The group announced in July 2008 that it intended to takeover the UK bank Alliance & Leicester. Alliance & Leicester had £24bn in deposits and 254 branches. The purchase was completed in October 2008 when the group removed the company's shares from the London Stock Exchange. This was followed by the purchase of the savings business of UK bank Bradford & Bingley (B&B) in September 2008 B&B had deposits of £22bn, 2.6m customers, 197 branches and 140 agencies. The banks, along with Abbey, are to be merged under the Santander name in the UK by the end of 2010.