Bradford & Bingley back in the black
Bradford & Bingley, the mortgage lender which was nationalised after running into problems during the credit crisis, said on Friday it had swung to a first-half profit after making a loss a year earlier.
The bank reported a pretax profit of £896m for the six months ending June 30, having made a loss of £160m a year earlier.
Lower costs and mortgage arrears helped boost Bradford & Bingley’s earnings, with operating costs falling to £59m from £65m.
In 2008, Spanish bank Santander took control of Bradford & Bingley’s retail branches and savings accounts, while the rest of the company’s business – including its mortgage book – was taken into public ownership by the government.
Next week Northern Rock Plc, which was the first British bank to be nationalised during the credit crisis, posts interim results along with the UK’s largest banks Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds.