Nationwide has confirmed it is holding discussions to acquire Sainsbury’s Bank mortgage book for £1.9bn.
The supermarket announced its exit from the mortgage market in September, just over two years after it re-entered the sector. Sainsbury’s has around 10,000 mortgage customers and in 2018, it completed £1.1bn in mortgage lending.
A spokesperson for Nationwide told Mortgage Solutions: “We can confirm we are in discussions with Sainsbury’s Bank regarding the purchase of the mortgage book.
“At the moment, this may or may not lead to a deal in the future. It’s too early to comment further on that.”
A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s Bank said exploring the sale of the book was one of its options among others but said they were not giving any further updates.
Lloyds Banking Group is also rumoured to be bidding for the Sainsbury’s mortgage book, which would make it its second supermarket bank acquisition. Lloyds bought Tesco’s £3.7bn mortgage book in September. It placed those customers under the Halifax brand and will allow them to switch to Halifax products at the end of their fixed term.
Shekina is the deputy editor at Mortgage Solutions and commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions. She has nearly eight years of experience in the B2B publishing market, having previously covered the hospitality, retail, pet, accounting and jewellery sectors.
Shekina has worked for Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions for almost five years. Here, she covers the market’s breaking news stories, engages with professionals in the sector, and oversees any commercially agreed content in partnership with mortgage-related companies.
This includes presenting webinars and hosting roundtable discussions on developing themes in the mortgage sector.
She is an NCTJ-trained journalist and was nominated for the Headline Money Awards Mortgage Journalist of the Year in 2021.
In her spare time, Shekina likes to read, travel, listen to music and socialise with friends.
She currently reports on current events in the mortgage market and liaises with financial clients to produce sponsored content.
Follow her on Twitter at @ShekinaMS
