capital instruments are converted into equity securities by application of the mandatory write-down tool, those equity securities may be subjected to the bail-in powers in resolution, resulting in their cancellation, significant dilution or transfer away from the investors therein.

In addition, the BRRD provides for resolution authorities to have the power to require institutions and groups to make structural changes to ensure legal and operational separation of ‘critical functions’ from other functions where necessary, or to require institutions to limit or cease existing or proposed activities in certain circumstances. As a result of changes to the PRA Rulebook made to implement the BRRD, the Company is now required to identify such ‘critical functions’ as part of its resolution and recovery planning. If used in respect of us, or our holding company, these ex ante powers could have a negative impact on our business.

We are responsible for contributing to compensation schemes in the UK in respect of banks and other authorised financial services firms that are unable to meet their obligations to customers

In the UK, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (‘FSCS’)(FSCS) was established under FSMA and is the UK’s statutory fund of last resort for customers of authorised financial services firms. The FSCS can pay compensation to customers if a PRA or FCA-authorised firm is unable, or likely to be unable, to pay claims against it (for instance, an authorised bank is unable to pay claims by depositors). The FSCS is funded by levies on firms authorised by the PRA or the FCA (participant firms), including the Company and other members of ourthe Santander group.

Following the default of a number of authorised financial services firms since 2008, the FSCS borrowed funds totalling approximately £18bn from HM Treasury to meet the compensation costs for customers of those firms. It is expected that the substantial majority of the principal will be repaid from funds the FSCS levies from asset sales, surplus cash flow or other recoveries in relation to assets of the firms that defaulted. However, the FSCS estimates that the assets of these failed institutions are insufficient, and, to the extent that there remains a shortfall, is recovering this shortfall by levying firms authorised by the PRA or the FCA in instalments. The first instalment was in scheme year 2013/14, and we made a first capital contribution in August 2013. The second instalment was in scheme year 2014/15, and we made a second capital contribution in August 2014. For the year ended 31 December 2014,2015, we charged £91m£76m to the income statement in respect of the costs of the FSCS.

The FSCS also has the power to impose ‘management expenses in respect of relevant schemes levy’ (MERS levy) in relation to its potential role as agent of other compensation schemes. The FSCS may impose a MERS levy on participant firms to meet expenses it incurs in its role as agent.

In the event that the FSCS raises further funds from authorisedparticipant firms or increases the levies to be paid by such firms or the frequency at which the levies are to be paid, the associated cost to us may have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects. The recentSince 2008, measures taken to protect the depositors of deposit-taking institutions involving the FSCS, such as the borrowing from HM Treasury mentioned above, have resulted in a significant increase in the levies made by the FSCS on the industry and such levies may continue to go up if similar measures are required to protect depositors of other institutions. In addition, following amendments to the preferred credit status of depositors that came into force on 31 December 2014, the FSCS stands in the place of depositors of a failing institution and has preferred status over an institution’s other creditors.

In addition, regulatory reform initiatives in the UK and internationally may result in further changes to the FSCS, which could result in additional costs and risks for us. For instance, in July 2013, the Council of the European Union announced its intention that revisions to the EU Deposit Guarantee Scheme Directive should be adopted by the end of 2013. The recast EU Deposit Guarantee Scheme Directive (the ‘DGSD’)DGSD), which was published in the Official Journal on 12 June 2014 and entered into force on 2 July 2014, introduced a tighter definition of deposits and includes a requirement that the Deposit Guarantee Scheme pay customers within a week and a requirement that banks must be able to provide information on the aggregated deposits of a depositor. These revisions are likely to affect the methodology employed by the FSCS for determining levies on institutions. In addition, the DGSD also requires Member States to ensure that, by 3 July 2014, the available financial means of deposit guarantee schemes reach a minimum target level of 0.8 per cent.0.8% of the covered deposits of their members and requires deposit guarantee schemes to be ex-ante funded. In October 2014,Between April and July 2015, the PRA published a consultation paperits final rules implementing the DGSD, most of which took effect on 3 July 2015.

The final rules enable the implementation of the DGSD. In its consultation paper, the PRA confirmed the UK Government’s announced intentionFSCS to use the existing bank levy to meet the ex-ante funding requirements in the DGSD. Changes as a result of this may affect the profitability of the Company (and other Santander UK group members of our group required to contribute to the FSCS).

FSCS levies are collected by the FCA as part of a single payment by firms covering the FCA, the PRA, the FOS and the FSCS fees. It is possible that future policy of the FSCS and future levies on the firms authorised by the FCA or PRA may differ from those at present and that this could lead to a period of some uncertainty for members of our group.Santander UK group members. In addition, it is possible that other jurisdictions where we operate could introduce or amend their similar compensation, contributory or reimbursement schemes. As a result of any such developments, we may incur additional costs and liabilities which may adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

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We may fail to detect or prevent money laundering and other financial crime activities due to not correctly identifying our financial crime risks and failing to implement effective controls to mitigate those risks. This could expose us to heavy fines, additional regulatory scrutiny, increased liability and reputational risk.risk

We are obligated to comply with applicable anti-money laundering (‘AML’)(AML), anti-terrorism, sanctions and other laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate. These laws and regulations require us, among other things, to conduct full customer due diligence regardingin respect of sanctions and politically-exposed person screening, keep our customer, account and transaction information up to date and have implementedimplement effective financial crime policies and procedures detailing what is required from those responsible. Our requirements also include AMLfinancial crime training for our staff, reporting suspicious transactions and activity to appropriate law enforcement following full investigation by the Suspicious Activity Reporting Unit.

Financial crime has become the subject of enhanced regulatory scrutiny and supervision by regulators globally. AML sanctions, laws and regulations are increasingly complex and detailed and have become the subject of enhanced regulatory supervision, requiring improved systems, sophisticated monitoring and skilled compliance personnel.

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We have developed policies and procedures aimed at detecting and preventing the use of our banking network for money laundering and financial crime related activities. These require the implementation and embedding within the business of effective controls and monitoring, which requirerequires on-going changes to systems and operational activities. Financial crime is continually evolving, and the expectation of regulators is increasing. This requires similarly proactive and adaptable responses from us so that we are able to effectively deter threats and criminality.criminality effectively. Even known threats can never be fully eliminated, and there will be instances where we may be used by other parties to engage in money laundering and other illegal or improper activities. In addition, we rely heavily on our staff to assist us by spotting such activities and reporting them, and our staff have varying degrees of experience in recognising criminal tactics and understanding the level of sophistication of criminal organisations. Where we outsource any of our customer due diligence, customer screening or anti financial crime operations, we remain responsible and accountable for full compliance and any breaches. WhereIf we are unable to apply the necessary scrutiny and oversight there remains a risk of regulatory breach.

WhereIf we are unable to fully comply with applicable laws, regulations and expectations, our regulators and relevant law enforcement agencies have the ability and authority to impose significant fines and other penalties on us, including requiring a complete review of our business systems, day to dayday-to-day supervision by external consultants and ultimately the revocation of our banking licence.

The reputational damage to our business and global brand would be severe if we were found to have breached AML or sanctions requirements. Our reputation could also suffer if we are unable to protect our customers or our business from being used by criminals for illegal or improper purposes.

Changes in taxes and other assessments may adversely affect us

The tax and other assessment regimes to which our customers and we are subject are regularly reformed, or subject to proposed reforms. Such reforms include changes in the rate of assessments and, occasionally, enactment of temporary taxes, the proceeds of which may be earmarked for designated governmental purposes. The effects of these changes and any other changes that result from enactment of additional tax reforms have not been, and cannot be, quantified and there can be no assurance that these reforms will not, once implemented, have an adverse effect upon our business. Furthermore, such changes may produce uncertainty in the financial system, increasing the cost of borrowing and contributing to the increase in our non-performing credit portfolio.

The following paragraphs discuss threefive major reforms (the Bank Levy, FATCARestriction of Tax Deductions for Compensation Payments, Corporation Tax Surcharge, Automatic Exchange of Information and possible future changes in the taxation of banking groups in the European Union)EU) which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects, and the competitive position of UK banks,banking groups, including the Company.us.

Bank Levy

HM Treasury introduced an annual UK bank levy (the ‘Bank Levy’)Bank Levy) via legislation in the Finance Act 2011. The Bank Levy is imposed on (amongst other entities) UK banking groups and subsidiaries, and therefore applies to us. The amount of the Bank Levy is based on a bank’s total liabilities, excluding (amongst other things) Tier 1 capital, insured retail deposits and repos secured on sovereign debt. AWith effect from 1 April 2015, the Finance Act 2015 increased the rate to 0.21%. Subsequently the Finance (No.2) Act 2015 (Finance No.2 Act), which was enacted on 18 November 2015, reduced rate is applied to longer-term liabilities. Thethe UK Government intends that the Bank Levy should raise at least £2.5bn each year. To offset the shortfall in Bank Levy receipts, and alsorate from 0.21% to take account0.18% from 1 January 2016 with subsequent annual reductions to 0.1% from 1 January 2021.

Restriction of the benefitTax Deductions for Compensation Payments

The Finance (No.2) Act implemented measures that have led to, the banking sector of reductionsfor amounts accounted for after 7 July 2015 by banks (as defined in the Corporation Tax Act 2010, and including ANTS and the Company) (i) certain compensation payments (comprising redress and interest payable to customers) no longer being deductible for corporation purposes and (ii) a deemed taxable receipt equivalent to 10% of that compensation.

Corporation Tax Surcharge

With effect from 1 January 2016, the Finance (No. 2) Act implemented measures that led to banks (as defined in the Corporation Tax Act 2010, and including ANTS and the Company) being subject to a surcharge at a rate of corporation tax, the rate8% on their taxable profits (subject to certain additions and deductions).

Automatic Exchange of the Bank Levy was increased on 1 January 2012 and again on 1 January 2013. In December 2013, it was further announced that on 1 January 2014, the rate of the Bank Levy would rise to 0.156 per cent. in order to raise an estimated £2.7bn between 2014 and 2015 and an estimated £2.9bn each year between 2015 to 2016.

FATCAInformation

Sections 1471 through 1474 of the US Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (‘FATCA’)(FATCA) impose a reporting regime and potentially a 30 per cent.30% withholding tax with respect to certain payments to any non-US financial institution (a ‘foreignforeign financial institution’institution or ‘FFI’FFI (as defined by FATCA)) that (i) does not become a ‘Participating FFI’ by entering into an agreement with the US Internal Revenue Service (the ‘IRS’)IRS) to provide the IRS with certain information in respect of its account holders and investors; orand (ii) is not otherwise exempt from or in deemed compliance with FATCA. The Company and Abbey National Treasury Services plc are classified as FFI’s.FFIs.

Final regulations implementing FATCA were enactedissued in 2013. The new reporting and withholding regime will be phased in over time. Withholding began on 1 July 2014 for certain payments from sources within the United StatesUS and it will begin on 1 January 20172019 for payments of gross proceeds on assets that could generate US source dividend or interest and as early as 1 January 20172019 for ‘foreign passthru payments’ (a term not yet defined).

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The United StatesUS and the UK have entered into an agreement for the implementation of FATCA (the ‘US-UK IGA’)US-UK IGA) under which the Company and Abbey National Treasury Services plc will be treated as Reporting Financial Institutions (as defined therein). We do not anticipate that these entities will be required to deduct any tax under FATCA from payments on the securities that we issue. Each relevant member of the ourSantander UK group subject to the US-UK IGA will, however, need to comply with certain due diligence and reporting requirements to HMRC. Holders of securities that the Santander UK group issues therefore may be required to provide information and tax documentation, as well as that of their direct or indirect owners, and this information may be reported to the Commissioners for HMRC, and ultimately to the IRS. There can be no assurance that any such member of ourthe Santander UK group will be treated as a Reporting Financial Institution or that in the future we would not be required to deduct tax under FATCA from payments we make on certain financial products.

Further, additional rules similar to FATCA have been implemented in other jurisdictions and the UK has entered into information sharing agreements based on FATCA with its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. The Crown Dependency and Gibraltar agreements are reciprocal and will require UK Financial Institutions to identify customers who are tax residents of the Crown Dependencies and Gibraltar (and vice versa). The commencement date for these agreements was the same as for FATCA i.e., 1 July 2014.

Similarly, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (‘OECD’)(OECD) has developed a draft common reporting standard and model competent authority agreement to enable the multilateral, automatic exchange of financial account information. Under the OECD Common Reporting Standard (‘CRS’)(CRS) Financial Institutions will be required to identify and report the tax residence status of customers in the 90 plus countries that have endorsed the plans. 58 countries have committed to be early adopters going live in 2016, with first information exchanges expected by the end of September 2017. In December 2014, the EU incorporated the CRS into a revised Directive on Administrative Cooperation (Council Directive 2014/107/EU amending Directive 2011/16/EU) (DAC) providing the CRS with a legal basis within the EU. EU Member States must adopt and publish legislation necessary to comply with the revised DAC by 31 December 2015, and must comply with the revised DAC’s provisions from 1 January 2016. The required systemic solutions to meet this multilateral context require significant lead times to build and implement.

Unlike FATCA, CRS does not include a potential withholding element. Therefore our main risks are regulatory, reputational and commercial.

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European Taxation

As of 1 August 2012, pursuant to the French amending finance law for 2012, a financial transaction tax in France was introduced (the ‘FrenchFrench Financial Transaction Tax’)Tax). The French Financial Transaction Tax is setapplies to be imposed on certain transactions, referenced to, or in relation with, French listed shares where the relevant issuer’s stock market capitalisation exceeds one billion euro. The French Financial Transaction Tax rate is 0.2 per cent.0.2% of the sale price of the transaction.

Similarly, on 24 December 2012, pursuant to paragraphs 491 to 500 of Article 1 of the Italian Law 288, a financial transaction tax in Italy was introduced (the ‘ItalianItalian Financial Transaction Tax’)Tax). The Italian Financial Transaction Tax commenced on 1 March 2013 for transactions in Italian equity instruments and from 1 July 2013 for Italian equity derivatives. The Italian Financial Transaction Tax rate is between 0.12 per cent.0.2% and 0.22 per cent.0.1% of the sale price of the transaction reducing to between 0.2 per cent. and 0.1 per cent., respectively, from 1 January 2014.transaction.

On 14 February 2013, the Commission published a proposal (the ‘Commission Proposal’)Commission Proposal) for a Directivedirective for a common system of financial transactions taxes (‘EU(EU Financial Transaction Tax’Tax or ‘FTT’)FTT) in Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia (the ‘ParticipatingParticipating Member States’)States). Under the Commission’s proposal,Proposal, the FTT could apply in certain circumstances to persons both within and outside of the Participating Member States. Generally it would apply to certain dealings in securities where at least one party to the transaction is a financial institution established in a Participating Member State. A financial institution may be, or may be deemed to be, ‘established’ in a Participating Member State in a broad range of circumstances, including (i) by transacting with a person established in a Participating Member State or (ii) where the financial instrument which is subject to the dealings is issued in a Participating Member State. Whilst the UK is not a Participating Member State, the directive proposals are broad and as such may impact transactions completed by financial institutions operating in non-Participating Member States. We are still assessing the proposals to determine the likely impact on us.

A joint statementJoint statements issued in May 2014 by ten of the eleven Participating Member States indicated an intention to implement the FTT progressively, such that it would initially apply to shares and certain derivatives, with this initial implementation occurring by 1 January 2016. Such an FTT initial implementation may not apply to dealings in shares. TheHowever, the FTT proposal remains subject to continued negotiation between the Participating Member States.States and the scope of any such tax remain uncertain. It may therefore be altered prior to any implementation. AdditionalAt the European Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting held on 8 December 2015, Estonia withdrew from the proposal but the remaining Participating Member States may decide to participate. Banco Santander, S.A. isindicated they are hoping for a firm agreement by June 2016. We are still assessing the proposalproposals and the likely impact on us.

Changes in our pension liabilities and obligations could have a materially adverse effect on us

We provide retirement benefits for many of our former and current employees in the UK through a number of defined benefit pension schemes established under trust. We are the principal employer under these schemes, but we have only limited control over the rate at which we pay into such schemes. Under the UK statutory funding requirements employers are usually required to contribute to the schemes at the rate they agree with the scheme trustees although, if they cannot agree, suchthe rate can be set by the Pensions Regulator. The scheme trustees may, in the course of discussions about future valuations, seek higher employer contributions. The scheme trustees’ power in relation to the payment of pension contributions depends on the terms of the trust deed and rules governing the pension schemes.

The Pensions Regulator has the power to issue a financial support direction to companies within a group in respect of the liability of employers participating in the UK defined benefit pension plansschemes where that employer is a service company, or is otherwise ‘insufficiently resourced’ (as defined for the purposes of the relevant legislation). As some of the employers within ourthe Santander UK group are service companies, if they become insufficiently resourced and no suitable mitigating action is undertaken, other companies within ourthe Santander UK group which are connected with or an associate of those employers are at risk of a financial support direction in respect of those employers’ liabilities to the defined benefit pension schemes in circumstances where the Pensions Regulator properly considers it reasonable to issue one. Such a financial support direction could require the companies to guarantee or provide security for the pension liabilities of those employers, or could require additional amounts to be paid into the relevant pension schemes in respect of them.

The Pensions Regulator can also issue contribution notices if it is of the opinion that an employer has taken actions, or failed to take actions, deliberately designed to avoid meeting its pension promises or which are materially detrimental to the scheme’s ability to meet its pension promises. A contribution notice can be moved to any company that is connected with or an associate of such employer in circumstances where the Regulator considers it reasonable to issue. The risk of a contribution notice being imposed may inhibit our freedom to restructure or to undertake certain corporate activities.

