The government on Monday confirmed it was nationalising Bradford & Bingley after hammering out a deal with the Spanish bank Santander, which will buy the embattled UK mortgage lender's £21bn deposit book and branch network for about £600m.
The bank was taken into public ownership on Monday after B&B saw retail savers withdraw "tens of millions of pounds" in recent days as uncertainty grew.
In a statement, the Treasury said it had taken the decision in order "to maintain financial stability and protect depositors, while minimising the exposure to taxpayers. [The government] has worked over the weekend to bring about the part public, part private solution which best meets those objectives. "