The UK government on Sunday night finalised a deal with Santander of Spain for Bradford & Bingley’s 200-strong branch network and deposit book, though it looks set to nationalise B&B’s loan book.

It is set to nationalise at least part of B&B because no buyer was prepared to take on the whole bank with its poor-quality mortgage loan book. Santander is likely to take over responsibility for the deposit book and branch network. Buyers were only ever interested in the “good parts” of B&B, consisting of £22bn of retail deposits and its branches and 140 agency branches.