318  Santander UK plc


        RiskContact andSubsidiaries, joint venturesForward lookingSelected
        Factorsother informationand associatesGlossarystatements

financial data

In a judgment handed down on 18 December 2013, the UK High Court has held that, where multiple group companies are potential targets for the Pensions Regulator’s power to issue contribution notices, the aggregate total of the contributions required by those notices wasis not limited to the amount required to fully fund the deficit in the relevant pension scheme under section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995 (‘Section 75’)(Section 75). Although such a limit still applies in relation to a single contribution notice, this judgment means that, where there is more than one target for the Pensions Regulator’s powers, each of the contribution notices it could issue to those targets can be for the full amount of the Section 75 funding deficit and, further, the scheme may, under such multiple contribution notices, recover more than the actual or notional employer debt, potentially creating a surplus for the scheme. The UK High Court’s decision reopens the issue of schemes having a superior priority position over other creditors and further legal developments are expected as a result of the December 2013 judgement.judgment. However in the case that this relates to a settlement was reached which meant that only the full Section 75 debt was paid into the scheme on the proviso the appeal of the judgement was withdrawn.

Should the value of assets to liabilities in respect of the defined benefit schemes operated by us record a deficit, due to either a reduction in the value of the pension fund assets (depending on the performance of financial markets) and/or an increase in the pension fund liabilities due to changes in legislation, mortality assumptions, the rate of increase of salaries, discount rate assumptions, inflation, the expected rate of return on planscheme assets, or other factors, or there is a change in the actual or perceived strength of the employer’s covenant, this could result in us having to make increased contributions to reduce or satisfy the deficits which would divert resources from use in other areas of our business and reduce the Company’s capital resources. While we can control a number of the above factors, there are some over which we have no or limited control. Although the trustees of the defined benefit pension schemes are obliged to consult with us before changing the pension schemes’ investment strategy, the trustees have the final say and ultimate responsibility for investment strategy rests with them.

Our principal defined pension scheme is the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme and its corporate trustee is Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme Trustee Limited (the ‘PensionPension Scheme Trustee’)Trustee), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. As at 31 December 2014,2015, the Pension Scheme Trustee had 14 directors, comprising seven Santander UK appointed directors and seven member-elected directors. Investment decisions are delegated by the Pension Scheme Trustee to a common investment fund, managed by Santander (CF) Trustee Limited, a private limited company owned by seven Pension Schemethe Santander (CF) Trustee directors, with up to four appointed by the Company and up to three by the Pension Scheme Trustee. The Pension Scheme Trustee directors’ principal duty, within the investment powers delegated to them, is to act in the best interest of the members of the Santander UK group Pension Scheme and not that of the Company. Any increase in our pension liabilities and obligations could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

344Santander UK plc


Risk

Contact and

Glossary

Forward-looking

Selected Financial

Factors

other Information

Statements

Data

The ongoing changes in the UK supervision and regulatory regime and particularly the implementation of the ICB’s recommendations may require us to make changes to itsour structure and business which could have an impact on our pension schemes or liabilities. For a discussion of the ICB’s recommendations see the Risk factor entitled ‘We are subject to substantial regulation and governmental oversight which could adversely affect our business and operations’ on pages 337 and 338..

Damage to our reputation could cause harm to our business prospects

Maintaining a positive reputation is critical to us attracting and maintaining customers, investors and employees and conducting business transactions with counterparties. Damage to our reputation, the reputation of the Santander UK group or Banco Santander S.A.SA (as the majority shareholder in the Company), the reputation of affiliates operating under the ‘Santander’ brand or any of our other brands or the reputation of the UK or Spain could therefore cause significant harm to our business and prospects. Harm to our reputation can arise directly or indirectly from numerous sources, including, among others, employee misconduct, litigation, failure to deliver minimum standards of service and quality, compliance failures, breach of legal or regulatory requirements, unethical behaviour (including adopting inappropriate sales and trading practices), and the activities of customers and counterparties. Further, negative publicity regarding us, whether or not true, may result in harm to our operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Actions by the financial services industry generally or by certain members of, or individuals in, the industry can also affect our reputation. For example, the role played by financial services firms in the financial crisis and the seeming shift towards increasing regulatory supervision and enforcement has caused public perception of us and others in the financial services industry to decline.

We could suffer significant reputational harm if we fail to properly identify and manage potential conflicts of interest. Management of potential conflicts of interest has become increasingly complex as we expand our business activities through more transactions, obligations and interests with and among our customers.properly. The failure to adequately address, or the perceived failure to adequately address, conflicts of interest could affect the willingness of customers to deal with us, or give rise to litigation or enforcement actions against us. Therefore, there can be no assurance that conflicts of interest will not arise in the future that could cause material harm to us.

Our financial statements are based in part on assumptions and estimates which, if inaccurate, could cause material misstatement of the results of our operations and financial condition

The preparation of financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, income and expenses. Due to the inherent uncertainty in making estimates, actual results reported in future periods may be based upon amounts which differ from those estimates. Estimates, judgements and assumptions are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised and in any future periods affected. The accounting policies deemed critical to our results and financial condition, based upon materiality and significant judgements and estimates, include impairment of loans and advances, valuation of financial instruments, goodwill impairment, provision for conduct remediation and pensions.

The valuation of financial instruments measured at fair value can be subjective, in particular where models are used which include unobservable inputs. Given the uncertainty and subjectivity associated with valuing such instruments it is possible that the results of our operations and financial condition could be materially misstated if the estimates and assumptions used prove to be inaccurate.

If the judgement, estimates and assumptions we use in preparing our consolidated financial statements are subsequently found to be incorrect, there could be a material effect on our results of operations and a corresponding effect on our funding requirements and capital ratios.

Disclosure controls and procedures over financial reporting may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud

Disclosure controls and procedures over financial reporting are designed to reasonably assureprovide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by us in reports filed or submitted under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the ‘Exchange Act’)Exchange Act) is accumulated and communicated to management, and recorded, processed, summarised and reported within the time periods specified in the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms. We adopted the Committee of Sponsoring Organisations of the Treadway Commission internal control – integrated framework with effect from 15 December 2014, replacing the previous framework. The revised framework is designed to recognise the many changes in business and operating environments since the issuance of the original framework and is intended to broaden and enhance the application of controls over financial reporting.

Annual Report 2015

Shareholder information

There are, however, inherent limitations to the effectiveness of any system of disclosure controls and procedures, including the possibility of human error and the circumvention or overriding of the controls and procedures. Accordingly, even effective disclosure controls and procedures can only provide reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives.

Consequently, our businesses arebusiness is exposed to risk from potential non-compliance with policies, employee misconduct or negligence and fraud, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious reputational or financial harm. In recent years, a number of multinational financial institutions have suffered material losses due to the actions of ‘rogue traders’ or other employees. It is not always possible to deter employee misconduct and the precautions we take to prevent and detect this activity may not always be effective. As a result of the inherent limitations in the control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Annual Report 2014345


Shareholder Information

Changes in accounting standards could impact reported earnings

The accounting standard setters and other regulatory bodies periodically change the financial accounting and reporting standards that govern the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. These changes can materially impact how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations. In some cases, we could be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, resulting in the restatement of prior period financial statements.

We rely on third parties for important infrastructure support, products and services

Third party vendors provide key components of our business infrastructure such as loan and deposit servicing systems, internet connections and network access. Any problems caused by these third parties, including as a result of them not providing us their services for any reason, or performing their services poorly, could adversely affect our ability to deliver products and services to customers and otherwise conduct business. Replacing these third party vendors could also entail significant delays and expense.

We engage in transactions with our subsidiaries or affiliates that others may not consider to be on an arm’s-length basis

We and our subsidiaries and affiliates have entered into a number of services agreements pursuant to which we render services, such as administrative, accounting, finance, treasury, legal services and others. We rely upon certain outsourced services (including information technology support, maintenance and consultancy services in connection with Partenon)services) provided by certain other members of the Banco Santander group.

English law applicable to public companies and financial groups and institutions, as well as our articles of association, provide for several procedures designed to ensure that the transactions entered into, with or among our financial subsidiaries, do not deviate from prevailing market conditions for those types of transactions, including the requirement that our board of directors approve such transactions. We are likely to continue to engage in transactions with our subsidiaries or affiliates (including our controlling shareholder). Future conflicts of interests between us and any of our subsidiaries or affiliates, or among our subsidiaries and affiliates, may arise, which conflicts are not required to be and may not be resolved in our favour.

Different disclosure and accounting principles between the UK and the United StatesUS may provide you with different or less information about us than you expectexpected

There may be less publicly available information about us than is regularly published about companies in the United States.US. Issuers of securities in the UK are required to make public disclosures that are different from, and that may be reported under presentations that are not consistent with, disclosures required in countries with a relatively more developed capital market, including the United States.US. While we are subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, we are not subject to the same disclosure requirements in the United StatesUS as a domestic US registrant under the Exchange Act, including the requirements to prepare and issue quarterly reports, or the proxy rules applicable to domestic US registrants under Section 14 of the Exchange Act or the insider reporting and short-swing profit rules under Section 16 of the Exchange Act. Accordingly, the information about us available to you will not be the same as the information available to holders of securities of a US company and may be reported in a manner that you areis not familiar with.familiar.

Risks concerning enforcement of judgementsjudgments made in the United StatesUS

The Company is a public limited company registered in England and Wales. With the exception of one director, allAll of the Company’s directors live outside the United States.US. As a result, it may not be possible to serve process on such persons in the United StatesUS or to enforce judgementsjudgments obtained in US courts against them or us based on the civil liability provisions of the US federal securities laws or other laws of the United StatesUS or any state thereof. The Directors’ Report on pages 182 to 187 and the Strategic Report on pages 2 to 24 of our 2014 Annual Report (together the ‘Reports’) have been prepared and presented in accordance with and in reliance upon English company law and the liabilities of the Directors in connection with those Reports shall be subject to the limitations and restrictions provided by such law. Under the UK Companies Act 2006, a safe harbour limits the liability of Directors in respect of statements in and omissions from the Directors’ Report on pages 182 to 187 and the Strategic Report on pages 2 to 24 of our 2014 Annual Report. Under this safe harbour, the Directors would only be liable to the Company (and not to any third party) if either or both Reports contain errors as a result of recklessness or knowing misstatement or dishonest concealment of a material fact.

 

 

346Santander UK plc

320  Santander UK plc


Risk

Contact and

Glossary

Forward-looking

Selected Financial

Factors

other Information

Statements

Data

        Risk factors

         Contact and Subsidiaries, joint ventures    Forward looking  Selected
        other informationand associatesGlossarystatements

financial data

 

Contact and other information

Santander UK registeredRegistered office, principal office and investor relations department

2 Triton Square

Regent’s Place

London

NW1 3AN

Phone number:

Regent’s Place

London

NW1 3AN

Phone number: 0870-607-6000

Designated agent

The designated agent for service of process on Santander UK in the United States is Abbey National Treasury Services plc (Connecticut branch), 400 Atlantic Street, Stamford, CT 06901.

Santander Shareholder Relations

2 Triton Square

Regent’s Place

London

NW1 3AN

Phone numbers:

0871-384-2000

+44 (0) 121-415-7188 (outside the UK)

Email:

shareholders@santander.com

Other information

Documents on display

The Company is subject to the information requirements of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In accordance with these requirements, the Company files its Annual Report and other related documents with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents may be inspected by US investors at the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s public reference rooms, which are located at 100 F Street NE, Room 1580, Washington, DC 20549-0102. Information on the operation of the public reference rooms can be obtained by calling the US Securities and Exchange Commission on +1-202-551-8090 or by looking at the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov.

None of the websites referred to in this Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2015 (the Form 20-F), including where a link is provided, nor any of the information contained on such websites is incorporated by reference in the Form 20-F.

Legal proceedings

Santander UK isWe are party to various legal proceedings in the ordinary course of business, the ultimate resolution of which is not expected to have a material adverse effect on theour financial position or theour results of operations of Santander UK.operations. See Notes 3533 and 3735 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Material contracts

Santander UK isWe are party to various contracts in the ordinary course of business. For the three years ended 31 December 20142015 there have been no material contracts entered into outside the ordinary course of business.business, except for the contracts described below.

Abbey National Treasury Services plc, Santander UK plc, and Cater Allen Limited, which are the three PRA-regulated entities within the Santander UK group, are party to a capital support deed dated 23 December 2015 (the Capital Support Deed) with certain other non-regulated subsidiaries of Santander UK plc and Santander UK Group Holdings plc. The parties to the Capital Support Deed constitute a core UK group as defined in the PRA Rulebook. Exposures of each of the three regulated entities to other members of the core UK group are exempt from large exposure limits that would otherwise apply. The purpose of the Capital Support Deed is to facilitate the prompt transfer of available capital resources from, or repayment of liabilities by, the non-regulated parties to any of the regulated parties in the event that one of the regulated parties has breached or is at risk of breaching its capital resources requirements or risk concentrations requirements. The core UK group permission expires on 31 December 2018.

Audit fees

See Note 87 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Profit on sale of subsidiaries

No profits arose on sales of Santander UK groupour undertakings during the three years ended 31 December 2014.2015.

Significant acquisitions and disposals

TheOur results were not materially affected by acquisitions and disposals during the three years ended 31 December 2014.2015.

Accounting developments under IFRS

See Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

Annual Report 2015

Shareholder information

Subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates

In accordance with Section 409 of the Companies Act 2006, a list of Santander UK plc’s subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates, the country of incorporation and the effective percentage of equity owned at 31 December 2015 is disclosed below. This section forms an integral part of the financial statements.

Subsidiaries

All subsidiaries are consolidated by the Santander UK group.

Incorporated and registered in England and Wales:

Name of subsidiary  

Direct/indirect      

ownership

  

Share class through which

ownership is held

  

Proportion

of

ownership

interest

%

   

Ultimate

proportion

of

ownership

%

 

2 & 3 Triton Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

A & L CF December (1) Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A & L CF June (2) Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A & L CF June (3) Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A & L CF June (8) Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A & L CF March (5) Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A & L CF March (6) Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A & L CF September (3) Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A & L CF September (4) Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A N Loans Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Ordinary £0.0003   -     100  

A&L CF December (10) Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A&L CF December (11) Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Abbey National (America) Holdings Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Common USD $1   -     100  

Abbey National Beta Investments Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   8     100  

Abbey National Business Office Equipment Leasing Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   42     100  

Abbey National Investments (in liquidation)

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Abbey National Nominees Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Abbey National North America Holdings Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Abbey National Pension (Escrow Services) Limited (in liquidation)

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Abbey National PLP (UK) Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Abbey National Property Investments

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Abbey National September Leasing (3) Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Abbey National Treasury (Structured Solutions) Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £0.01   -     100  

Abbey National Treasury Investments (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Abbey National Treasury Services Investments Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Abbey National Treasury Services Overseas Holdings

  Direct  

Minority £1

Non-redeemable preference £1        

Ordinary £1

   100     100  

Abbey National Treasury Services plc

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Abbey National UK Investments

  Indirect  

Ordinary0.20

Ordinary £1

   1     100  

Abbey Stockbrokers (Nominees) Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Abbey Stockbrokers Limited

  Indirect  

Ordinary £1

A Preference £1

B Preference £1

   -     100  

Alliance & Leicester Cash Solutions Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank plc

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Alliance & Leicester Commercial Finance (Holdings) plc (in liquidation)

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Alliance & Leicester Financing plc (in liquidation)

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Alliance & Leicester (Derivatives No.3) Limited (in liquidation)

  Direct  

A Ordinary £1

B Ordinary £1

   100     100  

Alliance & Leicester Investments (Derivatives) Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Alliance & Leicester Investments (No.2) Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Alliance & Leicester Investments Limited

  Direct  

Ordinary £1

Non-cumulative fixed rate

preference £1

   100     100  

Alliance & Leicester Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £0.50   100     100  

Alliance & Leicester Personal Finance Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Alliance Corporate Services Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Ordinary £0.75   -     100  

AN (123) Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £0.10   100     100  

ANITCO Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

CAPB Limited (in liquidation)

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Cater Allen Holdings Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Cater Allen International Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Cater Allen Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Cater Allen Lloyd’s Holdings Limited

  Indirect  

Ordinary £1

Preferred £1

   -     100  

Cater Allen Syndicate Management Limited

  Indirect  

Ordinary £1

Preference £1

   -     100  

Chiplow Wind Farm Limited

  Indirect  A Ordinary £1   -     50  

First National Motor Business Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

First National Motor Contracts Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

First National Motor Facilities Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

First National Motor Finance Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

First National Motor Leasing Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

322  Santander UK plc


Risk factorsContact andSubsidiaries, jointForward lookingSelected
other informationventures and associatesGlossarystatements

financial data

Name of subsidiary  

Direct/indirect      

ownership

  

Share class through which

ownership is held

  

Proportion

of

ownership

interest

%

   

Ultimate

proportion

of

ownership

%

 

First National Motor plc

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

First National Tricity Finance Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Girobank Carlton Investments Limited (in liquidation)

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Girobank Investments Limited (in liquidation)

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Insurance Funding Solutions Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Kelmarsh Windfarm Limited

  Indirect  A Ordinary £1   -     50  

Liquidity Limited

  Direct  

Ordinary A £0.10

Ordinary B1 £0.10

Ordinary B2 £0.10

Preference £1

   100     100  

Penmanshiel Energy Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

PSA Finance UK Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £0.01   -     50  

PSA UK Number 1 plc

  Indirect  

B Ordinary £1

C Ordinary £1

   67     67  

Retail Financial Services Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  

A Ordinary £1

B Ordinary £1

   -     100  

Santander (CF Trustee Property Nominee) Limited

  Trust relationship  Ordinary £1   -     -  

Santander (CF Trustee) Limited

  Trust relationship  Ordinary £1   -     -  

Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme Trustees Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Santander Asset Finance (December) Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Santander Asset Finance plc

  Direct  Ordinary £0.10   100     100  

Santander Cards Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Santander Cards UK Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Santander Consumer (UK) plc

