UK recoups final £5.3bn in outstanding Bradford & Bingley loan

The government has authorised the sale of 5.3bn in Bradford & Bingley mortgages to recoup the final amount loaned by taxpayers.
The Newcastle upon Tyne, New Bridge Street West branch of Bradford & Bingley, 2008. (Mankind 2k/Creative Commons)

Government is set to recoup the final £5.3bn in an outstanding loan to Bradford & Bingley that was part of the 2008 Financial Services Compensation Scheme. A group of investors led by Barclay’s Bank is set to purchase two mortgage portfolios to complete the sale.

In 2010, UK Asset Resolution owned a total of £116bn in closed loan books. Today, following previous sales, those owned by UKAR have been reduced to £14bn.

In total, Bradford & Bingley received £23.7bn in SAR payments between 2008 and 2009 according to the records in our database. These payments effectively nationalised the mortgage assets of Bradford & Bingley while the rest of its assets were purchased by Santander Group.

Of the forthcoming sale, Chancellor Philip Hammond said:

We are determined to recover the money the taxpayer invested during the financial crisis as soon as we can. The sale of these Bradford & Bingley loans is yet another significant step in putting the crisis behind us.

Source: Bradford & Bingley mortgages sale to return £5.3 billion to UK taxpayers – GOV.UK