Virgin Money: The birth of a mortgage lender

The "bad bank" - or Northern Rock Asset Management's mortgage book - is yet to be sold, so the losses are probably overstated, but the deal feeds £747m back to government coffers and creates a big, shiny new high street bank. Bidders including Paragon, Yorkshire and Coventry building societies fell by the wayside, but that's over now, along with any remutualisation hopes. A Virgin Money spokesman confirmed the deal and re-brand to Virgin Money will complete around the end of the year, but what does this mean for the mortgage market? The consensus is largely positive. Wilbur Ross, c...