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Santander Consumer Credit Services Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Santander Equity Investments Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Santander Estates Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Santander Global Consumer Finance Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £0.0001   -     100  

Santander Guarantee Company

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Santander Lending Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Santander Private Banking UK Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Santander Secretariat Services Limited

  Indirect  A Ordinary USD $0.01   -     100  

Santander UK Foundation Limited

  Direct  Guarantee ownership   100     100  

Scottish Mutual Pensions Limited (in liquidation)

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Sheppards Moneybrokers Limited

  Indirect  

Ordinary £1

Non-voting Preference £1

   -     100  

Solarlaser Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   20     100  

The Alliance & Leicester Corporation Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Time Finance Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  

A Ordinary £1

B Ordinary £1

   -     100  

Time Retail Finance Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Tuttle and Son Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Viking Collection Services Limited (in liquidation)

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

Winwick Wind Farm Limited

  Indirect  A Ordinary £1   -     50  

Incorporated and registered overseas:

Name of subsidiary  Country  Direct/indirect    
ownership
  

Share class through        

which ownership is

held

  

Proportion

of

ownership

interest

%

   

Ultimate

proportion

of

ownership

%

 

A & L CF (Guernsey) Limited

  Guernsey  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A & L CF (Jersey) Limited

  Jersey  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     100  

A&L Services Limited

  Isle of Man  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Abbey Business Services (India) Private Limited

  India  Indirect  Ordinary INR 10   -     100  

Abbey National International Limited

  Jersey  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Abbey National North America LLC

  United States of America      Indirect  Deferred £0   -     100  

ALIL Services Limited

  Isle of Man  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Carfax (Guernsey) Limited

  Guernsey  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Santander Cards Ireland Limited

  Ireland  Indirect  

Ordinary1

Ordinary1.27

   -     100  

Santander ISA Managers Limited

  Scotland  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Sovereign Spirit Limited

  Bermuda  Indirect  Ordinary BMD 1   -     100  

Whitewick Limited

  Jersey  Direct  Ordinary £1   100     100  

Annual Report 2015

Shareholder information

Other subsidiary undertakings

The Company and its subsidiaries do not own directly, or indirectly, any of the share capital of any of the entities, however they are consolidated by the Santander UK group because the substance of the relationship indicates control, as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

Annual Report 2014

Name of entity

347

Country

Abbey Covered Bonds LLPUnited States of America      
Abbey Covered Bonds (LM) LimitedEngland and Wales
Abbey Covered Bonds (Holdings) LimitedEngland and Wales
Auto ABS UK Loans plcEngland and Wales
Fosse (Master Issuer) Holdings LimitedEngland and Wales
Fosse Funding (No.1) LimitedEngland and Wales
Fosse Master Issuer plcEngland and Wales
Fosse PECOH LimitedEngland and Wales
Fosse Trustee (UK) LimitedEngland and Wales
Fosse Trustee LimitedJersey
Guaranteed Investment Products 1 PCC LimitedGuernsey
HCUK Auto Funding 2015 LimitedEngland and Wales
HCUK Auto Funding 2016-1 LimitedEngland and Wales
Holmes Funding LimitedEngland and Wales
Holmes Holdings LimitedEngland and Wales
Holmes Master Issuer plcEngland and Wales
Holmes Trustees LimitedEngland and Wales
Langton Funding (No.1) LimitedEngland and Wales
Langton Mortgages Trustee (UK) LimitedEngland and Wales
Langton Mortgages Trustee LimitedJersey
Langton PECOH LimitedEngland and Wales
Langton Securities (2008-1) plcEngland and Wales
Langton Securities (2010-1) plcEngland and Wales
Langton Securities (2010-2) plcEngland and Wales
Langton Securities (2012-1) plcEngland and Wales
Langton Securities Holdings LimitedEngland and Wales
MAC No. 1 LimitedEngland and Wales
Motor 2011 Holdings Limited (in liquidation)England and Wales
Motor 2011 plc (in liquidation)England and Wales
Motor 2012 Holdings Limited (in liquidation)England and Wales
Motor 2012 plc (in liquidation)England and Wales
Motor 2013-1 Holdings Limited (in liquidation)England and Wales
Motor 2013-1 plc (in liquidation)England and Wales
Motor 2014-1 Holdings LimitedEngland and Wales
Motor 2014-1 plcEngland and Wales
Motor 2015-1 Holdings LimitedEngland and Wales
Motor 2015-1 plcEngland and Wales
Motor 2015-2 Holdings LimitedEngland and Wales
Motor 2015-2 plcEngland and Wales
PECOH LimitedEngland and Wales


Joint ventures

Shareholder InformationThese entities are registered in England and Wales and are accounted for by the equity method of accounting.

Name of joint venture  

Direct/indirect      

ownership

  

Share class through which    

ownership is held

  

Proportion

of ownership

interest

%

   

Ultimate

proportion

of ownership

%

 

Hyundai Capital UK Limited

  Indirect  Ordinary £1   -     50  

Syntheo Limited

  Direct  Ordinary £1   50     50  

Overseas branches

Santander UK plc has branches in the Isle of Man and Jersey. Abbey National Treasury Services plc also has a branch office in the United States of America and the Cayman Islands.

 

 

324  Santander UK plc


Risk factorsContact andSubsidiaries, joint ventures  Forward looking    Selected

other information

and associates                Glossarystatements    financial data

 

Glossary of financial services industry terms

 

TermDefinition

1I2I3 World

The 1I2I3 World is the marketing name for a suite of products offering customers a range of benefits such as cashback and tiered interest, preferential rates on mortgages and house insurance and special deals. The products include the 1I2I3 Current Account, the 1I2I3 Credit Card, and additional current accounts tailored to specific stages in a person’s life, such as the 1I2I3 Mini (for children), Student, Graduate, and Postgraduate accounts. The aim of 1I2I3 World products is to attract and retain customers (i.e. improving customers’ loyalty and longevity), and to increase the number and type of transactions customers undertake with us, by offering benefits for doing so.
1I2I3 World customer

A customer who holds one or more of the following products: 1I2I3 Credit Card, 1I2I3 Current Account, 1I2I3 Graduate Current Account, 1l2l3 Student Current Account, 1l2l3 Postgraduate Current Account, 1l2l3 Mini Current Account and 1I2I3 Mini Account (in Trust).products. Trustees are not classed as 1I2I3 World customers. Also excludes automatic upgrade of accounts as part of product simplification.

Alternative A-paper

(‘Alt-A’)

Arrears

A US description for loans regarded as better risk than sub-prime, but with higher risk characteristics than lending under normal criteria.

Arrears

Customers are said to be in arrears when they are behind in fulfilling their obligations with the result that an outstanding loan is unpaid or overdue. Such a customer is also said to be in a state of delinquency. When a customer is in arrears, his entire outstanding balance is said to be delinquent, meaning that delinquent balances are the total outstanding loans on which payments are overdue.

Asset Backed Securities

(‘ABS’)(ABS)

Securities that represent an interest in an underlying pool of referenced assets. The referenced pool can comprise any assets which attract a set of associated cash flows but are commonly pools of residential or commercial mortgages but could also include leases, credit card receivables, motor vehicles or student loans.

UK Bank Levy

The levy that applies to certain UK banks, UK building societies and the UK operations of foreign banks from 1 January 2011. The levy is payable based on a percentage of the chargeable equity and liabilities of the bank at the balance sheet date.

Banking net interest

margin (NIM)

Net interest income divided by average customer assets.

Basel II

The capital adequacy framework issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in June 2006 in the form of the ‘International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards’.

loans.

Basel III

In December 2010, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued the Basel III rules text, which presents the details of strengthened global regulatory standards on bank capital adequacy and liquidity. The standards were implemented in the EU in January 2014.

Basis point

One hundredth of a per cent (i.e. 0.01%), so 100 basis points is 1%. Used in quoting movements in interest rates or yields on securities.

Business Banking

Enterprises with a turnover of up to £250,000 per annum.

Collateralised Loan

Obligation (‘CLO’)(CLO)

A security backed by the repayments from a pool of commercial loans. The payments may be made to different classes of owners (in tranches).

Collectively assessed

loan impairment

provisions

Impairment losses assessment on a collective basis for loans that are part of homogeneous pools of similar loans and that are not individually significant, using appropriate statistical techniques. See ‘Impairment of financial assets’ in Note 1 ‘Accounting Policies’ to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Commercial Paper

An unsecured promissory note issued to finance short-term credit needs. It specifies the face amount paid to investors on the maturity date. Commercial paper can be issued as an unsecured obligation of Santander UK and is usually issued for periods ranging from one week up to nine months. However, the depth and reliability of some CP markets means that issuers can repeatedly roll over CP issuance and effectively achieve longer term funding. CP can be issued in a range of denominations and can be discounted or interest-bearing.

Commercial Real Estate

Includes office buildings, industrial property, medical centres, hotels, malls, retail stores, shopping centres, farm land, multifamily housing buildings, warehouses, garages and industrial properties.

Common Equity Tier 1

(CET 1’)1) capital

Called-up share capital and eligible reserves less deductions calculated in accordance with the CRD IV implementation rules as per the PRA Policy Statement PS7/13.

CET 1 capital ratio

Common Equity TierCET 1 capital as a percentage of risk weighted assets.

Contractual maturity

The final payment date of a loan or other financial instrument, at which point all the remaining outstanding principal will be repaid and interest is due to be paid.

Core Tier 1 capital

Called up share capital and eligible reserves plus equity non-controlling interests, less intangible assets and deductions relating to the excess of expected loss over regulatory impairment loss allowance and securitisation positions as specified by the PRA.

Core Tier 1 capital ratio

Core Tier 1 capital as a percentage of risk weighted assets.

Corporate customer

satisfaction

The Charterhouse UK business banking surveyBusiness Banking Survey is an on-goingongoing telephone based survey designed to monitor usage and attitude of UK businesses towards banks. 17,000 structured telephone interviews are conducted each year among businesses of all sizes from new start-ups to large corporates with annual sales of £1bn. DataThe data is based on 5,733upon 5,423 interviews made in the year ended 30 September 20142015 with businesses turning over £250k to £50m per annum and are weighted by region and turnover to be representative of businesses in Great Britain. Satisfaction is based on a five point scale (% Excellent / Very good). The competitor set included in this analysis is Barclays, RBS, HSBC, Lloyds, TSB and NatWest.

Corporates

Include SMEs with an annual turnover of between £250,000 and £50m, mid corporate customers between £50m and £500m and large corporate customers above £500m.

Cost-to-income ratio

Operating expenses as a percentage of total income.

Coverage ratio

Impairment loss allowances as a percentage of total non-performing loans and advances. See non-performing loans and advances tables in the Risk Reviewreview for industry specific definitions of individual products.

Covered bonds

Debt securities backed by a portfolio of mortgages that is segregated from the issuer’s other assets solely for the benefit of the holders of the covered bonds. The Santander UK group issues covered bonds as part of its funding activities.

Credit Default Swap

(‘CDS’)(CDS)

A credit derivative contract where the protection seller receives premium or interest-related payments in return for contracting to make payments to the protection buyer in the event of a defined credit event. Credit events normally include bankruptcy, payment default on a reference asset or assets, or downgrades by a rating agency.

Credit derivative

A contractual agreement whereby the credit risk of an asset (the reference asset) is transferred from the buyer to the seller of protection. The buyer of the credit derivative pays a periodic fee in return for a payment by the protection seller upon the occurrence, if any, of a credit event defined at the inception of the transaction. Credit events normally include bankruptcy, payment default on a reference asset or assets, or downgrades by a rating agency. Credit derivatives include credit default swaps, total return swaps and credit swap options.

Credit risk mitigation

A technique to reduce the credit risk associated with an exposure by application of credit risk mitigants such as collateral, guarantee and credit protection.

Annual Report 2015

Shareholder information

 

 

348Santander UK plc


Risk Elements inTaxation forArticles ofITRANYSEForm 20-F
the loan portfoliosUS investorsAssociation
Term Definition
Credit spread 

     TermDefinition

Credit risk spread

The yield spread between securities with the same coupon rate and maturity structure but with different associated credit risks, with the yield spread rising as the credit rating worsens. It is the premium over the benchmark or risk-free rate required by the market to accept a lower credit quality.

Credit Valuation

Adjustment (‘CVA’)(CVA)

Adjustments to the fair values of derivative assets to reflect the creditworthiness of the counterparty.

Capital Requirements

Directive IV (‘CRD IV’)(CRD IV)

An EU legislative package covering prudential rules for banks, building societies and investment firms.

Currency swap

An arrangement in which two parties exchange specific principal amounts of different currencies at inception and subsequently interest payments on the principal amounts. Often, one party will pay a fixed interest rate, while the other will pay a floating exchange rate (though there are also fixed-fixed and floating-floating arrangements). At the maturity of the swap, the principal amounts are usually re-exchanged.

Current Account Switch

Service (CASS)

guarantee

On 16 September 2013, Bacs (previously Payments Council) launched CASS. The service is free-to-use for consumers, small charities, small businesses and small trusts, and is designed to make switching current accounts from one bank or building society to another, simpler, reliable and hassle-free, thus removing customers’ perceived barriers to switching. The new service is backed by a customer guarantee and aims to increase competition in the high street, support the entry of new banks in the current account marketplace and give customers greater choice if they want to switch.

The published Bacs branded data referenced is for switches completing between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2015 and shows Santander UK gained 306,700 switchers, with a net gain of 219,300. The branded data is published six months in arrears. Bacs data for the industry shows 2,313,450 full switches were completed between 16 September 2013 and 31 December 2015. Santander UK management information identifies 610,550 full switchers in the same period, representing approximately one-in-four full switches.

Customer

accounts/customer

deposits

Money deposited by all individuals and companies that are not credit institutions. Such funds are recorded as liabilities in the Santander UK group’s balance sheet under Deposits by Customers, Trading Liabilities or Financial Liabilities designated at Fair Value.

Customer satisfactionSee ‘Retail customer satisfaction’.
Debt restructuring

This occurs when the terms and provisions of outstanding debt agreements are changed. This is often done in order to improve cash flow and the ability of the borrower to repay the debt. It can involve altering the repayment schedule as well as reducing the debt or interest charged on the loan.

Debt securities

Transferable instruments creating or acknowledging indebtedness. They include debentures, bonds, certificates of deposit, notes and commercial paper. The holder of a debt security is typically entitled to the payment of principal and interest, together with other contractual rights under the terms of the issue, such as the right to receive certain information. Debt securities are generally issued for a fixed term and redeemable by the issuer at the end of that term. Debt securities can be secured or unsecured.

Debt securities in issue

Transferable certificates of indebtedness of the Santander UK group to the bearer of the certificates. These are liabilities of the Santander UK group and include commercial paper, certificates of deposit, bonds and medium-term notes.

Defined benefit

obligation

The present value of expected future payments required to settle the obligations of a defined benefit plan resulting from employee service.

Defined benefit plan

A pension plan that defines an amount of pension benefit to be provided, usually as a function of one or more factors such as age, years of service or compensation. The employer’s obligation can be more or less than its contributions to the fund.

Defined contribution

plan

A pension plan under which the Santander UK group pays fixed contributions as they fall due into a separate entity (a fund) and will have no legal or constructive obligations to pay further contributions, i.e. the employer’s obligation is limited to its contributions to the fund.

Delinquency

See ‘Arrears’.

Deposits by banks

Money deposited by banks and other credit institutions. They include money-market deposits, securities sold under repurchase agreements, and other short-term deposits. Such funds are recorded as liabilities in the Santander UK group’s balance sheet under Deposits by Banks, Trading Liabilities or Financial Liabilities designated at Fair Value.

Derivative

A contract or agreement whose value changes with changes in an underlying index such as interest rates, foreign exchange rates, share prices or indices and which requires no initial investment or an initial investment that is smaller than would be required for other types of contracts with a similar response to market factors. The principal types of derivatives are: swaps, forwards, futures and options.

Discount Window

Facility (‘DWF’)(DWF)

A Bank of England bilateral facility designed to address short-term liquidity requirements without distorting banks’ incentives for prudent liquidity management. Eligible banks and building societies may borrow gilts, for 30 or 364 days, against a wide range of collateral in return for a fee, which varies with the collateral used and the total size and maturity of borrowings.

Distributable items

Equivalent to distributable profits under the Companies Act 2006.
Dividend payout ratio

Equity dividend declared as a percentage of earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders (profit after tax less payment of dividend on preference sharesequity accounted instruments and AT1 dividend.non-controlling interest). Dividend declared can be lower than target pay-out ratio of 50% for timing reasons. The payment of each dividend is subject to regulatory approval.

Economic capital

An internal measure of the minimum equity and preference capital required for the Santander UK group to maintain its credit rating based upon its risk profile.

Effective Interest rate interest

method

A method of calculating the amortised cost or carrying value of a financial asset or financial liability (or group of financial assets or liabilities) and of allocating the interest income or interest expense over the expected life of the asset or liability.

Expected loss

The Santander UK group measure of anticipated loss for exposures captured under an internal ratings-based credit risk approach for capital adequacy calculations. It is measured as the Santander UK group-modelled view of anticipated loss based on Probability of Default, Loss Given Default and Exposure at Default, with a one-year time horizon.

Exposure

The maximum loss that a financial institution might suffer if a borrower, counterparty or group fails to meet their obligations or assets and off-balance sheet positions have to be realised.

Exposure at default (‘EAD’)

(EAD)

The estimation of the extent to which the Santander UK group may be exposed to a customer or counterparty in the event of, and at the time of, that counterparty’s default. At default, the customer may not have drawn the loan fully or may already have repaid some of the principal, so that exposure is typically less than the approved loan limit.

Fair value adjustment

An adjustment to the fair value of a financial instrument which is determined using a valuation technique (level 2 and level 3) to include additional factors that would be considered by a market participant that are not incorporated within the valuation model.

