A Sky exclusive has revealed that talks between The Co-operative Bank and Sainsbury’s Bank over the acquisition of the latter’s £650m mortgage book have failed to progress.
The report said that The Co-operative is no longer in talks for Sainsbury’s Bank mortgage book, and it is unclear whether it would proceed with another party or pull the sales process.
Sky News reported at the tail-end of last month that The Co-operative was one of the bidders interested in the book, with Starling Bank understood to have expressed interest but withdrawn from the sale process.
It said that auction was being run by Deloitte.
The acquisition would make formal Sainsbury’s Bank’s exit from the mortgage market, having stopped new lending in 2019.
In its latest results. The Co-operative Bank reported that gross mortgage lending had come to £3.2bn in 2022, which is down from £5.1bn in 2021. The firm said that it had actively managed new business volumes to preserve bank margins through 2022.
The firm also reported a profit before tax of £132.6m, which is an increase of £101.5m from 2021, and said it had a mortgage pipeline of around £1.7bn in 2022.
The Co-operative Bank declined to comment.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
