History
The bank was founded in 1957 as Curt Briechle KG Absatzfinanzierung by businessman Curt Briechle in Mönchengladbach as a sales financing company for automobiles. In 1968, the company was converted into a public limited company and renamed Bankhaus Centrale Credit AG.
In 1987, the Spanish bank Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH) acquired 100% of the bank and renamed it CC-Bank AG.[4] In 1988, the Royal Bank of Scotland acquired 50% of the CC-Bank's shares. In 1996, the Santander Central Hispano bought back the shares from the Royal Bank of Scotland.
In 2002, the Cologne-based AKB Privat- und Handelsbank merged with the CC-Bank AG.[4] The Cologne headquarter of AKB at Friesenplatz was dissolved. In 2003, the Santander Direkt Bank AG from Frankfurt, which also belonged to the BSCH-Group, was merged with the CC-Bank.
As of 1 October 2004, the bank's market presence was adapted to the corporate design of the Spanish parent company. Since then, the name of the brand was Santander Consumer CC-Bank; for the time being the official company name remained CC-Bank AG. In August 2007 the official renaming in the commercial register to Santander Consumer Bank AG was made.
On 1 July 2008, the Royal Bank of Scotland sold its consumer credit business unit ECF (European Consumer Finance) to Santander Consumer Finance. This included RBS (RD Europe) GmbH with branches in Ratingen (Germany), Houten (Netherlands), Merelbeke (Belgium) and Vienna (Austria), which now belong to the German Santander Consumer Holding GmbH. With the purchase the ComfortCard brand in those countries was also taken over.[5]
As of 1 July 2009, GE Money Bank GmbH in Hanover, which was acquired in November 2008, was merged with the Santander Consumer Bank AG.
In July 2010 it was announced that the German private customer business of SEB will be sold to Banco Santander.[6] The purchase price for the 173 SEB branches amounted to €555 million. As of 31 January 2011, the private customer business with about 1 million customers and about 2,400 employees was transferred to Santander and now operates under Santander Bank – Zweigniederlassung der Santander Consumer Bank AG.
On 1 July 2016, a joint venture in which the Santander Consumer Bank AG holds a 50 percent stake, was launched by the PSA Bank Deutschland GmbH. The PSA Bank offers car financing, leasing products and dealer financing with the Peugeot Bank and Citroën Bank brands. Deposits are available through the PSA Direct Bank.[7]
In September 2016, the bank obtained the license to issue bonds. At the end of November 2017, the bank issued a bond certificate for the first time.[8]
In 2018, the Santander Consumer Bank AG will unify its brand image and will only perform in Germany as "Santander". As a result, the distribution networks of "Santander Consumer Bank", "Santander Direkt Bank" and "Santander Bank" are merged.