Financial Conduct

Authority (‘FCA’)(FCA)

A UK quasi-governmental agency formed as one of the successors to the Financial Services Authority (’FSA’)(FSA). The FCA regulates financial firms providing services to UK consumers and maintains the integrity of the UK’s financial markets. It focuses on the regulation of conduct by both retail and wholesale financial services firms.

326  Santander UK plc


Risk factorsContact andSubsidiaries, joint ventures  Forward looking    Selected

other information

and associates                Glossarystatements    financial data

 

 

Annual Report 2014Term349


Shareholder Information

     TermDefinition

Financial Services

Compensation Scheme (‘FSCS’)

(FSCS)

The UK’s statutory fund of last resort for customers of authorised financial services firms, established under the Financial Services and Markets Act (‘FSMA’)(FSMA) 2000. The FSCS can pay compensation to customers if a UK PRA authorised firm is unable, or likely to be unable, to pay claims against it (for instance, an authorised bank is unable to pay claims by depositors). The FSCS is funded by levies on firms authorised by the PRA, including Santander UK plc and other members of the Santander UK group.

First/Second Charge

First charge (also known as first lien): debt that places its holder first in line to collect compensation from the sale of the underlying collateral in the event of a default on the loan. Second charge (also known as second lien): debt that is issued against the same collateral as a higher charge debt but that is subordinate to it. In the case of default, compensation for this debt will only be received after the first charge has been repaid and thus represents a riskier investment than the first charge.

Forbearance

Forbearance takes place when a concession is made on the contractual terms of a loan in response to an obligor’s financial difficulties.

Foundation Internal

Ratings-based (‘IRB’) approach

A method for calculating credit risk capital requirements using the Santander UK group’s internal Probability of Default models but with supervisory estimates of Loss Given Default and conversion factors for the calculation of Exposure at Default.

Full time equivalent

Full time equivalent employee units are the on-job hours paid for employee services divided by the number of ordinary-time hours normally paid for a full-time staff member when on the job (or contract employee where applicable).

Funded/unfunded

Exposures where the notional amount of the transaction is either funded or unfunded. Represents exposures where a commitment to provide future funding has been made and the funds have been released/not released.

Funding for Lending

Scheme (‘FLS’)(FLS)

A scheme designed by the Bank of England and HM Treasury to incentivise banks and building societies to boost their lending to UK households and non-financial companies. It aims to do this by providing funding to banks and building societies for an extended period, with both the price and quantity of funding provided linked to their performance in lending to the UK non-financial sector.

Home loan (Residential

mortgage)

A loan to purchase a residential property which is then used as collateral to guarantee repayment of the loan. The borrower gives the lender a lien against the property and the lender can foreclose on the property if the borrower does not repay the loan per the agreed terms. Also known as a residential mortgage.

Impaired loans

Loans where the Santander UK group does not expect to collect all the contractual cash flows or to collect them when they are contractually due.

Impairment allowance (Loan

(Loan impairment

provisions)

An impairment loss allowance held on the balance sheet as a result of the raising of a charge against profit for the incurred loss in the lending book. An impairment loss allowance may either be identified or unidentified and individual or collective.

Impairment losses

The raising of a charge against profit for the incurred loss inherent in the lending book following an impairment review. For financial assets carried at amortised cost, impairment losses are recognised in the income statement and the carrying amount of the financial asset or group of financial assets is reduced by establishing an allowance for impairment losses. For available-for-sale financial assets, the cumulative loss including impairment losses is removed from equity and recognised in the income statement.

Individually assessed loan impairment provisions

Impairment is measured individually for assets that are individually significant. For these assets, the Santander UK group measures the amount of the impairment loss as the difference between the carrying amount of the asset or group of assets and the present value of the estimated future cash flows from the asset or group of assets discounted at the original effective interest rate of the asset.

Internal Capital Adequacy

Assessment Process (‘ICAAP’)(ICAAP)

The Santander UK group’s own assessment of its regulatory capital requirements, as part of CRD IV. It takes into account the regulatory and commercial environment in which the Santander UK group operates, the Santander UK group’s risk appetite,Risk Appetite, the management strategy for each of the Santander UK group’s material risks and the impact of appropriate adverse scenarios and stresses on the Santander UK group’s capital requirements.

Internal Liquidity

Adequacy Assessment

Process (ILAAP)

The Santander UK group’s own assessment of the prudent level of liquidity that is consistent with the Santander UK group’s LRA. It documents and demonstrates the Santander UK group’s overall liquidity adequacy – an appropriate level of liquid resources, a prudent funding profile and comprehensive management and control of liquidity and funding risks.

Internal ratings-based

approach (‘IRB’)(IRB)

The Santander UK group’s method, under the CRD IV framework, offor calculating credit risk capital requirements using the Santander UK group’s internal rather thanProbability of Default models but with supervisory estimates of risk parameters. It is a more sophisticated technique in credit risk management.

Loss Given Default and conversion factors for the calculation of Exposure at Default.

Investment grade

A debt security, treasury bill or similar instrument with a credit rating measured by external agencies of AAA to BBB.

ISDA Master agreement

Standardised contract developed by ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association) used as an umbrella under which bilateral derivatives contracts are entered into.

Large corporate

Enterprises which have a turnover above £500m per annum.
Level 1 - quoted market prices

The fair value of these financial instruments is based on unadjusted quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in an active market that the Santander UK group has the ability to access at the measurement date.

Level 2 - valuation techniques using observable inputs

The fair value of these financial instruments is based on quoted prices in markets that are not active or quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities, recent market transactions, inputs other than quoted market prices for the asset or liability that are observable either directly or indirectly for substantially the full term, and inputs to valuation techniques that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data through correlation or other statistical means for substantially the full term of the asset or liability.

Level 3 - valuation techniques with significant unobservable inputs

The fair value of these financial instruments is based on inputs to the pricing or valuation techniques that are significant to the overall fair value measurement of the asset or liability are unobservable.

Liquidity and Credit enhancements

Credit enhancement facilities are used to enhance the creditworthiness of financial obligations and cover losses due to asset default. Two general types of credit enhancement are third-party loan guarantees and self-enhancement through over collateralisation. Liquidity enhancement makes funds available if required, for other reasons than asset default, e.g. to ensure timely repayment of maturing commercial paper.

Liquidity Coverage Ratio (’LCR’)

(LCR)

The ratio of the stock of high quality liquid assets to expected net cash outflows over the next 30 days. High quality liquid assets should be unencumbered, liquid in markets during a time of stress and ideally be central bank eligible. The Basel III rules require this ratio to be at least 100%.

Loan loss rate

Defined as total credit impairment charge (excluding available for sale assets and reverse repurchase agreements) divided by grosson loans and advances to customersdivided by average loans and banks (at amortised cost).

advances.

Annual Report 2015

Shareholder information

 

 

350Santander UK plc


Risk Elements inTaxation forArticles ofITRANYSEForm 20-F
the loan portfoliosUS investorsAssociation
Term 

     TermDefinition

Loan-to-deposit ratio

(LDR)

Loan-to-deposit ratioLDR is calculated as loans and advances to customers (excluding reverse repos) divided by deposits by customers (excluding repos).

Loan-to-income multiple

An average earnings multiple of new business at inception.
Loan to value ratio (‘LTV’)

(LTV)

The amount of a first mortgage charge as a percentage of the total appraised value of real property. The LTV ratio is used in determining the appropriate level of risk for the loan and therefore the price of the loan to the borrower. LTV ratios may be expressed in a number of ways, including origination LTV and indexed LTV.

Loss Given Default (‘LGD’)

(LGD)

The fraction of Exposure at Default that will not be recovered following default. LGD comprises the actual loss (the part that is not recovered), together with the economic costs associated with the recovery process.

Loyal customers

Primary banking current account customers (those who have a minimum credit turnover of at least £500 per month and at least two direct debits on the account) who hold an additional product.

Master netting

agreement

An industry standard agreement which facilitates netting of transactions (such as financial assets and liabilities including derivatives) in jurisdictions where netting agreements are recognised and have legal force. The netting arrangements do not generally result in an offset of balance sheet assets and liabilities for accounting purposes, as transactions are usually settled on a gross basis.

Medium-Term Notes (‘MTNs’)

(MTNs)

Corporate notes (or debt securities) continuously offered by a company to investors through a dealer. Investors can choose from differing maturities, ranging from nine months to 30 years. They can be issued on a fixed or floating coupon basis or with an exotic coupon; with a fixed maturity date (non-callable) or with embedded call or put options or early repayment triggers. MTNs are most generally issued as senior, unsecured debt.

Monoline insurers

Mid corporates

An entityEnterprises which specialises in providing credit protection to the holdershave a turnover of debt instruments in the event of default by a debt security counterparty. This protection is typically held in the form of derivatives such as credit default swaps referencing the underlying exposures held.

between £50m and £500m per annum.

Mortgage-Backed

Securities (‘MBS’)(MBS)

Securities that represent interests in groups of mortgages, which may be on residential or commercial properties. Investors in these securities have the right to cash received from future mortgage payments (interest and/or principal). When the MBS references mortgages with different risk profiles, the MBS is classified according to the highest risk class.

Mortgage retention

Applied to mortgages four months post-maturity and is calculated as a twelve-month average of retention rates.
Mortgage vintage

The year the mortgage was issued.

Net interest income

The difference between interest received on assets and interest paid on liabilities.

Net interest margin

Net interest income as a percentage of average interest-earning assets.

Net Stable Funding Ratio (‘NSFR’)

(NSFR)

The ratio of available stable funding resources to stable funding requirements over a one year time horizon, assuming a stressed scenario. The Basel III rules require this ratio to be over 100%.

Non-performing loans (‘NPLs’)

(NPLs)

Loans and advances are classified as non-performing typically when the counterparty fails to make payments when contractually due for three months or longer, although there can be additional qualifying criteria depending upon the business segment and product. For additional information on the definition of NPLs, see ‘Credit risk management – risk measurement and control’ in the Risk Review.

review.

NPL ratio

NPL as a percentage of loans and advances to customers.
Over the counter (‘OTC’)(OTC) derivatives

Contracts that are traded (and privately negotiated) directly between two parties, without going through an exchange or other intermediary. They offer flexibility because, unlike standardised exchange-traded products, they can be tailored to fit specific needs.

Own credit

The effect of the Santander UK group’s own credit standing on the fair value of financial liabilities.

Past due

A financial asset such as a loan is past due when the counterparty has failed to make a payment when contractually due.

Pillar 2

The part of the CRD IV Accord which sets out the process by which a bank should review its overall capital adequacy and the processes under which the supervisors evaluate how well financial institutions are assessing their risks and take appropriate actions in response to the assessments.

Pillar 3

The part of the CRD IV Accord which sets out the disclosure requirements for firms to publish details of their risks, capital and risk management. The aims are greater transparency and strengthening market discipline.

Potential problem loans

Loans other than non-accrual loans, accruing loans which are contractually overdue 90 days or more as to principal or interest and troubled debt restructurings where known information about possible credit problems of the borrower causes management to have serious doubts about the borrower’s ability to meet the loan’s repayment terms.

Prime/prime mortgage

loans

A US description for mortgages granted to the most creditworthy category of borrowers.

Private equity investments

Equity holdings in operating companies not quoted on a public exchange.

Regulatory capital

The amount of capital that the Santander UK group holds, determined in accordance with rules established by the UK PRA for the consolidated Santander UK group and by local regulators for individual Santander UK group companies.

PRA end point Tier 1

leverage ratio

CRD IV end point Tier 1 capital divided by exposures as defined by the European Commission Delegated Regulation 2015/62.

Prudential Regulation

Authority (’PRA’)(PRA)

The UK financial services regulator formed as one of the successors to the FSA. The PRA is part of the Bank of England and is responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms. It sets standards and supervises financial institutions at the level of the individual firm.

Repurchase agreement (‘Repo’)

(Repo)

In a sale and repurchase agreement one party, the seller, sells a financial asset to another party, the buyer, under commitments to reacquire the asset at a later date. The buyer at the same time agrees to resell the asset at the same later date. From the seller’s perspective such agreements are securities sold under repurchase agreements (‘repos’)(repos) and from the buyer’s securities purchased under commitments to resell (‘reverse repos’)(reverse repos).

328  Santander UK plc


Risk factorsContact andSubsidiaries, joint ventures  Forward looking    Selected

other information

and associates                Glossarystatements    financial data

 

 

Annual Report 2014Term351


Shareholder Information

     TermDefinition

Residential Mortgage-BackedMortgage-

Backed Securities (‘RMBS’)(RMBS)

Securities that represent interests in a group of residential mortgages. Investors in these securities have the right to cash received from future mortgage payments (interest and/or principal).

Retail customer

satisfaction

The Financial Research Survey (‘FRS’)(FRS) is a monthly personal finance survey of around 5,000 consumers prepared by the independent market research agency, GfK NOP.GfK. The ‘Overall Satisfaction’ score refers to proportion of extremely and very satisfied customers across mortgages, savings, main current accounts, home insurance, UPLs and credit cards, based on a weighting of those products calculated to reflect the average product distribution across Santander UK and competitor brands. Data shown is for the 12twelve months ended 31 December 20142015 and compared against 12twelve months ending data for the period as indicated. The competitor set included in this analysis for the 2015 target is Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, (including Lloyds TSB)TSB and NatWest. Previously this data was reported on a rolling three month basis.

Advocacy will be measured from 2016, and refers to NPS scores across the same markets and with the same weightings applied as per the satisfaction data.

Retail IRB approach

The Santander UK group’s internal method of calculating credit risk capital requirements for its key retail portfolios. The FSA approved the Santander UK group’s application of the Retail IRB approach to the Santander UK group’s credit portfolios with effect from 1 January 2008.

Retail loans

Loans to individuals rather than institutions, including residential mortgage lending and banking and consumer credit.

Return on average

tangible equity (RoTE)

The profit after tax attributable to ordinary shareholdersequity holders of the parent, divided by average shareholders’ equity less preference sharesnon-controlling interests, other equity instruments and average goodwill and other intangible assets (including goodwill).

assets.

Risk appetite

Risk Appetite

The level of risk (types and quantum) that the Santander UK group is willing to accept (or not accept) to safeguard the interests of shareholders whilst achieving business objectives.

Risk weighted assets

A measure of a bank’s assets adjusted for their associated risks. Risk weightings are established in accordance with the Basel Capital Accord as implemented by the PRA.

Securitisation

A process by which a group of assets, usually loans, are aggregated into a pool, which is used to back the issuance of new securities. A company sells assets to a structured entity which then issues securities backed by the assets, based on their value. This allows the credit quality of the assets to be separated from the credit rating of the original company and transfers risk to external investors. Assets used in securitisations include mortgages to create mortgage-backed securities. Santander UK has established securitisation structures as part of its funding and capital management activities.

Small and medium

enterprises (‘SMEs’)(SMEs)

Enterprises with a turnover of between £250,000 and £50m per annum.

Standardised approach

In relation to credit risk, a method for calculating credit risk capital requirements under CRD IV, using External Credit Assessment Institutions ratings and supervisory risk weights. The Standardised approach is less risk-sensitive than IRB (see ‘IRB’ above). In relation to operational risk, a method of calculating the operational capital requirement under CRD IV, by the application of a supervisory defined percentage charge to the gross income of eight specified business lines.

Stress testing

Stress testing is a management tool that facilitates a forward looking perspective on risk management, strategic planning, capital, and liquidity &and funding planning.

Structured entity

An entity that has been designed so that voting or similar rights are not the dominant factor in deciding who controls the entity, such as when any voting rights relate to administrative tasks only and the relevant activities are directed by means of contractual arrangements.

Structured

finance/notes

A structured note is an instrument which pays a return linked to the value or level of a specified asset or index and sometimes offers capital protection if the value declines. Structured notes can be linked to a range of underlying assets, including equities, interest rates, funds, commodities and foreign currency.

Subordinated liabilities

Liabilities which, in the event of insolvency or liquidation of the issuer, are subordinated to the claims of depositors and other creditors of the issuer.

Subordination

The state of prioritising repayments of principal and interest on debt to a creditor lower than repayments to other creditors by the same debtor. That is, claims of a security are settled by a debtor to a creditor only after the claims of securities held by other creditors of the same debtor have been settled.

Sub-prime

Loans to borrowers typically having weakened credit histories that include payment delinquencies and potentially more severe problems such as court judgements and bankruptcies. They may also display reduced repayment capacity as measured by credit scores, high debt-to-income ratios, or other criteria indicating heightened risk of default.

Supranational

An international organisation where member states transcend national boundaries or interests to share in decision-making and vote on issues relating to the organisation’s geographical focus.

Tier 1 capital

A measure of a bank’s financial strength defined by the PRA. It captures Core Tier 1 capital plus other Tier 1 securities in issue, but is subject to a deduction in respect of material holdings in financial companies.

Tier 1 capital ratio

The ratio expresses Tier 1 capital as a percentage of risk weighted assets.

Tier 2 capital

Defined by the PRA. Broadly, it includes qualifying subordinated debt and other Tier 2 securities in issue, eligible collective impairment allowances, unrealised available for sale equity gains and revaluation reserves. It is subject to deductions relating to the excess of expected loss over regulatory impairment allowance, securitisation positions and material holdings in financial companies.

Total operating income

Total operating income comprises net interest and similar income, net fee and commission income and net trading and other income, as described in Notes 3, 4 and 5, respectively, of the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Trading book

Positions in financial instruments held either with trading intent or in order to hedge other elements of the trading book, which must be free of restrictive covenants on their tradability or ability to be hedged.

Troubled debt

restructurings

A US description for restructuring a debt whereby the creditor for economic or legal reasons related to a debtor’s financial difficulties grants a concession to the debtor that it would not otherwise consider.

