Santander sees 180 mln stg synergies from A&L deal

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Santander on Monday said it expected annual cost savings of around 180 million pounds by 2011 from its agreed merger with Alliance & Leicester.

Santander, which also owns Abbey, will need to bolster the capital of A&L by around 1 billion pounds to strengthen the bank's balance sheet and carry out the deal, the Spanish bank said during a Webcast on the deal.

It expects the deal to add to earnings from the beginning of next year.

Santander will integrate Abbey and A&L, cutting their combined assets by 20-30 billion pounds over two years, it said.

(Reporting by Sarah Morris and Carlos Ruano; Editing by Andrew Hay)