Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to take over Virgin One in a deal worth £100m, following Virgin Group’s decision to withdraw from the current account mortgage market.
RBS already owns a 50% stake in Virgin One, but is to buy out the entire business from current owners Virgin and AMP. The current account mortgage lender, which launched in 1998, opened business up to advisers earlier this year and claims to have a 3% share of the UK net mortgage market. But AMP and Virgin now want to offload the business so that they can use a single brand, Virgin Money, for their remaining joint financial services business.
James Duffell, head of PR at Virgin One, said the move would help ensure a successful future. ‘RBS is well known to us and because it is not a stranger, we know it believes in the same successful future as we do.’
