Bradford & Bingley mortgage assets sold

THE state-backed body responsible for the former Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock mortgage operations has sold £2.7bn of residential mortgage loans to Commercial First Group as part of a consortium led by J.P. Morgan.

This includes about £1bn owned by Bradford & Bingley.

UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) was set up to try to get maximum value for the taxpayer from the assets of the two failed banks. Both Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock were nationalised in 2008 with the branches sold on but their mortgage books were retained and managed by state-owned UKAR which has integrated the two operations and aims to optimise the balance sheets to facilitate the repayment of the Government loans.

 The proceeds from the sale include around a £22m premium over the book value at that point in time in respect of loans owned by Bradford & Bingley.