Value at Risk (‘VaR’)

(VaR)

An estimate of the potential loss which might arise from market movements under normal market conditions, if the current positions were to be held unchanged for one business day, measured to a confidence level.

Write-down

After an advance has been identified as impaired and is subject to an impairment allowance, the stage may be reached whereby it is concluded that there is no realistic prospect of further recovery. Write-downs will occur when, and to the extent that, the whole or part of a debt is considered irrecoverable.

Wrong-way risk

An aggravated form of concentration risk and arises when there is an adverse correlation between the counterparty’s probability of default and the mark-to-market value of the underlying transaction.

352Santander UK plc


Risk

Contact and

Glossary

Forward-looking

Selected Financial

Factors

other Information

Statements

Data

 

 

Annual Report 2015

Shareholder information

Forward-looking statements

Santander UK plc (the ‘Company’)Company) and its subsidiaries (together ‘Santander UK’Santander UK or the ‘SantanderSantander UK group’)group) may from time to time make written or oral forward-looking statements. The Company makes written forward-looking statements in this Annual Report and may also make forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the SEC on Forms 20-F and 6-K, in its offering circulars and prospectuses, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

>-

projections or expectations of revenues, costs, profit (or loss), earnings (or loss) per share, dividends, capital structure or other financial items or ratios;

>-

statements of plans, objectives or goals of Santander UK or its management, including those related to products or services;

>-

statements of future economic performance; and

>-

statements of assumptions underlying such statements.

Words such as ‘believes’, ‘anticipates’, ‘expects’, ‘intends’, ‘aims’, ‘plans’, ‘targets’ and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements.

By their very nature, forward-looking statements are not statements of historical or current facts; they cannot be objectively verified, are speculative and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. Santander UK cautions readers that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements made by Santander UK or on Santander UK’sits behalf. Some of these factors, which could affect the Santander UK group’s business, financial condition and/or results of operations, are considered in detail in the Risk Reviewreview and the Risk Factorsfactors section in the Shareholder Informationinformation section in this report, and they include:

>-

the ability of Santander UK to recruit, retain and develop appropriate senior management and skilled personnel;

>-

the disruptions and volatility in the global financial markets;

>-

the effects of UK economic conditions;

>-

the Santander UK’sUK group’s exposure to UK political developments;

>-

the extent to which regulatory capital and leverage requirements and any changes to these requirements may limit and adversely affect the Santander UK’sUK group’s operations;

>-

the extent to which liquidity requirements and any changes to these requirements may limit and adversely affect the Santander UK’sUK group’s operations;

>-

the Santander UK’sUK group’s exposure to UK Government debt;

>-

the effects of the ongoing economic and sovereign debt tensions in the eurozone;

>-

the Santander UK’sUK group’s exposure to risks faced by other financial institutions;

>-

the Santander UK’sUK group’s ability to access liquidity and funding on acceptable financial terms;

>-

the effects of an adverse movement in external credit rating assigned to the Santander UK group, any Santander UK group member or any of their respective debt securities;

>-

the effects of fluctuations in interest rates and other market conditions;

risks;
>-

the extent to which the Santander UK group may be required to record negative fair value adjustments for its financial assets due to changes in market conditions;

>-

the risk of failing to successfully implement and continue to improve the Santander UK’sUK group’s credit risk management systems;

>-

the risks associated with the Santander UK’sUK group’s derivative transactions;

>-

the extent to which the Santander UK group may be exposed to operational risks, including risks relating to data and information collection, processing, storage and security;

>-

the risk of failing to effectively improve or upgrade the Santander UK’sUK group’s information technology infrastructure and management information systems in a timely manner;

>-

the Santander UK’sUK group’s exposure to unidentified or unanticipated risks despite its risk management policies, procedures and methods;

>-

the effects of competition or intensification of such competition, in thewith other financial services markets in which Santander UK conducts business and the impact of customer perception of Santander UK’s customer service levels on existing or potential business;

institutions;
>-

the various risks facing the Santander UK group as itsit expands its range of products and services (e.g. risk of new products and services not being responsive to customer demands or successful, risk of changing customer needs);

>-

the Santander UK’sUK group’s ability to control the level of non-performing or poor credit quality loans and whether the Santander UK’sUK group’s loan loss reserves are sufficient;

sufficient to cover loan losses;
>-

the extent to which the Santander UK’sUK group’s loan portfolio is subject to prepayment risk;

>-

the risk that the value of the collateral, including real estate, securing the Santander UK’sUK group’s loans may not be sufficient and the Santander UK group may be unable to realise the full value of the collateral securing its loan portfolio;

>-

the ability of the Santander UK group to realise the anticipated benefits of its organic growth or business combinations and the exposure, if any, of the Santander UK group to any unknown liabilities or goodwill impairments relating to acquired businesses;

>-

the effects of the financial services laws, regulations, governmental oversight, administrative actions and policies and any changes thereto in each location or market in which Santander UK operates;

>-

the Santander UK’sUK group’s exposure to any potential uncertainly and changes to the UK regulatory regime as a result of the reform and reorganisation of the UK financial regulatory authorities and the UK regulatory framework;

>-

the effects of any new reforms to the UK mortgage lending and the personal loans market;

>-

the Santander UK’sUK group’s exposure to any risk of loss from legal and regulatory proceedings;

>-

the power of the FCA, the PRA or an overseas regulator to potentially intervene in response to e.g. attempts by customers to seek redress from financial service institutions, including the Santander UK group, in case of industry-wide issues;

>-

the effects which the Banking Act 2009 may have on the Santander UK’s business;

UK group’s business and the value of securities issued;
>-

the effects which the bail-in and write down powers under the Banking Act 2009 and the BRRD may have on the Santander UK’s business;

UK group’s business and the value of securities issued;
>-

the extent to which members of the Santander UK group may be responsible for contributing to compensation schemes in the UK in respect of banks and other authorised financial services firms that are unable to meet their obligations to customers;

>-

the risk of third parties using the Santander UK group as a conduit for illegal or improper activities without the Santander UK’sUK group’s knowledge;

>-

the effects of taxation requirements and other assessments and any changes thereto in each location in which Santander UK operates;

>-

the effects of any changes in the pension liabilities and obligations of the Santander UK;

UK group;
>-

the effects of any changes to the reputation of the Santander UK group, any Santander UK group member or any affiliate operating under the Santander UK brands;

>-

the basis of the preparation of the Company’s and the Santander UK group’s financial statements and information available about the Santander UK group, including the extent to which assumptions and estimates made during such preparation are accurate;

>-

the extent to which disclosure controls and procedures over financial reporting may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud;

>-

the extent to which changes in accounting standards could impact the Santander UK’sUK group’s reported earnings;

>-

the extent to which Santander UK relyrelies on third parties for important infrastructure support, products and services;

>-

the possibility of risk arising in the future in relation to transactions between the Company and its parent, subsidiaries or affiliates; and

>-

the extent to which different disclosure and accounting principles between the UK and the US may provide you with different or less information about us than you expected;

-the risk associated with enforcement of judgments in the US; and
-the Santander UK’sUK group’s success at managing the risks to which it is exposed, including the items above.

Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements when making decisions with respect to any Santander UK group member and/or its securities. Investors and others should take into account the inherent risks and uncertainties of forward-looking statements and should carefully consider the foregoing non-exhaustive list of important factors. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and are based on the knowledge, information available and views taken on the date on which they are made; such knowledge, information and views may change at any time. The Santander UK group does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

 

330  Santander UK plc


Annual Report 2014353
Risk FactorsContact andSubsidiaries, joint venturesForward looking        Selected

other information

and associates        GlossaryStatements        financial data


Shareholder Information

 

Selected financial data

The financial information set forth below for the years ended 31 December 2015, 2014 2013 and 20122013 and at 31 December 20142015 and 20132014 has been derived from the audited Consolidated Financial Statements of Santander UK plc (the ‘Company’)Company) and its subsidiaries (together, the ‘SantanderSantander UK group’)group) prepared in accordance with IFRS included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The information should be read in connection with, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to, the Santander UK group’s Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto.

Financial information set forth below for the years ended 31 December 20112012 and 2010,2011 and at 31 December 2013, 2012 2011 and 2010,2011, has been derived from the audited Consolidated Financial Statements with adjustment for the adoption of IFRIC 21 of the Santander UK group for 2012 2011 and 20102011 not included in this Annual Report.

The financial information in this selected consolidated financial and statistical data does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of the Companies Act 2006.

The auditor’s report on the Consolidated Financial Statements for each of the five years ended 31 December 20142015 was unmodified and did not include a statement under sections 237(2) and 237(3) of the Companies Act 1985 or sections 498(2) and 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006, as applicable. The Consolidated Financial Statements of the Santander UK group for the years ended 31 December 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 2011 and 20102011 were audited by Deloitte LLP.

BALANCE SHEETS

 

            2014(1)

US$m

 

                2014

£m

 

                 2013(2)

£m

 

                 2012(2)

£m

 

                 2011(2)

£m

 

                2010

£m

     

2015(1)

US$m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011

£m

 

Assets

                        

Cash and balances at central banks

 35,147   22,562   26,374   29,282   25,980   26,502       24,835       16,842       22,562       26,374       29,282       25,980  

Trading assets

 33,804   21,700   22,294   22,498   21,891   35,461       35,333       23,961       21,700       22,294       22,498       21,891  

Derivative financial instruments

 35,862   23,021   20,049   30,146   30,780   24,377       30,835       20,911       23,021       20,049       30,146       30,780  

Financial assets designated at fair value

 4,488   2,881   2,747   3,811   5,005   6,777       3,536       2,398       2,881       2,747       3,811       5,005  

Loans and advances to banks

 3,204   2,057   2,347   2,438   4,487   3,852       5,232       3,548       2,057       2,347       2,438       4,487  

Loans and advances to customers

 293,943   188,691   184,587   190,782   201,069   195,132       292,037       198,045       188,691       184,587       190,782       201,069  

Loans and receivables securities

 184   118   1,101   1,259   1,771   3,610       77       52       118       1,101       1,259       1,771  

Available for sale securities

 13,933   8,944   5,005   5,483   46   175       13,289       9,012       8,944       5,005       5,483       46  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 1,500   963   769   1,222   1,221   1,091       1,152       781       963       769       1,222       1,221  

Interests in other entities

 59   38   27   8   2   2       71       48       38       27       8       2  

Intangible assets

 3,407   2,187   2,335   2,325   2,142   2,178       3,290       2,231       2,187       2,335       2,325       2,142  

Property, plant and equipment

 2,530   1,624   1,521   1,541   1,596   1,705       2,355       1,597       1,624       1,521       1,541       1,596  

Current tax assets

 -   -   114   50   -   277       72       49       -       114       50       -  

Deferred tax assets

 -   -   16   34   232   566       -       -       -       16       34       232  

Retirement benefit assets

 491   315   118   254   241   -       820       556       315       118       254       241  

Other assets

 1,365   876   882   1,885   1,086   1,155       2,028       1,375       876       882       1,885       1,086  

Total assets

 429,917   275,977   270,286   293,018   297,549   302,860       414,962       281,406       275,977       270,286       293,018       297,549  

Liabilities

                        

Deposits by banks

 12,796   8,214   8,696   9,935   11,626   7,784       12,207       8,278       8,214       8,696       9,935       11,626  

Deposits by customers

 239,287   153,606   147,167   149,037   148,342   152,643       241,944       164,074       153,606       147,167       149,037       148,342  

Trading liabilities

 23,886   15,333   21,278   21,109   25,745   42,827       18,760       12,722       15,333       21,278       21,109       25,745  

Derivative financial instruments

 35,412   22,732   18,863   28,861   29,180   22,405       31,716       21,508       22,732       18,863       28,861       29,180  

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

 4,437   2,848   3,407   4,002   6,837   3,687       2,973       2,016       2,848       3,407       4,002       6,837  

Debt securities in issue

 80,678   51,790   50,870   59,621   52,651   51,783       73,162       49,615       51,790       50,870       59,621       52,651  

Subordinated liabilities

 6,234   4,002   4,306   3,781   6,499   6,372       5,729       3,885       4,002       4,306       3,781       6,499  

Macro hedge of interest rate risk

 217   139   -   -   -   -       162       110       139       -       -       -  

Other liabilities

 3,586   2,302   1,883   2,526   2,571   2,026       3,443       2,335       2,302       1,883       2,526       2,571  

Provisions

 765   491   550   795   856   185       1,283       870       491       550       795       856  

Current tax liabilities

 107   69   4   4   271   492       1       1       69       4       4       271  

Deferred tax liabilities

 92   59   -   -   -   209       329       223       59       -       -       -  

Retirement benefit obligations

 310   199   672   305   216   173       162       110       199       672       305       216  

Total liabilities

 407,807   261,784   257,696   279,976   284,794   290,586       391,871       265,747       261,784       257,696       279,976       284,794  

Equity

                        

Share capital

 6,611   4,244   3,709   3,999   3,999   3,999  

Share premium account

 8,755   5,620   5,620   5,620   5,620   5,620  

Share capital and other equity instruments

     7,242       4,911       4,244       3,709       3,999       3,999  

Share premium

     8,287       5,620       5,620       5,620       5,620       5,620  

Retained earnings

 6,319   4,056   3,377   3,405   3,110   2,628       6,900       4,679       4,056       3,377       3,405       3,110  

Other reserves

 425   273   (116)   18   26   27       463       314       273       (116)       18       26  

Total shareholders’ equity

 22,110   14,193   12,590   13,042   12,755   12,274       22,892       15,524       14,193       12,590       13,042       12,755  

Non-controlling interest

 -   -   -   -   -   -  

Non-controlling interests

     199       135       -       -       -       -  

Total equity

 22,110   14,193   12,590   13,042   12,755   12,274       23,901       15,659       14,193       12,590       13,042       12,755  

Total liabilities and equity

 429,917   275,977   270,286   293,018   297,549   302,860       414,962       281,406       275,977       270,286       293,018       297,549  
(1)

Amounts stated in US dollars have been translated from sterling at the rate of £1.00 - US$1.5578,1.4746, the noon buying rate on 31 December 2014.

2015.
(2)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

Annual Report 2015

Shareholder information

 

 

354Santander UK plc


Risk

Contact and

Glossary

Forward-looking

Selected Financial

Factors

other Information

Statements

Data

 

INCOME STATEMENTS

 

                                          ��                                                                                                                             

2014(1)

US$m

 

2014

£m

 

2013(2)

£m

 

2012(2)

£m

 

2011(2)

£m

 

2010

£m

     

2015(1)

US$m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011

£m

 

Net interest income

 5,349   3,434   2,963   2,734   3,633   3,814       5,272       3,575       3,434       2,963       2,734       3,633  

Net fee and commission income

 1,151   739   758   861   864   699       1,054       715       739       758       861       864  

Net trading and other income

 463   297   308   1,088   439   521       417       283       297       308       1,088       439  

Total operating income

 6,963   4,470   4,029   4,683   4,936   5,034       6,743       4,573       4,470       4,029       4,683       4,936  

Administration expenses

 (2,983)   (1,915)   (1,947)   (1,873)   (1,876)   (1,793)  

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment

 (751)   (482)   (248)   (241)   (438)   (275)  

Total operating expenses excluding impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (3,734)   (2,397)   (2,195)   (2,114)   (2,314)   (2,068)  

Operating expenses before impairment losses, provisions and charges

     (3,538)       (2,400)       (2,397)       (2,195)       (2,114)       (2,314)  

Impairment losses on loans and advances

 (402)   (258)   (475)   (988)   (501)   (712)       (97)       (66)       (258)       (475)       (988)       (501)  

Provisions for other liabilities and charges

 (648)   (416)   (250)   (429)   (839)   (129)       (1,124)       (762)       (416)       (250)       (429)       (839)  

Total operating impairment losses, provisions and charges

 (1,050)   (674)   (725)   (1,417)   (1,340)   (841)       (1,221)       (828)       (674)       (725)       (1,417)       (1,340)  

Profit on continuing operations before tax

 2,179   1,399   1,109   1,152   1,282   2,125  

Tax on profit on continuing operations

 (450)   (289)   (211)   (271)   (359)   (542)  

Profit on continuing operations after tax

 1,729   1,110   898   881   923   1,583  

Profit from continuing operations before tax

     1,984       1,345       1,399       1,109       1,152       1,282  

Tax on profit from continuing operations

     (562)       (381)       (289)       (211)       (271)       (359)  

Profit from continuing operations after tax

     1,422       964       1,110       898       881       923  

(Loss)/profit from discontinued operations after tax

 -   -   (8)   62   34   -       -       -       -       (8)       62       34  

Profit after tax for the year

 1,729   1,110   890   943   957   1,583       1,422       964       1,110       890       943       957  

Attributable to:

                        

Equity holders of the parent

 1,729   1,110   890   943   957   1,544       1,385       939       1,110       890       943       957  

Non-controlling interest

 -   -   -   -   -   39  

Non-controlling interests

     37       25       -       -       -       -  
(1)

Amounts stated in US dollars have been translated from sterling at the rate of £1.00 - US$1.5578,1.4746, the noon buying rate on 31 December 2014.

(2)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1.

2015.

SELECTED STATISTICAL INFORMATION

This Annual Report includes certain financial measures which are not accounting measures within the scope of IFRS. Such non-IFRS measures are defined as ones that measure historical or future financial performance, financial position or cash flows but which exclude or include amounts that would not be so adjusted in the most comparable IFRS measures. Such measures are defined further in the footnotes that follow including, where relevant, reconciliations to the closestnearest IFRS measure. These non-IFRS measures are not a substitute for IFRS measures. Such non-IFRS measures include returnReturn on tangible equity (‘RoTE’)(RoTE), Banking net interest margin, Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) (until its enactment into law in 2015) and Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio for 2013 and 2012. Details of the calculation of the LCR which is the ratio of the eligible liquidity pool as a percentage of the anticipated net cash flows from those assets, are shown on page 117.

