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Depositors looking for a safe haven for their money have poured cash into accounts at Spanish-owned Abbey, the bank said today.
The bank, owned by Spanish giant Banco Santander, said new deposits had jumped 70% so far this year as people looked for reassurance that their cash would be safe in the banking turmoil.
Abbey took £4.3bn in deposits during the first nine months of 2008, compared with £2.5bn last year.
The bank is not alone in being flooded with deposits. The government-backed Northern Rock was forced to close a number of savings accounts after it was inundated with deposits from savers alarmed by the near-collapse of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) and Bradford & Bingley.
National Savings & Investments, also backed by the state, cut interest rates on its savings accounts in a move that appeared to have been designed to discourage new customers.
Santander is now the third biggest deposit taker in the UK behind Royal Bank of Scotland and soon-to-merge Lloyds TSB and HBOS.
Earlier this year it swooped to buy Alliance & Leicester and the savings business of nationalised Bradford & Bingley, giving the group around 1,300 high street branches and deposits of £116bn.
Abbey's chief executive, Antonio Horta-Osorio, said: "We had strong deposit inflows demonstrating that Abbey, backed by the strength of Santander, is regarded as a secure and trusted home for UK savings customers."
Abbey has not taken part in the government's plans to pump billions of pounds into ailing banks, as it has capital resources "well in excess" of regulatory requirements.
Around 60% of the bank's balance sheet comes from customer deposits, with less than 10% of funding depending on volatile wholesale markets.
Santander injected £1bn of its own funds into Abbey following the turmoil, which it said had "profoundly changed the landscape for UK banking".
The sale of the train-leasing company Porterbrook for a reported £2bn has sparked concerns that Santander may have been harmed by the credit crunch.
However, in contrast with other strugglers in the sector Abbey's pre-tax profits over the first nine months of the year were up 20% to £737m.
The bank's share of new mortgage lending eased back from its peak at the half-year stage but it still boasts a 28% share.
The group advanced new mortgages worth £10.8bn during the first nine months of the year, 61% above the same stage in 2007.
The firm lent £2.5bn in the third quarter but with "negligible" lending at a loan to value of more than 90% - where properties are likely to be hit by falling house prices.
"The quality of our lending continues to be based on affordability and robust risk management and this will not change," Abbey said.
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