Banco Santander (SAN) rejected an 11 billion pounds ($14.64 billion) bid from NatWest Group (NWG) for its UK retail bank earlier this year, the Financial Times reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The offer, which fell within a range of 10 billion to 12 billion pounds, was considered too low by the Spanish lender, the report said.

One of the sources told the newspaper that any future bid would need to be significantly higher for Santander to consider selling the unit.

"As we have said, the UK is not for sale and is a core part of Santander's diversified business model," Banco Santander told the Financial Times.

Banco Santander didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from MT Newswires.

A NatWest spokesperson declined to comment beyond saying: "We don't comment on speculation."

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)

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