 

                                                                                                                                  
  

2014

%

 

2013(1)

%

 

2012(1)

%

 

2011(1)

%

 

2010

%

 

Profitability ratios:

Return on assets (2)

 0.40   0.30   0.31   0.31   0.54  

Return on ordinary shareholders’ funds(3)

 8.9   7.4   7.9   8.2   18.4  

RoTE(4)

 10.4   8.6   9.1   9.5   21.2  

Banking net interest margin(5)

 1.82   1.55   1.36   1.80   1.94  

Cost-to-income ratio(6)

 54   54   45   47   41  

Dividend payout ratio(7)

 44   48   48   44   49  

Non-performing loans ratio(8)

 1.80   2.04   2.16   1.92   1.84  

Loan-to-deposit ratio(9)

 124   126   129   135   128  

Capital ratios:

Equity to assets ratio(10)

 4.48   4.10   3.91   3.77   2.91  

Core Tier 1 capital ratio(11)

 n/a   12.9   12.2   11.4   11.5  

Common Equity Tier 1 (‘CET 1’) capital ratio(11)

 11.9   11.6   11.1   n/a   n/a  

Ratio of earnings to fixed charges:(12)

- Excluding interest on retail deposits

 208   172   165   220   363  

- Including interest on retail deposits

 142   126   125   134   166  
(1)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

(2)

Profit after tax divided by average total assets.

(3)

Profit after tax divided by average ordinary shareholders’ funds.

(4)

RoTE is defined as the profit attributable to equity shareholders divided by average shareholders’ equity less preference shares and intangible assets (including goodwill). Management reviews RoTE in order to measure the overall profitability of the Santander UK group and believes that presentation of this financial measure provides useful information to investors regarding the Santander UK group’s results of operations. Reconciliations between RoTE and return on ordinary shareholders’ funds are as follows:

                                                                                                              
  

2014

£m

 

2013(A)

£m

 

2012(A)

£m

 

2011(A)

£m

 

2010

£m

 

Profit after tax

 1,110   890   943   957   1,583  

Preference dividends

 (40)   (57)   (57)   (57)   (57)  

Profit attributable to equity shareholders

 1,070   833   886   900   1,526  

Average shareholders’ funds

 13,389   12,813   12,899   12,533   9,265  

Average preference shares

 (871)   (749)   (894)   (894)   (699)  

Average ordinary shareholders funds

 12,518   12,064   12,005   11,639   8,596  

Average goodwill and intangible assets

 (2,261)   (2,330)   (2,233)   (2,160)   (1,401)  

Average tangible equity

 10,257   9,734   9,772   9,479   7,195  

Return on ordinary shareholders’ funds

 8.9%   7.4%   7.9%   8.2%   18.4%  

RoTE

 10.4%   8.6%   9.1%   9.5%   21.2%  
(A)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

      

2015

%

     

2014

%

     

2013

%

     

2012

%

     

2011

%

 

Profitability ratios:

                    

Return on assets(1)

     0.34       0.40       0.30       0.31       0.31  

Return on ordinary shareholders’ equity(2)

     7.0       8.9       7.4       7.9       8.2  

RoTE(3)

     8.2       10.4       8.6       9.1       9.5  

Banking net interest margin(4)

     1.83       1.82       1.55       1.36       1.80  

Cost-to-income ratio(5)

     52       54       54       45       47  

Dividend payout ratio(6)

     51       44       48       48       44  

Non-performing loans ratio(7)

     1.54       1.80       2.04       2.16       1.92  

Loan-to-deposit ratio(8)

     120       124       126       129       135  

Capital ratios:

                    

Equity to assets ratio(9)

     4.68       4.48       4.10       3.91       3.77  

Core Tier 1 capital ratio(10)

     n/a       n/a       12.9       12.2       11.4  

Common Equity Tier 1 (CET 1) capital ratio(10)

     11.6       11.9       11.6       11.1       n/a  

Ratio of earnings to fixed charges:(11)

                    

- Excluding interest on retail deposits

     218       208       172       165       220  

- Including interest on retail deposits

     143       142       126       125       134  

(1)  Profit after tax divided by average total assets (refer footnote 12).

(2)  Profit after tax divided by average ordinary shareholders’ equity.

(3)  RoTE is defined as the profit after tax attributable to equity holders of the parent less dividends on other equity instruments, divided by average shareholders’ equity less non-controlling interests, other equity instruments and average goodwill and other intangible assets. Management reviews RoTE in order to measure the overall profitability of the Santander UK group and believes that presentation of this financial measure provides useful information to investors regarding the Santander UK group’s results of operations. Reconciliations between RoTE and return on ordinary shareholders’ equity, which is profit after tax divided by average ordinary shareholders’ equity, the nearest IFRS measure, are as follows:

     

     

        

      

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011

£m

 

Profit attributable to equity holders of the parent

     939       1,110       890       943       957  

Average ordinary shareholders’ equity(13)

     13,386       12,518       12,064       12,005       11,639  

Average goodwill and other intangible assets(13)

     (2,209)       (2,261)       (2,330)       (2,233)       (2,160)  

Average tangible equity(13)

     11,177       10,257       9,734       9,772       9,479  

Return on ordinary shareholders’ equity

     7.0%       8.9%       7.4%       7.9%       8.2%  

RoTE

     8.2%       10.4%       8.6%       9.1%       9.5%  

 

 

332  Santander UK plc


Annual Report 2014355
Risk FactorsContact andSubsidiaries, joint venturesForward looking        Selected

other information

and associates        GlossaryStatements        financial data


Shareholder Information

 

(4)(5)

Banking net interest margin (‘Banking NIM’)NIM is defined as net interest income divided by average customer assets. Management reviews Banking NIM in order to measure the overall profitability of the Santander UK group and believes that presentation of this financial measure provides useful information to investors regarding the Santander UK group’s results of operations. A reconciliation between Banking NIM and net interest margin, which is defined as net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets, the nearest IFRS measure, is as follows:

                                                                                                              

2014

£m

 

2013(A)

£m

 

2012(A)

£m

 

2011(A)

£m

 

2010

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011

£m

 

Net interest income

 3,434   2,963   2,734   3,633   3,814       3,575       3,434       2,963       2,734       3,633  

Average interest earning assets

 225,519   229,114   235,129   230,490   220,813  

Average customer assets

 188,850   191,499   200,719   201,524   196,596  

Average interest earning assets(12)

     232,918       225,501       229,114       235,129       230,490  

Average customer assets(12)

     195,529       188,850       191,499       200,719       201,524  

Net interest margin

 1.52%   1.29%   1.16%   1.58%   1.73%       1.53%       1.52%       1.29%       1.16%       1.58%  

Banking net interest margin

 1.82%   1.55%   1.36%   1.80%   1.94%       1.83%       1.82%       1.55%       1.36%       1.80%  
(5)(A)

Adjusted to reflect the adoption of IFRIC 21, as described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

(6)

The cost-to-income ratio is defined as total operating expenses excludingbefore impairment losses, provisions and charges divided by total operating income.

(6)(7)

Ordinary equity dividends approved divided by profit after tax.

tax attributable to equity holders of the parent.
(7)(8)

Non-performing loans ratio is defined as non-performing loans as a percentage of customer assets.

(8)(9)

The loan-to-deposit ratio is defined as loans and advances to customers (excluding reverse repos) divided by deposits by customers (excluding repos).

(9)(10)

Average ordinary shareholders’ fundsequity divided by average total assets.

assets (refer footnote 12).
(10)(11)

Regulatory capital is calculated in accordance with the requirements of CRD IV, following the adoption of CRD IV with effect from 1 January 2014. A CET 1 capital ratio has also been presented for 31 December 2013 and 2012 i.e. the balance sheet datedates before the adoption of CRD IV. Management reviews the CET 1 capital ratio at 31 December 2013 in order to aid comparability of the Santander UK group’s regulatory capital and believes that presentation of this financial measure provides useful information to investors regarding the Santander UK group’s regulatory capital. A reconciliation of Core Tier 1 capital at 31 December 2013 and 2012, calculated in accordance with PRA rules in force at those dates, and CET 1 capital calculated in accordance with CRD IV rules which came into force on 1 January 2014 is set out below:

      

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

 

Core Tier 1 capital - PRA rules

     9,680       9,302  

CRD IV adjustments to Core Tier 1:

        

Excess of regulatory expected losses over impairment losses

     (335)       (370)  

Defined benefit pension adjustment

     (310)       (101)  

Other(A)

     (66)       (23)  

CET 1 capital - CRD IV rules

     8,969       8,808  

Pillar 1 RWAs - PRA rules

     75,252       76,524  

CRD IV adjustments to RWAs:

        

Securitisation

     983       970  

Counterparty Risk and Other(B)

     1,415       2,028  

RWAs - CRD IV rules

     77,650       79,522  

Core Tier 1 capital ratio

     12.9%       12.2%  

CET 1 capital ratio

     11.6%       11.1%  
 (A)

Other adjustments to Core Tier 1 capital include the effect of additional valuation adjustments, deferred tax, securitisation and unrealised losses on available-for-sale securities.

 (B)

The counterparty risk and other adjustments to RWAs include credit valuation adjustment, central counterparty clearing, asset value correlation, specific credit risk adjustments and risk weight reductions for SME exposures.

(11)(12)

For the purpose of calculating the ratios of earnings to fixed charges, earnings consist of profit before tax from continuing operations before tax and before adjustment for non-controlling interests plus fixed charges. Fixed charges consist of interest payable,expense, including the amortisation of discounts and premiums on debt securities in issue.

issue and related capitalised expenses and including or excluding interest on retail deposit as appropriate.
(12)Average balances are based on monthly data.
(13)

DetailsAverage balances are based on the average of the calculation of the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (‘LCR’) introduced under the Basel III regime, which is the ratio of the eligible liquidity pool as a percentage of the anticipated net cash flows from those assets, are shown on page 106.

current and prior year closing balances.

356Santander UK plc


Risk

Contact and

Glossary

Forward-looking

Selected Financial

Factors

other Information

Statements

Data

EXCHANGE RATES

The following tables set forth, for the periods indicated, certain information concerning the exchange rate for pounds sterling based on the noon buying rate in New York City for cable transfers in foreign currencies, as certified for customs purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, expressed in US dollars per £1.00. No representation is made that amounts in pounds sterling have been, could have been or could be converted into US dollars at the noon buying rate or at any other rate. The noon buying rate for US dollars on 2726 February 20152016 was US$1.54.1.39.

 

Calendar period

High

            US$ Rate

 

Low

            US$ Rate

 

            Average (1)

US$ Rate

 

            Period end

US$ Rate

     

High

US$ Rate

     Low
US$ Rate
     Average (1)
US$ Rate
     Period end
US$ Rate
 

Years ended 31 December:

                

2015

     1.59       1.46       1.53       1.47  

2014

 1.72   1.55   1.65   1.56       1.72       1.55       1.65       1.56  

2013

 1.66   1.48   1.56   1.66       1.66       1.48       1.56       1.66  

2012

 1.63   1.53   1.59   1.63       1.63       1.53       1.59       1.63  

2011

 1.67   1.54   1.60   1.55       1.67       1.54       1.60       1.55  

2010

 1.64   1.43   1.55   1.54  

Months ended:

                

February 2015

 1.55   1.50   1.53   1.54  

January 2015

 1.54   1.50   1.51   1.50  

December 2014

 1.57   1.55   1.56   1.56  

November 2014

 1.60   1.56   1.58   1.56  

October 2014

 1.62   1.59   1.61   1.60  

September 2014

 1.65   1.61   1.63   1.62  

February 2016 (2)

     1.46       1.39       1.43       1.39  

January 2016

     1.47       1.42       1.44       1.42  

December 2015

     1.52       1.47       1.50       1.47  

November 2015

     1.54       1.50       1.52       1.50  

October 2015

     1.55       1.52       1.53       1.54  

September 2015

     1.56       1.51       1.53       1.51  

August 2015

     1.57       1.54       1.56       1.54  
 
(1)

The average of the noon buying rates on the last business day of each month during the relevant period.

(2)With respect to February 2016 for the period from 1 February to 26 February

 

 

Annual Report 2014357


Annual Report 2015

Other information for US investors

 

 

Other information for US investors

335    Risk elements in the loan portfolio

338Taxation for US investors

338Share information

339Articles of Association

340ITRA

341NYSE

342Cross-reference to Form 20-F

 

 

334  Santander UK plc


        Risk elements inTaxation forArticles ofITRANYSEForm 20-F

        the loan portfolio

US investorsAssociation

Risk elements in the loan portfolio

The disclosure of credit risk elements in this section reflects US accounting practice and classifications. The purpose of the disclosure is to present within the US disclosure framework thosethe elements of theour loan portfolios with a greater risk of loss. The main classifications of credit risk elements presented are:

 

>-

Impaired loans;

loans
>-

Unimpaired loans contractually past due 90 days or more as to interest or principal;

principal
>-

Forbearance;

Forbearance
>-

Troubled debt restructurings;

restructurings
>-

Potential problem loans and advances; and

advances
>-

Cross border outstandings.

Impaired loans

Loans are classified as impaired when there is objective evidence that not all contractual cash flows will be received. Under IFRS, separate disclosure is required of loans that are:are neither past due nor impaired;impaired, past due but not impaired;impaired, and impaired. This disclosure may be found in the ‘Credit risk review – Santander UK group exposure’risk’ section of the Risk Review.review.

In accordance with IFRS, Santander UK recognises interest income on assets after they have been written down as a result of an impairment loss. Interest continues to be accrued on all loans and the element of interest that is not anticipated to be recovered is provided for. Interest income recognised on impaired loans is set out in the Consolidated Financial Statements. The income adjustment in respect of interest that is not anticipated to be recovered was £15m (2014: £23m, (2013: £31m, 2012: £37m)2013: £31m).

Unimpaired loans contractually past due 90 days or more as to interest or principal

In the Retail Banking business,We classify loans and advances are classified as non-performing typically when the customer fails toNPLs where customers don’t make payments when contractually duea payment for three months or longer. Inmore, or if we have data to make us doubt they can keep up with their payments. We describe this in more detail in the Commercial Banking business, loans‘Credit risk - Risk measurement and advances are classified as non-performing either when payments are three months or more past due or where there are reasonable doubts about full repayment (principal and interest) undercontrol’ section of the contractual terms.Risk review. Details of Santander UK’sour non-performing loans and advances, are set out in the ‘Non-performing loans and advances’ sectionsections of the Risk Review.review.

Forbearance

To support customers that encounter difficulties, Santander UK operateswe operate forbearance programmes to amend contractual amounts or timings where a customer’s financial distress indicates the potential that satisfactory repayment may not be made within the original terms and conditions of the contract. AWe employ a range of forbearance strategies are employed in order to improve the management of customer relationships, maximise collection opportunities within customers’ affordability and, if possible, avoid foreclosure or repossession. Further information can be found inFor more on this, see the ‘Credit risk management - Retail Banking’, ‘Credit risk management – Commercial Banking’, ‘Credit risk management – Global Corporate & Institutional Banking’, and ‘Credit risk management – Corporate Centre’ sections of the Risk Review.review.

Troubled debt restructurings

The US Securities and Exchange Commission requires separate disclosure of any loans whose terms have been modified by the lender because of the borrower’s financial difficulties, as a concession that the lender would not otherwise consider. These are classified as troubled debt restructurings. TheFor disclosure of loans that would otherwise have been classified as past due or impaired whose terms have been renegotiated and disclosure on forbearance, may be found insee the ‘Credit risk’ section of the Risk Review.review.

Potential problem loans and advances

Credit risk elements also cover potential problem loans. These are loans where information on possible credit problems among borrowers causes management to seriously doubt their ability to comply with the loan repayment terms. There are no potential problem loans other than those discussed above, and as discussed in disclosures by division given in the ‘Credit Risk’risk’ section of the Risk Review.review.

Cross border outstandings

Cross border outstandings, as defined by bank regulatory rules, are amounts payable to Santander UKus by residents of foreign countries, regardless of the currency in which the claim is denominated, and local country claims in excess of local country obligations. Cross border outstandings consist mainly of loans and advances to customers and banks, finance lease debtors, interest-bearing investments and other monetary assets.

In addition to credit risk, cross border outstandings have the risk that, as a result of political or economic conditions in a country, borrowers may be unable to meet their contractual payment obligations of principal and or interest when due because of the unavailability of, or restrictions on, foreign exchange needed by borrowers to repay their obligations. These cross border outstandings are controlled through a well-developed system of country limits, which are reviewed to avoid concentrations of transfer, economic or political risks.

For further analysis of our country risk exposures, including eurozone and peripheral eurozone exposures and redenomination risk, see the ‘Country Risk Exposure’risk exposure’ section of the Risk Review.

review.

