UK - Financial services firm Abbey National has not denied a newspaper report that it plans to outsource 28 billion pounds of funds (40 billion euros) to State Street.

The Glasgow Herald daily said Abbey National is poised to announce a deal on January 22. It quoted an unnamed source as saying that the Boston-based bank would take over “all equity and bond management”.

A company spokeswoman said the report was speculation. Abbey has also issued a statement saying: “Abbey is reviewing a number of its businesses following the announcement of its PFS strategy earlier this year.”

“As part of that overall review, a project to determine the way forward for our investment activities is currently underway.

“This is an extensive project, which covers a range of options. The aim is to find the best way for us to meet the needs and expectations of our customers and investors.

A spokeswoman for State Street declined to comment.

Abbey has recently undergone a rebranding exercise and has stated that it wants to focus solely on UK personal financial services, or PFS. In 2003 it made a series of disposals of assets that did not fit with this strategy.
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