Jesus Remon, a lawyer for the Botín family, was reported as saying in a statement: "The family has voluntarily and completely normalised its fiscal situation and is up to date on all tax obligations. It hopes that this matter can be satisfactorily and quickly clarified by the court." The investigation came to light on Thursday after Spain's high court said it was carrying out an investigation based on information it had received from French tax authorities, which in turn came from material leaked by a former HSBC employee, according to various reports. Ana Botín was named to head up Santander UK a little more than six months ago. The bank is one of Britain's five largest, following its acquisition of Abbey National in 2004 and Alliance & Leicester and parts of Bradford & Bingley in 2008, following the UK banking crisis.