LONDON - Spain's Santander, the banking group which owns Britain's Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley, will next year launch a no-fees current account, with no charges for overdraft use or access to foreign ATMs.

The account, called the Santander Zero Current Account, will only be available to customers who take out a mortgage with Santander and will be launched to coincide with the rebranding of over 1,000 Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches in January 2010, the banking group said on Thursday.

Our new approach is one based on simplicity: the more business you do with us, the more we will offer you in return, Santander's Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said in a statement.

Santander shares, which have risen a fifth in the last three months, were 0.6 percent down at 11.68 euros by 1014 GMT.

(Reporting by Rhys Jones; editing by Victoria Bryan)

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