Government confirms B&B nationalisation

News Article - 29 September 2008
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Bradford & Bingley (B&B) will be nationalised, with the government taking control of its £50 billion in mortgages and loans, the Treasury has confirmed.

However, the bank's £20 billion savings business and branch network is to be purchased by Abbey, which is itself owned by Santander, a Spanish banking group.

The mortgage lender is the latest bank to see its business health fail in recent weeks, after big names like HBOS and Lehman Brothers.

"Following recent turbulence in global financial markets, Bradford & Bingley has found itself under increasing pressure as investors and lenders lost confidence in its ability to carry on as an independent institution," said the Treasury in a statement.

It stressed that nationalisation would protect the bank's customers' money, as well as protecting jobs for those working in B&B premises such as branches and call centres.

According to Abbey chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio, the move was good news for B&B customers.

"They can be certain that their hard-earned savings are with a bank they can trust as Abbey is part of the Santander group, one of the world’s most successful banks," he said.

Article keywords: Accountancy firms need to do more to ensure employee happiness, new research has found.<br/><br/>A survey by recruiter Badenoch &amp; Clark found that one-quarter of accountants feel discontented with their job, despite nearly half having more confidence in their job prospects than this time last year.<br/><br/>Nick Eaves, director in the <a href="http://www.access-accounts.com/" target="_self">accounting</a> and finance recruitment practice at the firm, commented: &quot;Employers need to consider not just their recruitment strategies to attract talent with itchy feet. They also need to be imaginative in how they work to improve happiness at work and retain valued employees.&quot;<br/><br/>The survey found that accountants were only beaten in the unhappiness stakes by workers in human resources, IT and travel and transport sectors.<br/><br/>However employees of law firms, public sector companies and banks said they had more job satisfaction, with just 20 per cent admitting unhappiness.<br/><br/>Catering and retail staff were found to be even more content, with ten per cent saying they were fed up.<br/><br/>The research follows a study by Robert Half Finance and <a href="http://www.access-accounts.com/" target="_self">Accounting</a> along with Pass magazine which found that three in five part-qualified accountants were unhappy with their level of pay.<br/><br/>Reported by the Birmingham Post, this figure rose to 74 per cent among assistant accountants.

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