Santander UK delays results following motor finance court case

Santander UK has delayed the publication of its results to assess the impact of a landmark court ruling on motor finance commissions.

Results for the Spanish bank’s UK arm were meant to be published this morning, but the lender said on Monday that it was delaying its results due to last Friday’s judgement.

The Court of Appeal ruled that a broker could not lawfully receive a commission from the lender without obtaining the customer’s fully informed consent to the payment.

Santander said that the judgement set a “higher bar” for the disclosure and consent to any commission paid than had previously been the case.

The bank said it disagreed with the conclusions, noting that both defendant firms have said they will appeal the decision.

However, Santander said it was “taking time to consider the judgement and the potential exposure it creates”.

“It is not practicable to reliably estimate at this point in time the extent of any potential financial impact,” it said.

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets estimate that Santander UK’s exposure is likely to be around £1.1bn, but could be up to £1.7bn in the worst case.

Analysts have estimated the overall bill for the sector could be as high as £16bn.

The wider group reported that pretax profit had increased 11 per cent in the third quarter, rising to €4.9bn.

This was driven by an eight per cent increase in net interest income, with growth in all businesses and regions. The performance of its retail arm was particularly strong across Europe, North America and South America.