Santander, the owners of Abbey and Alliance & Leicester, have announced that its UK banks will provide over £100m of lending to small and medium-sized businesses.

Alliance & Leicester will join the government's Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme - which provides guarantees of 75% on loans made to SMEs with a turnover of no more than £25m.

Abbey has applied to participate in the European Investment Bank's €15bn fund, which will lend money to UK businesses at a discounted rate over the full term of the deal. The bank's application to the EIB loan scheme is subject to the approval of the EIB board, with a decision expected in May.

"This is a strong signal from one of the strongest and best capitalised banks in the world that we are open for business and keen to support the SME sector in the UK," said Steve Pateman, Managing Director of UK Corporate and Commercial Banking.