Branson eyes up bank assets
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Virgin Group president Sir Richard Branson has revealed that he will consider buying up the good assets of the state aided banks.
Chancellor Alistair Darling today revealed that the Government would be looking to split up and sell parts of Northern Rock, Lloyds Banking Group and RBS in an attempt to create more banks.
According to Reuters, Branson says he is interested in buying up some of these future assets to help build his newest venture, Virgin Bank. At the end of last month, the group revealed that it has applied for banking permissions from the FSA.
Branson told a news conference on the launch of an online poker site in Italy: “We do plan to create a Virgin bank and we will be interested in looking at the three banks that are going to be privatised to see what assets we would like to buy.”
This morning, Darling told the BBC having just “half a dozen big providers was not acceptable”, and splitting up larger players will boost choice and competition for consumers.
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Readers' comments (1)
SIMON MANSELL | 2 Nov 2009 2:30 pm
In 1971, Branson was arrested and charged for selling records in Virgin stores that had been declared export stock. He settled out-of-court with UK Customs and Excise with an agreement to repay the unpaid tax and fines.
If Branson applied to become an IFA would he be deemed "Fit & Proper" by FSA? Perhaps he is an ideal candidate to run a bank on the FSA watch?
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