Our cynical rivals, by new-look Abbey

ABBEY chief executive Luqman Arnold has accused rivals of designing products with the sole aim of getting into best-buy tables and not really offering good value.

Abbey National unveiled a relaunch of its business last week - as the bank said it would in July. The overhaul included a shortening of its name to Abbey, new corporate colours and logo and a pledge to 'turn banking upside down' with simpler products and a plain-speaking approach to customers.

Central to the new thinking at Abbey is that it should not compete solely on headline prices for its savings or lending products.

Arnold said: 'Banks play a clever game with best-buy tables. They design one product to appear in the tables and then play on a halo effect that benefits all its products. Everybody uses them cynically.' He admitted Abbey had been guilty of playing the same game in the past.

The relaunch is the latest step in the effort by Arnold to take Abbey back to its High Street roots after an ill-fated move into big business banking in the late-Nineties sent it spiralling into the red.

One wrinkle in the relaunch was a clash of names. Shortening the registered trade name put the bank on collision course with the Dublin-based building group Abbey. The Irish company said its chairman, Charles Gallagher, was seeking legal advice.

Arnold said: 'I called Charles Gallagher, which was the right thing to do. This is being blown up to be more important than it is. We don't build houses, they don't lend money. There's no confusion.' Abbey shares fell 29 1/2p last week to close at 513 1/4p.