Member Article

Northern Rock ‘bad bank’ repays £2bn to taxpayer

Northern Rock Asset Management has paid back £2bn of government loan, taking the total to £3.1bn repaid since separation from Northern Rock plc.

UK Asset Resolution Limited, the body responsible for running down the closed mortgage books of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley have announced their preliminary results for the year ended December 31 2011.

Bradford & Bingley began government loan repayments in 2011 with an initial £150m.

Underlying profit before tax increased 145% to £1,089m from £444m in 2010, based on improved arrears performance.

Richard Banks, UKAR Chief Executive, commented: “We continue to make good progress against our objectives and made further significant repayments of the government loans.

“This improving performance is against a backdrop of challenging economic conditions and increasing hardship for some customers.

“Arrears and possessions are falling at B&B and we have stabilised the position with NRAM where arrears are now reducing due to our proactive approach.”

Richard Pym, UKAR Chairman, commented: “UKAR has a unique role as a business that has been tasked with the rundown of two major mortgage firms.

“Our people have done a good job of integrating the operations of B&B and NRAM and have made sure we have the right strategies in place to run down our Balance Sheet of more than £95bn and deliver maximum value for the taxpayer.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .