Union leaders are to hold talks with the chief executive of Abbey National over the future of Bradford jobs later this week after it accepted a takeover bid from a major Spanish bank.

The board of Abbey yesterday agreed the terms of the £8.3 billion deal with Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH), which will create the world's 10th largest banking company by market value.

But the move has sparked fresh fears among Abbey National staff, including more than 2,300 in Bradford, about further job cuts if the takeover goes through.

Linda Rolph, general secretary of the Abbey National Group Union, said there was a strong sense of disappointment among workers.

Staff have endured a turbulent few years as part of chief executive Luqman Arnold's three-year programme to turn around the business, which suffered losses of £947 million in 2002. It involved cutting jobs, including more than 70 in Bradford, ditching its non-core businesses and changing the name of its high street operation to Abbey.

"Our main concern is the security of our members' jobs," said Mrs Rolph. "It is a shame that this new management team has only been in place for 18 months of a three-year programme and now they are selling up. Our concerns will be what the new company will do with Abbey."

She said there was hope in the fact that BSCH had no existing operation in the UK. But she said the union would be holding talks with Mr Arnold, who has pledged to stay until next June, over the proposed plans for the business.

"I think the staff are disappointed that they have more change to go through," she said. "They have been through a lot and many have seen their friends and colleagues made redundant. I think it is a shame that the management seem to have accepted it all so easily.

"It hasn't been a case of them fighting to secure the future of the business."

Dave Fleming, national finance officer for the Amicus union, believed jobs would be at risk. He said: "We are actively seeking a meeting with senior management to pursue assurance on job security and retention of life and pensions."

As reported in yesterday's Telegraph & Argus, Abbey's directors have claimed that the takeover would speed up the turnaround strategy they had started. The BSCH board pledged to make better use of the Abbey's 741-strong branch network.

A spokesman for Abbey said it was "far too early" to speculate about the impact on jobs but said further news was likely to break later in the week as shareholders considered the terms of the offer.

The deal was not received well by City investors, and was blamed for causing the FTSE 100 Index to slump to its lowest level since October last year. Traders said concerns included the fact that the bid was partly based on Santander's share price, which fell 2.6 per cent yesterday. Shares in Abbey weakened 23p to 557p.