moneysupermarket.com: Nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley

Commenting on the confirmation of the nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley, Kevin Mountford, head of banking at moneysupermarket.com, said: "After weekend of speculation, confirmation that Bradford & Bingley is to be broken up will come as a surprise to nobody. What is a surprise is that Santander seems to have walked away with such a bargain. In the new world where retail deposits are king Santander has landed all £21bn deposited by B&B's savers at a price that looks extremely cheap. Whilst many of those savers will no doubt feel relieved this morning, we will need to wait and see whether the remains of B&B keeps its separate FSCS registration, or whether B&B savers who also have money in either A&L and Abbey will need to move it again to stay below they £35,000 compensation limit.

"The big question for UK consumers this morning, is whether B&B is the last domino to topple, or whether more banks and building societies will go the way of HBOS, Northern Rock, A&L, B&B, Cheshire and Derbyshire and fall victim to the credit crunch."

Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com said: "For people with mortgages with Bradford & Bingley this is a worrying time. With the mortgage book now, effectively, being run down by the Government there is no incentive for them to keep rates competitive. The nightmare scenario for borrowers is to find themselves stuck with an uncompetitive mortgage but be unable to remortgage to a better deal elsewhere because they don't meet the lending criteria."