Abbey National, the UK bank owned by Santander of Spain has created a new wealth management division and plans to beef up sales of investmen...

Abbey National, the UK bank owned by Santander of Spain has created a new wealth management division and plans to beef up sales of investment products by hiring up to 200 additional staff in the next 18 months, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Sales staff in the division are expected to number 750 by the end of 2007, according to the report.

A spokesman for Abbey told WealthBriefing that the bank plans to have an HNW advisor in each one if its branches by 2008.

Abbey Wealth Management is headed up by Javier Maldonado who reports to Abbey chief executive Antonio Horta-Osario.