LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s Co-operative Bank said on Friday it has agreed to buy Sainsbury’s Bank’s mortgage portfolio, which comprises about 3,500 customers and balances of about 479 million pounds ($608 million).
Sainsbury’s said it would receive about 464 million pounds in cash for the portfolio.
In 2019, the supermarket group’s bank ceased mortgage sales and said it was reviewing options for the existing mortgage book.
Once the deal is completed, Sainsbury’s Bank customers are expected to transfer to the Co-operative Bank over a period of one year.
Sainsbury’s said the proceeds from the deal would be used to reduce the bank’s overall cost of funding.
($1 = 0.7881 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey’ Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)
