Santander Central Hispano, the Spanish bank which has agreed a £8bn (€11.9bn) bid for Abbey National, has said a rival offer for the UK bank would not necessarily force it to withdraw.

Santander said its policy was not to comment on speculation, but "would like to clarify that the referral of any competing offer, which may be announced for Abbey, to the (UK's) Competition Commission does not, of itself, provide grounds for the Santander offer to lapse".