News out this week was surrounding a takeover offer for Virgin Money, from the owner of Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank – CYBG.
If this were to go ahead, it is considered that the new provider would be the largest bank challenging the UK’s biggest lenders, with six million personal and business customers and a balance sheet of between £60bn and £70bn.
At this size, experts believe that it would become a real alternative for personal and SME customers to the largest banks that continue to dominate the market. More competition should be good news for borrowers and savers alike.
However, CYBG would keep the Virgin Money brand if agreed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group - they are the biggest shareholder in the Virgin Money business, with a shareholding of 34.8%.
We just hope that with the Virgin Brand, the group would also continue to offer competitive rates to their savers – especially in the cash ISA market where Virgin Money often features strongly.
There is of course no way of knowing whether this will go ahead, indeed only a preliminary and conditional proposal has been made so far, valuing Virgin Money at approximately £1.6bn.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on any developments and, of course, keep you updated.
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