The Abbey owner is offering golden handcuffs worth up to 125 per cent of salary for A&L’s top four bosses if they remain in post until December 2009.

A&L employees are being offered 100 free shares.

Acting chairman Roy Brown urged shareholders to accept the Santander bid, warning them of “significant external risks” if the deal were rejected.

The golden handcuff offer means A&L chief executive David Bennett, who has been in the top job for a little over a year, could scoop £750,000.

A&L’s share price has fal­len to a quarter of its value compared with May last year because of the credit crunch.

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