 

 

358Santander UK plc

Annual Report 2015

Other information for US investors

(i) Cross border outstandings exceeding 1% of total assets

At 31 December 2015, 2014 and 2013, cross border outstandings exceeding 1% of total assets were as follows:

2015    

Governments and

official institutions

£bn

     

Banks and other

financial institutions

£bn

     

Other

£bn

     

Total

£bn

 

US

     2.7       12.2       0.1       15.0  

Japan

     2.7       1.1       1.7       5.5  

France

     0.4       2.2       1.6       4.2  

2014

                            

US

     4.9       11.1       0.2       16.2  

Japan

     3.8       0.2       1.1       5.1  

2013

                            

US

     5.3       8.3       0.6       14.2  

Japan

     3.8       0.1       0.1       4.0  

 

(ii) Cross border outstandings between 0.75% and 1% of total assets

 

At 31 December 2015, 2014 and 2013, cross border outstandings between 0.75% and 1% of total assets were as follows:

 

  

  

2015    

Governments and

official institutions

£bn

     

Banks and other

financial institutions

£bn

     

Other

£bn

     

Total

£bn

 

Germany

     0.1       2.2       0.5       2.8  

2014

                            

France

     0.4       2.2       0.1       2.7  

Spain

     -       2.5       0.1       2.6  

Germany

     0.2       1.9       0.3       2.4  

2013

                            

Spain

     -       2.5       0.1       2.6  

France

     0.4       1.9       0.1       2.4  

Switzerland

     0.5       1.3       0.5       2.3  

 

(iii) Cross border outstandings between 0.5% and 0.75% of total assets

 

At 31 December 2015, 2014 and 2013, cross border outstandings between 0.5% and 0.75% of total assets were as follows:

 

  

  

2015    

Governments and

official institutions

£bn

     

Banks and other

financial institutions

£bn

     

Other

£bn

     

Total

£bn

 

Spain

     -       1.7       0.2       1.9  

2014

                            

Switzerland

     0.7       0.5       0.3       1.5  

2013

                            

Germany

     -       1.6       0.2       1.8  

Denmark

     -       1.4       0.1       1.5  

336  Santander UK plc


Risk Elements inTaxation forArticles ofITRANYSEForm 20-F
the loan portfoliosUS investorsAssociation
        Risk elements in  Taxation for  Articles of  ITRANYSEForm 20-F

        the loan portfolio

US investorsAssociation         

(i) Cross border outstandings exceeding 1% of total assets

At 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012, cross border outstandings exceeding 1% of total assets were as follows:

                                                                                                                        

31 December 2014

 

Governments and

official institutions

£bn

 

Banks and other

financial institutions

£bn

 

Other

£bn

 

Total

£bn

 

US

 4.9   11.1   0.2   16.2  

Japan

 3.8   0.2   1.1   5.1  
31 December 2013            

US

 5.3   8.3   0.6   14.2  

Japan

 3.8   0.1   0.1   4.0  
31 December 2012            

US

 0.8   15.2   0.8   16.8  

Germany

 1.3   3.5   0.2   5.0  

Switzerland

 0.5   2.3   0.5   3.3  

 

(ii) Cross border outstandings between 0.75% and 1% of total assets

 

At 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012, cross border outstandings between 0.75% and 1% of total assets were as follows:

 

  

  

31 December 2014

 

Governments and

official institutions

£bn

 

Banks and other

financial institutions

£bn

 

Other

£bn

 

Total

£bn

 

France

 0.4   2.2   0.1   2.7  

Spain

 -   2.5   0.1   2.6  

Germany

 0.2   1.9   0.3   2.4  
31 December 2013            

Spain

 -   2.5   0.1   2.6  

France

 0.4   1.9   0.1   2.4  

Switzerland

 0.5   1.3   0.5   2.3  
31 December 2012            

Spain

 -   2.8   0.1   2.9  

France

 -   2.2   0.2   2.4  

Denmark

 -   2.3   -   2.3  

 

(iii) Cross border outstandings between 0.5% and 0.75% of total assets

 

At 31 December 2014, 2013 and 2012, cross border outstandings between 0.5% and 0.75% of total assets were as follows:

 

  

  

31 December 2014

Governments and

official institutions

£bn

 

Banks and other

financial institutions

£bn

 

Other

£bn

 

Total

£bn

 

Switzerland

 0.7   0.5   0.3   1.5  
31 December 2013            

Germany

 -   1.6   0.2   1.8  

Denmark

 -   1.4   0.1   1.5  
31 December 2012            

Japan

 1.2   0.2   0.2   1.6  

Annual Report 2014359


Other information for US investors

 

The geographical analysis below is based on the location of the office from which the loans and advances to customers are made, rather than the domicile of the borrower. FurtherFor geographical analysis showingby the country of domicile of the borrower rather than the office of lending, is set out insee the ‘Country Risk Exposure’risk exposure’ section in the Risk Review.review.

Impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers

An analysis of impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers is presented below.

 

                                                                                                         
  

2014

£m

   

2013

£m

   

2012

£m

   

2011(1)

£m

   

2010(1)

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011(1)

£m

 

Observed impairment loss allowances

          

Observed impairment loss allowances:

                    

Advances secured on residential properties - UK

   248     303     299     381     369       159       248       303       299       381  

Corporate loans - UK

   412     482     734     407     326       282       412       482       734       407  

Finance leases - UK

   7     8     6     6     2       12       7       8       6       6  

Unsecured personal advances - UK

   85     80     146     330     381       78       85       80       146       330  

Total observed impairment loss allowances

   752     873     1,185     1,124     1,078       531       752       873       1,185       1,124  

Incurred but not yet observed impairment loss allowances

          

Incurred but not yet observed impairment loss allowances:

                    

Advances secured on residential properties - UK

   331     290     253     97     157       265       331       290       253       97  

Corporate loans - UK

   146     151     162     127     147       113       146       151       162       127  

Finance leases - UK

   47     36     34     31     17       57       47       36       34       31  

Unsecured personal advances - UK

   163     205     168     184     256       191       163       205       168       184  

Total incurred but not yet observed impairment loss allowances

   687     682     617     439     577       626       687       682       617       439  

Total impairment loss allowances

   1,439     1,555     1,802     1,563     1,655       1,157       1,439       1,555       1,802       1,563  

Movements in impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers

An analysis of movements in impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers is presented below.

  

  

(1) The data for 2011 does not reflect discontinued operations as the data cannot be re-presented without unreasonable effort and expense.

Movements in impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers

An analysis of movements in impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers is presented below.

(1) The data for 2011 does not reflect discontinued operations as the data cannot be re-presented without unreasonable effort and expense.

Movements in impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers

An analysis of movements in impairment loss allowances on loans and advances to customers is presented below.

     

  

  

    
  

2014

£m

   

2013

£m

   

2012

£m

   

2011(1)

£m

   

2010(1)

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011(1)

£m

 

Impairment loss allowances at 1 January

   1,555     1,802     1,429     1,655     1,299       1,439       1,555       1,802       1,429       1,655  

Amounts written off

          

Amounts written off:

                    

Advances secured on residential properties - UK

   (56)     (89)     (75)     (92)     (42)       (32)       (56)       (89)       (75)       (92)  

Corporate loans - UK

   (150)     (382)     (215)     (164)     (116)       (157)       (150)       (382)       (215)       (164)  

Finance leases - UK

   (7)     (10)     (13)     (9)     (5)       (5)       (7)       (10)       (13)       (9)  

Unsecured personal advances - UK

   (272)     (342)     (377)     (466)     (448)       (244)       (272)       (342)       (377)       (466)  

Total amounts written off

   (485)     (823)     (680)     (731)     (611)       (438)       (485)       (823)       (680)       (731)  

Observed impairment losses charged against profit

          

Observed impairment losses charged against profit:

                    

Advances secured on residential properties - UK

   1     93     55     104     98       (57)       1       93       55       104  

Corporate loans - UK

   80     130     542     249     207       24       80       130       542       249  

Finance leases - UK

   6     12     12     14     6       12       6       12       12       14  

Unsecured personal advances - UK

   277     316     338     412     488       248       277       316       338       412  

Total observed impairment losses charged against profit

   364     551     947     779     799       227       364       551       947       779  

Incurred but not yet observed impairment losses charged against profit

   5     25     106     (140)     (53)  

Incurred but not yet observed impairment losses charged against/(released into) profit

     (71)       5       25       106       (140)  

Total impairment losses charged against profit

   369     576     1,053     639     746       156       369       576       1,053       639  

Assumed through transfers of entities under common control

   -     -     -     -     221  

Impairment loss allowances at 31 December

   1,439     1,555     1,802     1,563     1,655       1,157       1,439       1,555       1,802       1,563  
   %     %     %     %     %       %       %       %       %       %  

Ratio of amounts written off to average loans during the year

   0.26     0.43     0.34     0.36     0.31       0.22       0.26       0.43       0.34       0.36  

(1) The data presented for 2011 and 2010 has not been amended to reflect discontinued operations or the re-categorisation of loan loss allowances as the data cannot be re-presented without unreasonable effort and expense.

Recoveries

An analysis of recoveries is presented below.

    

  

  

(1) The data for 2011 does not reflect discontinued operations as the data cannot be re-presented without unreasonable effort and expense.

Recoveries

An analysis of recoveries is presented below.

(1) The data for 2011 does not reflect discontinued operations as the data cannot be re-presented without unreasonable effort and expense.

Recoveries

An analysis of recoveries is presented below.

     

  

  

    
  

2014

£m

   

2013

£m

   

2012

£m

   

2011

£m

   

2010

£m

     

2015

£m

     

2014

£m

     

2013

£m

     

2012

£m

     

2011

£m

 

Advances secured on residential properties - UK

   3     4     4     3     1       2       3       4       4       3  

Corporate loans - UK

   4     8     6     12     12       3       4       8       6       12  

Finance leases - UK

   2     2     2     3     1       2       2       2       2       3  

Unsecured personal advances - UK

   102     87     53     56     20       83       102       87       53       56  

Total amount recovered

   111     101     65     74     34       90       111       101       65       74  

Annual Report 2015

Other information for US investors

 

 

360Santander UK plc


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Taxation for US investors

The following is a summary, under current law, of the principalmain UK tax considerations relating to the beneficial ownership by a US taxpayer of the securities of the Company. The followingThis summary is provided for general guidance and does not address investors that are subject to special rules or that do not hold the perpetual securities as capital assets. US residents should consult their local tax advisers, particularly in connection with any potential liability to pay US taxes on disposal, lifetime gift or bequest of their perpetual securities.

United KingdomUK taxation on dividends

Under UK law, income tax is not withheld from dividends paid by UK companies. Shareholders, whether resident in the UK or not, receive the full amount of the dividend actually declared.

United KingdomUK taxation on capital gains

Under UK law, when you sell shares you may be liable to pay either capital gains tax or corporation tax on chargeable gains. However if you are either:

 

>-

an individual who is neither resident nor ordinarily resident in the UK;UK or

>-

a company which is not resident in the UK,

you will not be liable to UK tax on any capital gains made on disposal of your shares. The exception is if the shares are held in connection with a trade or business that is conducted in the UK through a branch or agency (for capital gains tax purposes) or a permanent establishment (for corporation tax purposes).

United KingdomUK inheritance tax

Under the current estate and gift tax convention between the US and the UK, shares held by an individual shareholder who is:

 

>-

domiciled for the purposes of the convention in the US;US and

>-

is not for the purposes of the convention a national of the UK;

UK

will not be subject to UK inheritance tax on:

 

>-

the individual’s death;death or

>-

on a gift of the shares during the individual’s lifetime.

The exception is if the shares are part of the business property of a permanent establishment of the individual in the UK or, in the case of a shareholder who performs independent personal services, pertain to a fixed base situated in the UK.

Share InformationInformation

Share capital

Details of the Company’s share capital are set out in Note 3836 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Major shareholders

At 31 December 2013, the Company was a subsidiary of Banco Santander S.A.SA and Santusa Holding S.L..SL. With effect from 10 January 2014, Santander UK Group Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Banco Santander S.A.SA and Santusa Holding S.L.,SL, became the beneficial owner of the entire issued ordinary share capital of the Company by virtue of a share exchange agreement between Santander UK Group Holdings Limited, Banco Santander S.A.SA and Santusa Holding S.L..SL.

Exchange controls

There are no UK laws, decrees or regulations that restrict Santander UK’sour export or import of capital, including the availability of cash and cash equivalents for use by Santander UK,us, or that affect the remittance of dividends or other shareholder payments to non-UK holders of Company shares, except as outlined in the section on Taxation for US Investors above.

 

 

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Articles of Association

The following is a summary of the Articles of Association (the ‘Articles’)Articles) of the Company.

Santander UK plc is a public company registered in England and Wales, registered number 2294747. The Articles do not specifically state or limit the objects of the Company which are therefore unrestricted.

A Director shall not vote on, or be counted in the quorum in relation to any resolution of the Directors in respect of any contract in which he has an interest, or any resolution of the Directors concerning his own appointment, or the settlement or variation of the terms or the termination of his or her appointment.

Preference shares entitle the holder to receive a preferential dividend payment at a fixed or variable rate, such dividend to be payable on a date determined by the Board prior to the allotment of the shares. The Board will also determine whether these dividend rights are cumulative or non-cumulative. If dividends are unclaimed for twelve years, the right to the dividend ceases. The holders of any series of preference shares will only be entitled to receive notice of and to attend any general meeting of the Company if the preference dividend on the preference shares of such series has not, at the date of the notice of the general meeting, been paid in full in respect of such dividend periods as the Board may prior to allotment determine, in which case the holders of the preference shares will be entitled to speak and/or vote upon any resolution proposed; or, if a resolution is proposed at the general meeting, for, or in relation to, the winding-up of the Company; or varying, altering or abrogating any of the rights, privileges, limitations or restrictions attached to the preference shares of such series, in which case the holders of the preference shares of such series will be entitled to speak and/or vote only upon such resolution; or in such other circumstances, and upon and subject to such terms, as the Board may determine prior to allotment.

Unless the Board determines, prior to allotment, that the series of preference shares shall be non-redeemable, each series shall be redeemable at the option of the Company on any date as the Board may determine prior to the date of allotment. On redemption the Company shall pay the amount due. The formula for calculation of any relevant redemption premium is set out in the Articles of Association.

On a distribution of assets on winding-up of the Company or return of capital (other than on a redemption or purchase by the Company of any of its share capital), members holding preference shares shall in respect thereof be entitled to receive, out of the surplus assets remaining after payment of the Company’s liabilities, an amount equal to the amount paid up or credited as paid up on the preference shares together with such premium (if any) as may be determined by the Board prior to allotment thereof (and so that the Board may determine that such premium is payable only in specified circumstances).

There are no sinking fund provisions. Where the shares are partly paid, the Board may make further calls upon the holders in respect of any sum whether in respect of nominal value or premium that is unpaid on their shares. There are no provisions discriminating against any existing or prospective shareholder as a result of such shareholder owning a substantial number of shares.

Dividends are payable to the holders of ordinary shares. These ordinary shares are transferable. If dividends are unclaimed for twelve years, the right to the dividend ceases.

Subject to any special terms as to voting upon which any ordinary shares may be issued or may for the time being be held or any suspension or any abrogation of voting rights as set out in the Articles of Association, on a show of hands every member who is present in person at a general meeting of the Company shall have one vote and every proxy present who has been duly appointed by a member shall have one vote. On a poll every member who is present in person or by proxy shall have one vote for every share of which he is the holder.

Subject to the prior rights of holders of preference shares, the Company pays dividends on its ordinary shares only out of its distributable profits and not out of share capital. Dividends are determined by the Board.

The Company’s Articles of Association authorise it to issue redeemable shares, but the Company’s ordinary shares are not redeemable. There are no sinking fund provisions. TheWhere the shares are partly paid, the Board may from time to time make further calls upon the membersholders in respect of any moniessum whether in respect of nominal value or premium that is unpaid on their shares. There are no provisions discriminating against any existing or prospective shareholder as a result of such shareholder owning a substantial number of ordinary shares.shares of any class.

Subject to the provisions of the UK Companies Act 2006, all or any of the rights attached to any class of shares (whether or not the Company is being wound up) may be varied with the consent in writing of the holders of not less than three-fourths in nominal value of the issued shares of that class or with the sanction of a special resolution passed at a separate general meeting of the holders of those shares. Additional quorum and voting requirements apply to such meeting.

General meetings shall be called by at least 14 clear days’ notice (that is, excluding the day of the General Meeting and the day on which the notice is given). A general meeting may be called by shorter notice if it is so agreed, in the case of an annual general meeting, by all the shareholders having a right to attend and vote, or in other cases, by a majority in number of the shareholders having a right to attend and vote, being a majority together holding not less than 95 per cent95% in nominal value of the shares giving the right. The notice shall specify the date, time and place of the meeting and the general nature of the business to be transacted.

There are no restrictions on the rights to own securities for either resident or non-resident shareholders, other than those to which they may be subject as a result of the laws and regulations in their home jurisdiction.

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Disclosure pursuant to Section 219 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act

Pursuant to Section 219 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, which added Section 13(r) to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the ‘Exchange Act’)Exchange Act), an issuer is required to disclose in its annual or quarterly reports, as applicable, whether it or any of its affiliates knowingly engaged in certain activities, transactions or dealings relating to Iran or with individuals or entities designated pursuant to certain Executive Orders. Disclosure is generally required even where the activities, transactions or dealings were conducted in compliance with applicable law.

The following activities are disclosed in response to Section 13(r) with respect to the Company and its affiliates within the Banco Santander group. During the period covered by this report:

 

(a)

Santander UK holds frozen savings accounts and one current accountsaccount for threetwo customers resident in the UK who are currently designated by the US for terrorism. The accounts held by each customer were blocked after the customer’s designation and have remained blocked and dormant throughout 2014. No revenue has been2015. Revenue generated by Santander UK on these accounts. The bank account held for one of these customersaccounts in 2015 was closed in the fourth quarter of 2014.

negligible.

 

(b)

An Iranian national, resident in the UK, who is currently designated by the US under the Iranian Financial Sanctions Regulations and the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (‘NPWMD’)(NPWMD) designation, holds a mortgage with Santander UK that was issued prior to any such designation. No further drawdown has been made (or would be allowed) under this mortgage although we continue to receive repayment instalments. In 2014,2015, total revenue in connection with the mortgage was approximately £2,580£3,876 whilst net profits were negligible relative to the overall profits of Santander UK. Santander UK does not intend to enter into any new relationships with this customer, and any disbursements will only be made in accordance with applicable sanctions. The same Iranian national also holds two investment accounts with Santander Asset Management UKISA Managers Limited. The funds within both accounts are invested in the same portfolio fund. The accounts have remained frozen during 2014.2015. The investment returns are being automatically reinvested, and no disbursements have been made to the customer. Total revenue in 2015 for the Banco Santander group in connection with the investment accounts was approximately £250£188 whilst net profits in 20142015 were negligible relative to the overall profits of Banco Santander S.A..

