Mortgage servicing division of Bradford & Bingley sold off

THE government has sold off Bradford & Bingley’s mortgage servicing business as part of a £16bn sale of the nationalised bank’s assets .

It has been sold to Computershare an Australian stock transfer company that provides corporate trust, stock transfer and employee share plan services for an undisclosed sum.

The deal is subject to conditions and is expected to complete in Summer 2016.

Computershare will, amongst other things, service the loans owned by the UKAR group for an initial term of seven years.

Bradford & Bingley was formed in 1964 as a result of the merger of the Bradford Equitable Building Society and the Bingley Permanent Building Society, both of which were established in 1851.

In December 2000 the Society demutualised and floated on the London Stock Exchange but B&B, which specialised in buy-to-let mortgages, was nationalised during the recession in 2008.

Its deposits and branches were sold to rival lender Abbey, part of Santander while its loans remained with the government.