Masalah kewangan yang ditunjang krisis subprima mula menunjukkan kesan diEngland. Kerajaan mengumumkan untuk mengambil alih Bradford and Bingley, pemain hartanah & bank ke-9 terbesar di UK. Sejumlah $44bn (£24bn) simpanan kerajaan & 200 cawangan akan dijual & $92bn (£50bn) pinjaman dalam rundingan untuk dimilik negarakan. Berita lanjut dari Aljazeera
UK 'to Nationalise' Mortgage Lender
Bradford and Bingley announced the cutting of 370 jobs last week [AFP]
The UK government is reported to be preparing to nationalise Bradford and Bingley, the country's ninth-biggest mortgage provider.
Britain's Treasury was conducting talks on Sunday aimed at rescuing the bank and said Alistar Darling, the finance minister, said he would make a statement before stock markets begin trading a day later.
The bank's $44bn (£24bn) savings business and 200 branches could be sold off and $92bn (£50bn) of loans nationalised under plans being discussed, the BBC reported.
The Treasury had preferred a buyout from the private sector but no buyers were forthcoming due to the ongoing global economic crisis and slowing UK housing market, it reported.
Yvette Cooper, the treasury minister, said: "We are very clear that depositors and ordinary savers must be properly protected and they will be as part of the arrangements we will set out."
Negotiations ongoing
Cooper said that negotiations, between the Treasury, the Financial Services Authority industry watchdog and the Bank of England, were continuing and that Whitehall was aiming to ensure the financial stability of the banking system.
Tony McGarahan, a Bradford and Bingley spokesman, said: "We can assure customers that their deposits are safe with Bradford and Bingley."
Bradford and Bingley's shares have collapsed amid a property market downturn and falling markets engendered by mortgages given to insecure debtors in the US.
Fears were also raised that Bradford and Bingley could become another Northern Rock, the first UK bank to be nationalised after the funding crisis in February linked to the US home loans turmoil.
Losses
The BBC reported that Bradford and Bingley's mortgage book could be merged with Northern Rock.
The Treasury said that Barclays, the British bank, Spain's Santander and the worldwide HSBC were potential buyers of the bank's branches.
Bradford and Bingley specialises in mortgages for investors buying homes in order to rent them out.
The government negotiated the takeover of HBOS, the UK's largest home lender, by rival Lloyds TSB earlier this month.
Bradford & Bingley had announced on Thursday that 370 employees would lose their jobs in a bid to save $28m (£15m).
In August, the bank revealed net losses of $32m (£17m) for the first half of 2008, attributing them to "turbulence in the banking and housing sectors."
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