Unlike the botched nationalisation in February of Northern Rock, a troubled mortgage lender, or the forced monster merger-which could still come unstuck-of Lloyds tsb and hbos announced on September 18th, the neat filleting of Bradford & Bingley (b&b) ten days later seemed to show Britain's financial regulators at last on the front foot, b&b is the last of those former building societies that demutualised after a 1986 law made it possible, and became publicly listed banks. Its assets have been nationalised and its retail deposits sold to Spain's Banco Santander.
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