Abbey National is looking to open a flagship branch in Birmingham as part of a drive to boost its presence in the Midlands.
The move comes as the business considers opening up to 100 new outlets in areas such where it is under-represented.
The company, which is owned by Santander, has 714 branches including three in Birmingham
A spokeswoman said: "We do not have a flagship branch in the city and we would be looking at achieving that.
"In the medium term, we h ave aspirations to increase our number of branches. We have not decided the number or the timescale."
Santander chief executive Alfredo Saenz has indicated that the Abbey business across the UK could gain up to 100 new branches.
An Abbey spokeswoman said the business held a strong presence in the South-east and North-west but was less well represented in other locations inlcuding the Midlands.
The expansion plan emerged two weeks after Santander reported further signs of a trading recovery at the UK business it returned to the black last year. The Spanish firm acquired Abbey National for #9.5 billion in November 2004 and last year turned losses of #21 million in 2004 into profits of #596 million.
Figures for the first three m onths of this year revealed an "excellent" start to 2006 with trading profits benefiting from good growth in revenues and lower operating expenses following hundreds of job cuts.
Market experts have speculated that the Spanish bank was considering a takeover bid for another British banking business.
Alliance & Leicester, Bradford & Bingley and the Clydesdale and Yorkshire have been tipped as potential targets.
The Santander spokes-woman would not comment directly but she did not take issue with a national report which quoted Mr Saenz pouring cold water on the idea.
In that report he said: "There are no UK banks on our radar screen. These names offer more of the same that we have already. These rumours do not have logic behind them. I don't know why they started in the UK."
Santander is in exclusive talks to sell Abbey's life business to life insurer Resolution, in a deal likely to be worth more than #3 billion. The Abbey spokeswoman said the talks were still continuing.
