Santander UK plc is one of the largest mortgage and savings providers in the UK. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Santander Group, a Spanish financial institution. Santander UK is a full-service retail and commercial bank offering current and savings accounts, personal and business loans, mortgages, credit cards; home, car, travel and life insurance, business insurance, investments, online banking as well as treasury services, invoice discounts, cash transmission, asset finance and other services. With approximately 20,000 employees, Santander UK is the second largest mortgage lender in the country with a market share of approximately 13.5%. It serves 14 million active customers and operates a network of over 830 retail branches and 69 regional corporate business centres nationwide. Santander has been operating in the UK market since 2004. In 2004 – 2008, it acquired Abbey National plc, Alliance & Leicester plc and Bradford & Bingley's retail branches and savings business. As of December 31, 2016, Santander UK Group Holdings plc had £303.1 billion in total assets, £172.7 billion in customer deposits and £200 billion in customer loans including over £150 billion in mortgages.