ALLIANCE & LEICESTER   The Alliance Leicester Bs was formed in 1997 by the floatation of the former Alliance & Leicester Building Society. The former Alliance & Leicester Building Society was formed by the merger of the Alliance Building Society & the Leicester Building Society in 10/1985 . The Alliance Leicester in 1990 acquired Girobank, a major banking services provider to small businesses from the Post Office. With other large building societies such as the Halifax and Woolwich, the Aliance & Leicester decided in 1997 to float the society on the Stock Exchange, generating windfall payments to members.  The Alliance Leicester BS in the years after its stock market floatation has reportedly not been a star performer in the banking world. The Alliance & Leicester's smaller size meant perhaps it was harder to compete with the larger UK Financial providers. In 2008 they therefore became part of Bank Santander Group who also own former building societies Abbey National & Bradford Bingley in Uk. The Alliance & Leicester BS has mortgage schemes which offer discounts, fixed rates or cashbacks and these have been developed to suit the varying requirements of today's homebuyer. Compare Alliance Leicester Bs Mortgage Rates > Broker Help here