SA.

 

(c)

In addition, during the third quarter of 2014, Santander UK has identified two additional customers. A UK national is designated by the US under the NPWMDSpecially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) sanctions program heldprogramme and is on the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List). The customer of Santander UK holds a business account.bank account which generated revenue of approximately £180 during the third and fourth quarter of 2015. The account is blocked. Net profits in the third and fourth quarter of 2015 in connection with this account were negligible relative to the overall profits of Banco Santander SA. A second UK national is designated by the US under the SDGT sanctions programme and is on the US SDN List. No transactions were made in the third and fourth quarter of 2015 and the account is blocked and in arrears.

(d)In addition, during the fourth quarter of 2015, Santander UK has identified one additional customer. A UK national is designated by the US under the SDGT sanctions programme and is on the US SDN List. The customer holds a bank account which generated negligible revenue during the fourth quarter of 2015. The account was closed during the fourth quarter of 2015. Net profits in the fourth quarter of 2014. No revenue or profit has been generated. A second UK national designated by2015 were negligible relative to the US for terrorism held a personal current account and a personal credit card account, bothoverall profits of which were closed in the third quarter. Although transactions took place on the current account during the third quarter of 2014, revenue and profits generated were negligible. No transactions took place on the credit card.

Banco Santander SA.

In addition, the Banco Santander group has certainhad an outstanding legacy export credits and performance guaranteescredit facility with Bank Mellat, which areis included in the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked PersonsSDN List. Banco Santander, S.A. entered into two bilateral credit facilities in February 2000 in an aggregate principal amount of euro 25.9m. Both credit facilities matured in 2012. In addition, in 2005 Banco Santander S.A.SA participated in a syndicated credit facility for Bank Mellat of euro 15.5m, which maturesmatured on 6 July 2015. At 31 December 2014,2015, the Banco Santander group was owed euro 2.3m0.3m not paid at maturity under this credit facility.facility and 95% covered by three official export credit agencies.

Banco Santander S.A.SA has not been receiving payments from Bank Mellat under any of thesethis credit facilitiesfacility in recent years. Banco Santander S.A.SA has been and expects to continue to be repaid any amounts due by official export credit agencies, which insure between 95% and 99% of the outstanding amounts under these credit facilities.agencies. No funds have been extended by Banco Santander S.A.SA under these facilitiesthis credit facility since they wereit was granted.

The Banco Santander group also has certain legacy performance guarantees for the benefit of Bank Sepah and Bank Mellat (stand-by letters of credit to guarantee the obligations – either under tender documents or under contracting agreements – of contractors who participated in public bids in Iran) that were in place prior to 27 April 2007. However, should any of the contractors default in their obligations under the public bids, the Banco Santander group would not be able to pay any amounts due to Bank Sepah or Bank Mellat because any such payments would be frozen pursuant to Council Regulation (EU) No. 961/2010.

In the aggregate, all of the transactions described above resulted in approximately euro 41,00015,000 gross revenues and approximately euro 80,50077,000 net loss to the Banco Santander group in the year ended 31 December 2014,2015, all of which resulted from the performance of export credit agencies rather than any Iranian entity. The Banco Santander group has undertaken significant steps to withdraw from the Iranian market such as closing its representative office in Iran and ceasing all banking activities therein, including correspondent relationships, deposit taking from Iranian entities and issuing export letters of credit, except for the legacy transactions described above. The Banco Santander group is not contractually permitted to cancel these arrangements without either (i) paying the guaranteed amount – which payment would be frozen as explained above (in the case of the performance guarantees), or (ii) forfeiting the outstanding amounts due to it (in the case of the export credits). As such, the Banco Santander group intends to continue to provide the guarantees and hold these assets in accordance with company policy and applicable laws.

 

 

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NewNew York Stock Exchange (‘NYSE’)(NYSE) Corporate Governance – differences in UK and NYSE corporate governance practice

The Company has fully and unconditionally guaranteed the debt securities of its wholly owned subsidiary Abbey National Treasury Services plc (‘ANTS’)(ANTS). As this guarantee includes NYSE-listed debt securities, the Company is required to comply with NYSE corporate governance standards. Under the NYSE corporate governance standards the Company must disclose any significant ways in which its corporate governance practices differ from those followed by US companies under the NYSE corporate governance standards. We believe the following to be the significant differences between our current corporate governance practices and those applicable to US companies under the NYSE corporate governance standards.

Under the NYSE corporate governance standards, independent directors must comprise a majority of the Board. As at 31 December 2014,2015, our Board was comprised of a Chair (who is also a Non-Executive Director), threeone Executive Directors (including theDirector (the CEO) and twelveten other Non-Executive Directors. SixThe Chair, Shriti Vadera, and five of the other Non-Executive Directors, Mike Amato, Roy Brown, Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Alain Dromer, Rosemary ThorneEd Giera, Chris Jones, Genevieve Shore and Scott Wheway, were independent as defined in the NYSE corporate governance standards. From 12 February 2015, Bruce Carnegie-Brown ceased to be deemed independent on the Board, following his appointment to the Board of Banco Santander, S.A. The other sixfive Non-Executive Directors were not independent according to NYSE corporate governance standards as they are representatives of the ultimate parent company, Banco Santander S.A.SA.

Since the year-end, Shriti VaderaAnnemarie Durbin joined the Board as Joint Deputy ChairIndependent Non-Executive Director on 113 January 2015 and will succeed Lord Burns as Non-Executive Chair on 30 March 2015.2016. The Board has determined that Shriti VaderaAnnemarie Durbin was independent upon appointment according to NYSE corporate governance standards.

The NYSE corporate governance standards require that listed US listed companies have a nominating or corporate governance committee composed entirely of independent directors and with a written charter addressing certain corporate governance matters. Applicable UK rules do not require companies without equity shares listed on the London Stock Exchange, such as the Company, to have a nominating committee. However, the Company has a Board Nomination Committee, which leads the process for Board appointments. This Committee has written Terms of Reference setting out its role to identify and nominate candidates for Board and Board Committee appointments. As at 31 December 2014,2015, the following Directors made up the Board Nomination Committee: Lord Burns, Mike Amato, Roy Brown,Shriti Vadera (Chair), Ana Botín, Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Alain Dromer, Juan Rodríguez Inciarte, Rosemary ThorneChris Jones, Ed Giera and Scott Wheway. Of these Directors, Mike Amato, Roy Brown, Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Alain Dromer, Rosemary ThorneShriti Vadera, Chris Jones, Ed Giera and Scott Wheway were independent according to NYSE corporate governance standards as at 31 December 2014. Bruce Carnegie-Brown ceased to be deemed independent from 12 February 2015. With effect from 1 January 2015, Shriti Vadera joined the Board Nomination Committee and will succeed Lords Burns as Chair with effect from 30 March 2015, aligned to the date she succeeds Lord Burns as Chair of the Board. The Board has determined that Shriti Vadera was independent upon appointment according to NYSE corporate governance standards.

In addition, the Board is responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of the Company’s governance practices and making changes as needed to ensure the alignment of the Company’s governance system with current best practices. The Board monitors and manages potential conflicts of interest of management, Board members, shareholders, external advisors and other service providers, including misuse of corporate assets and abuse in related party transactions.

The NYSE corporate governance standards require that listed US listed companies have a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors and with a written charter addressing certain corporate governance matters. The Board Remuneration Oversight Committee was not composed entirely of independent directors in 20142015 according to NYSE corporate governance standards. Under its written Terms of Reference, this Committee is primarily responsible for overseeing and supervising Santander UK’s policies and frameworks covering remuneration and reward. As at 31 December 2014,2015, the Board Remuneration Oversight Committee was made up of five independent Non-Executive Directors according to NYSE corporate governance standards: Roy Brownstandards (Scott Wheway (Chair), Mike Amato, Bruce Carnegie-Brown,Ed Giera, Chris Jones, Alain Dromer and Scott Wheway. Bruce Carnegie-Brown ceasedGenevieve Shore) and one Non-Executive Director who was not independent according to be deemedsuch standards (Bruce Carnegie-Brown). Annemarie Durbin joined the Board Remuneration Committee on 13 January 2016. The Board has determined that Annemarie Durbin was independent upon appointment according to NYSE corporate governance standards on 12 February 2015.standards.

The NYSE corporate governance standards require that listed US listed companies have an audit committee that satisfies the requirements of Rule 10A-3 under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (‘Rule 10A-3’), with a written charter addressing certain corporate governance matters, and whose members are all independent as defined in Rule 10A-3. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of a parent that satisfies the requirements of Rule 10A-3(c)(2), the Company is exempt from the requirements of Rule 10A-3. The Company does have a Board Audit Committee. As at 31 December 2014,2015, the Board Audit Committee was made up of foursix Non-Executive Directors: Rosemary ThorneChris Jones (Chair), Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Alain Dromer, Ed Giera, Genevieve Shore, Manuel Soto and Manuel Soto. ThreeScott Wheway. Five members were independent in 20142015 as defined in Rule 10A-3: Rosemary Thorne (Chair), Bruce Carnegie-BrownAlain Dromer, Ed Giera, Chris Jones, Genevieve Shore, and Alain Dromer.Scott Wheway. However the scope of the Board Audit Committee’s Terms of Reference as well as the duties and responsibilities of such committee are more limited than that required of audit committees under the NYSE corporate governance standards. For example, the Board Audit Committee does not provide an audit committee report as required by the NYSE corporate governance standards to be included in the Company’s annual proxy statement. Annemarie Durbin joined the Audit Committee on 13 January 2016. The Board has determined that Annemarie Durbin was independent as defined in Rule 10A-3 upon appointment.

The NYSE corporate governance standards require that listed US listed companies adopt and disclose corporate governance guidelines, including with respect to the qualification, training and evaluation of their Directors. The NYSE corporate governance standards also require that the Board conducts a self-evaluation at least annually to determine whether it and its committees are functioning effectively. The Board has undertaken regular reviews of Board effectiveness primarily through an internal process led by the Chair. In 2013 the first external Board effectiveness review was conducted by Bvalco Limited, an external evaluator.

A CEO of a US company listed on the NYSE must annually certify that he or she is not aware of any violation by the company of NYSE corporate government standards. In accordance with NYSE corporate governance standards applicable to foreign private issuers, our CEO is not required to provide the NYSE with such an annual compliance certification.

In addition, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of an NYSE-listed company, the Company is exempt from two NYSE listing standards otherwise applicable to foreign companies listed on the NYSE as well as US companies listed on the NYSE. The first requires the CEO of any NYSE-listed foreign company to notify promptly the NYSE in writing after any executive of the issuer becomes aware of any material non-compliance with any applicable NYSE corporate governance standards. The second requires NYSE-listed foreign companies to submit executed written affirmations annually to the NYSE.

Annual Report 2015

Other information for US investors

 

 

Cross-reference to Form 20-F

Part I      
1 Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers     *
2 Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable     *
3 Key Information  Selected Financial Data  331
   Capitalisation and Indebtedness  *
   Reasons for the Offer and use of Proceeds  *
     Risk Factors  300
4 Information on the Company  History and Development of the Company  28, 193
   Business Overview  2, 9, 21, 195
   Organisational Structure  194
     Property, Plant and Equipment  28, 248
4A Unresolved Staff Comments     N/a
5 Operating and Financial Review and Prospects  Operating Results  6
   Liquidity and Capital Resources  21, 111, 121, 129, 248
   Research and Development, Patents and Licenses, etc  N/a
   Trend Information  2, 3
   Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements  31
     Contractual Obligations  31
6 Directors, Senior Management and Employees  Directors and senior management  162
   Compensation  184
   Board Practices  167
   Employees  224
     Share Ownership  272
7 Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions  Major Shareholders  338
   Related Party Transactions  277
     Interests of Experts and Counsel  *
8 Financial Information  Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information  199, 202, 321
     Significant Changes  193, 298
9 The Offer and Listing  Offer and Listing Details  *
   Plan of Distribution  *
   Markets  N/a
   Selling shareholders  *
   Dilution  *
     Expenses of the Issue  *
10 Additional Information  Share Capital  *
   Articles of Association  339
   Material Contracts  321
   Exchange Controls  338
   Taxation  338
   Dividends and Paying Agents  *
   Statements by Experts  *
   Documents on Display  321
     Subsidiary Information  N/a
11 Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk     102
12 Description of Securities Other Than Equity Securities  Debt Securities  *
   Warrants and Rights  *
   Other Securities  *
   American Depositary Shares  *
Part II          
13 Defaults, Dividend Arrearages and Delinquencies     N/a
14 Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds  N/a
15 Controls and Procedures  Disclosure Controls and Procedures  195
   Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting  195
   Attestation Report of the Registered Public Accounting Firm  N/a
     Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting  195
16A Board Audit Committee Financial Expert     183
16B Code of Ethics     194
16C Principal Accountant Fees and Services     227
16D Exemptions from the Listing Standards for Board Audit Committees  N/a
16E Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers  N/a
16F Change in Registrant’s Certifying Accountant     181, 196
16G Corporate Governance     341
16H Mine Safety Disclosure     N/a
Part III      
17 Financial Statements     N/a
18 Financial Statements     202
19 Exhibits     Filed with SEC

*
364Santander UK plc


Risk Elements inTaxationNot required forArticles ofITRANYSE CorporateForm 20-F
the loan portfoliosUS investorsAssociationGovernance
an Annual Report.

 

 

Cross-reference to Form 20-F

* Not required for an Annual Report.

     Part I 

1

Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers *  

2

Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable  *  

3

Key InformationSelected Financial Data 354  
Capitalisation and Indebtedness *  
Reasons for the Offer and use of Proceeds *  
  Risk Factors 327  

4

Information on the CompanyHistory and Development of the Company 2  
Business Overview 3, 8  
Organisational Structure 15  
  Property, Plant and Equipment 212  

4A

Unresolved Staff Comments  N/a  

5

Operating and Financial Review and ProspectsOperating Results 190  
Liquidity and Capital Resources 101, 117  
Research and Development, Patents and Licenses, etc N/a  
Trend Information 9, 10, 17  
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements 215  
  Contractual Obligations 215  

6

Directors, Senior Management and EmployeesDirectors and senior management 146  
Compensation 179  
Board Practices 154  
Employees 184  
  Share Ownership 184, 297  

7

Major Shareholders and Related Party TransactionsMajor Shareholders 361  
Related Party Transactions 183, 300, 302  
  Interests of Experts and Counsel *  

8

Financial InformationConsolidated Statements and Other Financial Information 223  
  Significant Changes 326  

9

The Offer and ListingOffer and Listing Details *  
Plan of Distribution *  
Markets N/a  
Selling shareholders *  
Dilution *  
  Expenses of the Issue *  

10

Additional InformationShare Capital *  
Articles of Association 362  
Material Contracts 347  
Exchange Controls N/a  
Taxation 361  
Dividends and Paying Agents *  
Statements by Experts *  
Documents on Display 347  
  Subsidiary Information N/a  

11

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk 90  

12

Description of Securities Other Than Equity SecuritiesDebt Securities *  
Warrants and Rights *  
Other Securities *  
American Depositary Shares *  

Part II

     

13

Defaults, Dividend Arrearages and Delinquencies N/a  

14

Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds N/a  

15

Controls and ProceduresDisclosure Controls and Procedures 185  
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting 186  
Attestation Report of the Registered Public Accounting Firm N/a  
  Changes to Internal Control Over Financial Reporting 186  

16A

Board Audit Committee Financial Expert  164  

16B

Code of Ethics  184  

16C

Principal Accountant Fees and Services  250  

16D

Exemptions from the Listing Standards for Board Audit Committees N/a  

16E

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers N/a  

16F

Change in Registrant’s Certifying Accountant N/a  

16G

Corporate Governance 152  

16H

Mine Safety Disclosure N/a  

Part III

     

17

Financial Statements  N/a  

18

Financial Statements  223  

19

Exhibits  Filed with SEC  

365Santander UK plc


LOGO

342  Santander UK plc


LOGO


SIGNATURE

The registrant hereby certifies that it meets all the requirements for filing on Form 20-F and that it has duly caused and authorized the undersigned to sign this annual report on its behalf.

SANTANDER UK plc

 

By: 

/s/ Nathan Bostock

 Nathan Bostock
 Chief Executive Officer

Dated: March 4, March 20152016


EXHIBIT INDEX

 

Exhibits1   
  1.1  Articles of Association of Santander UK plc (incorporated by reference to Santander UK plc’s Form 6-K furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission on 10 March 2010)
  4.1

Capital Support Deed dated 23 December 2015 between the Regulated Entities (as named therein, including Abbey National Treasury Services plc), the Unregulated Entities (as named therein) and Santander UK plc

  4.2

Deed of Adherence by Santander UK Group Holdings plc dated 23 December 2015 supplemental to the Capital Support Deed dated 23 December 2015

  7.1  Statement of ratio of earnings to fixed charges2
  8.1  List of Subsidiaries of Santander UK plc
12.1  CEO Certificate pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
12.2  CFO Certificate pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
13.1  Certificate pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
15.1  Consent of Deloitte LLP2
15.2Letter from Deloitte LLP dated 4 March 2016

 

1 

Documents concerning Santander UK plc referred to within the Annual Report on Form 20-F 20142015 may be inspected at 2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London NW1 3AN, the principal executive offices and registered address of Santander UK plc.

2 

Incorporated by reference into Registration Statement Nos. 333-190509, 333-10232 and 333-11320 on Forms F-3.