Northern Rock

Robert Halfon Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

This transaction is subject to regulatory approval by the Financial Services Authority, which will carefully examine a range of issues, including the capital position of Virgin Money. I have made the following point before, but it is worth repeating. Virgin Money’s core tier 1 capital ratio is about 15%, whereas most of the UK high street banks are operating at about 10%, so is strongly capitalised. This deal is subject to regulatory approval, and that should give all of us confidence in the future of Northern Rock.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

As well as reassuring anxious employees that there will be no compulsory redundancies, will my hon. Friend confirm that there will be few branch closures under the new Virgin Money scheme?

[Mr Hoban]

I can indeed. One of the commitments given by Virgin Money was to maintain Northern Rock’s existing branch structure, particularly the branches based in the north-east, and as it grows and expands the services I suspect that it will want to open more branches, so that more people can access the deals that it is offering.