LONDON (Reuters) - UK Asset Resolution (UKAR), the "bad bank" set up to manage the assets of two failed British lenders, expects to have wound down its remaining portfolio by 2021, the agency said on Tuesday.
UKAR, owned by Britain's Treasury, said it has 11.9 billion pounds worth of customer loans still on its balance sheet, which has reduced by 81.5 billion pounds since 2010. The assets consist mainly of loans from mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley and failed bank Northern Rock.
Once UKAR has completed its sales, it will mark the winding down of another crisis-era intervention made by the government to stabilize Britain's banking sector, with its stake in Lloyds Banking Group (L:LLOY) already sold and the re-privatization of the Royal Bank of Scotland (L:RBS) underway again.
UKAR said it expected to sell 900 million pounds worth of equity release mortgages by the end of this year, with everything else wrapped up by 2021, subject to ongoing supportive market conditions.
It pointed out that it also needs to consider "inherent complexities" in the Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley portfolios, including non-loan business assets and liabilities and pension obligations.