标题:UK nationalises Bradford & Bingley By Jane Croft and Kate Burgess in London and George Parker in Birmingham Published: September 26 2008 22:44 | Last updated: September 29 2008 14:46 The government on Monday confirmed it was nationalising Bradford & Bingley after hammering out a deal with the Spanish bank Santander, which will buy the embattled UK mortgage lender’s ￡21bn deposit book and branch network for about ￡600m. The bank was taken into public ownership on Monday after B&B saw retail savers withdraw “tens of millions of pounds” in recent days as uncertainty grew. In a statement, the Treasury said it had taken the decision in order “to maintain financial stability and protect depositors, while minimising the exposure to taxpayers. [The government] has worked over the weekend to bring about the part public, part private solution which best meets those objectives. “ It said the Financial Services Authority, the regulator, had determined on Saturday that B&B “no longer met its threshold conditions for operating as a deposit taker”. That triggered the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which steps in to pay compensation to people who lose money as a result of a financial services group failing. The FSCS, which is funded by the financial services industry, is paying about ￡14bn to enable retail deposits held in B&B and covered by the scheme to be transferred to Santander. The Treasury has made a payment to Abbey Santander for retail deposit amounts not covered by the FSCS – about ￡4bn. In return, the FSCS and the Treasury have acquired rights in respects of the proceeds of the wind-down and realisation of the assets of the remaining business of Bradford & Bingley in public ownership. The FSCS is financing its ￡14bn payout through a short-term loan from the Bank of England, which it is intended will soon be replaced with a government loan. The banks behind the FSCS will pay the interest on the loan, with the first payment – estimated at ￡450m – due in September 2009. Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer, told GMTV: “My priority was to protect savers and depositors but also to ensure we got a good deal for the taxpayer. We had to stabilise the situation in order to protect the banking system as a whole, just as we have done on previous occasions.’’ On Saturday, the government invited bids for B&B’s ￡21bn retail deposit base and branches as well as inviting offers for its head office and its mortgage loan book. After 12 hours of talks, Santander on Sunday night agreed to buy the network of 197 branches and 140 agency outlets as well as the retail deposits. Santander will immediately be able to recoup ￡200m of capital that supports the branch network, and so it is actually paying closer to ￡400m. If completed, the deal would see Santander, which already owns Abbey and is taking over Alliance & Leicester, holding 1,200 branches in the UK. It will also be able to add ￡21bn of retail deposits to its existing ￡68bn of retail savings. B&B said it would be business as usual for its customers. “Whatever channel they use – branch, telephone, internet or ATM – they will all be open and operating as normal,” it said in a statement on its website. The branches will remain branded as B&B for the foreseeable future. The government is taking on B&B’s ￡42bn mortgage loan book, which consists of risky buy-to-let and self-certified mortgages with rising arrears. It will also control the bank’s Yorkshire head office which employs 1,400 people, and its mortgage processing operation. Shares in B&B, which closed on Friday at a historic low of 20p, were suspended by the FSA on Monday. Gordon Brown, the prime minister who recently arrived back from a two-day trip to the US, was briefed on the situation by Mr Darling and senior Treasury officials. The officials worked through the weekend to hammer out the deal. They tried to find a way to “manage down the risk to the taxpayer” of taking on the bank’s loan book. Mr Darling has made clear he will stand behind B&B depositors, but there are other creditors who could be put on risk, rather than leaving taxpayers to shoulder that burden. One option is to bundle B&B’s mortgage business with Northern Rock to create a nationalised super bank, although that is described as “a second order” issue and no decision is expected imminently. On Sunday, David Cameron, Conservative party leader, attacked the impending nationalisation and said it would leave the taxpayer with the “whole risk”, adding: “I’m not signing any blank cheques.” The moves on Sunday night triggered concern from Peter Montagnon, director of investment affairs at the Association of British Insurers, representing the bank’s biggest investors. He pinpointed concerns that a bank with an apparently strong capital ratio should be on the brink of failing. The government said on Monday that B&B’s senior management, led by chief executive Richard Pym, would remain in place during the initial phase of public ownership. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1e5b888c-8c06-11dd-8a4c-0000779fd18c,dwp_uuid= 11f94e6e-7e94-11dd-b1af-000077b07658.html 新闻来源: (需有正确连结) -- --

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