Virgin Money ‘in building society talks’

SPECULATION is mounting that Sir Richard Branson’s financial services business, Virgin Money, is in talks to buy one of Britain’s biggest building societies.

By The Newsroom

Published 7th Mar 2011, 09:27 BST

According to The Sunday Times, Virgin Money is in advanced talks with Norwich & Peterborough Building Society, which has almost 500,000 members and 45 branches. The newspaper said that Virgin was among a clutch of bidders circling Norwich & Peterborough, which has been hit by losses stemming from the collapse of Keydata, the investment firm.

Co-operative Financial Services is also believed to be eyeing a possible bid, along with a string of rival building societies, including the Yorkshire Building Society.

Yesterday a Yorkshire Building Society spokesman said it never commented on speculation.

The spokesman added: “We are happy to talk to any society that wants to talk about its options.”

Nobody was available for comment at the Norwich & Peterborough Press office yesterday. Virgin Money declined to comment.