DALLAS — Spain's Banco Santander has apparently finalized a deal to purchase the remainder of HSBC's portfolio of auto loans for about $4 billion.

The bank filed this disclosure with Spain regulators, saying Santander Consumer USA will service the portfolio.

Basically, in March, Santander agreed to purchase HSBC's U.S. auto loan servicing operations and then entered into a servicing agreement for the remainder of the company's portfolio.

And in July, the companies agreed in principle to a deal to move the remainder of HSBC's auto loan portfolio to Santander. The deal was expected to close in the third quarter, hence the filing by the parent company.

When approached for comment, a Santander USA spokesperson indicated she could not discuss the deal at this time.

However, in HSBC's 2010 Interim Report, Michael Geoghegan, group chief executive, said Aug. 2, "In July, we also agreed in principle to sell the remainder of the vehicle finance loan portfolio and other related assets to an unaffiliated third party. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010."

Further into the report, HSBC management revealed "A U.S. $77 million loss was recognized on the sale of the U.S. vehicle finance servicing operations and associated $1 billion loan portfolio to Santander Consumer USA."

According to a wire report, the deal will cost Santander about $342 million because most of the portfolio is already financed. The nominal value of the portfolio was $4.3 billion as of June 30.

HSBC had announced in August 2008, it was exiting the indirect auto loan finance business.

At the time, Cindy Savio, a company spokesperson, told SubPrime Auto Finance News "As we stated previously, we have been under strategic review for some time. By exiting this business, it will allow HSBC Finance Corp. to focus on its core business of credit cards and consumer lending."

The online direct network ceased originations and she indicated the business would continue direct auto loans in consumer lending branches until an alternative third party could be found.

Also at the time, Geoghegan confirmed "Our U.S.-based consumer finance business will now be focused mainly on cards and consumer lending."

Banco Santander has been busy in recent years, growing by picking up U.S. auto loan portfolios. Prior to concluding the HSBC deal, Banco Santander announced in June of this year it is purchasing $3.2 billion of CitiFinancial's auto loan portfolio. And Santander Consumer USA agreed to service a portfolio of about $7.2 billion in auto loans that will be held onto by Citi. This transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter.

Going further back, in September 2006, Banco Santander acquired a 90-percent ownership stake in Drive Financial.

Also, the Spain-based financial institution purchased the unsecuritized assets of Triad Financial in 2008. And then in January 2009, it purchased Sovereign Bank by Banco Santander. The company soon thereafter started servicing Sovereign's $4 billion prime portfolio (more than 323,000 accounts).

The company also has origination deals with Chrysler and CarMax.

According to Experian Automotive, Santander is a top 20 lender in terms of market share, as well as in terms of used-vehicle loans.

The top 20 lenders by market share as of the second quarter include:

Toyota: 6.66 percent

GMAC: 6.3 percent

Chase: 5.9 percent

Wells Fargo: 5.35 percent

Ford: 3.71 percent

Honda: 3.59 percent

Bank of America: 2.2 percent

Capital One: 1.91 percent

Nissan/Infiniti: 1.85 percent

Fifth Third Bank: 1.31 percent

US Bank: 1.27 percent

BMW Bank: 1.24 percent

Hyundai: 1.21 percent

Huntington: 1.17 percent

AmeriCredit: 1.13 percent

Santander: 1.07 percent

BB&T Bank: 1.01 percent

Citizens Auto: 0.98 percent

SunTrust: 0.92 percent

USAA Federal: 0.85 percent

Moving on, top used-vehicle lenders include:

Wells Fargo: 6.58 percent

Chase: 4.28 percent

Toyota: 3.51 percent

GMAC: 2.45 percent

Capital One: 2.06 percent

Santander: 1.55 percent

Bank of America: 1.54 percent

Credit Acceptance: 1.28 percent

AmeriCredit: 1.27 percent

BMW Bank: 1.15 percent

US Bank: 1.14 percent

Fifth Third Bank: 1.13 percent

Honda: 1.12 percent

Huntington: 1.09 percent

CarMax: 1.05 percent

Ford: 1.03 percent

USAA Federal: 0.96 percent

BB&T Bank: 0.80 percent

Navy FCU: 0.79 percent

Citizens Auto: 0.78 percent