In 2008, partly due to the credit crunch, the bank was nationalised and in effect split into two parts; the mortgage book and investment portfolios remained with the now publicly owned Bradford & Bingley plc, and the deposits and branch network (and a licence to use the B&B name for those aspects) was sold to Abbey National, itself owned by the Spanish Santander Group.

The branch network was rebranded Santander on 11 January 2010 and the Bradford & Bingley name mainly relates to the nationalised section of the bank.

Although Bingley BS had the larger number of branches (29 v 23) it was smaller by assets compared to the Bradford EBS (£43m v £56m).

[3] The period between the formation of the Bradford & Bingley Building Society and the conversion to a public company in 2000 saw sustained and substantial growth.

[4] In December 2000, following a vote by members, the society demutualised and floated on the London Stock Exchange (using the symbol BB).

B&B had chosen to specialise in buy-to-let and self-certification mortgages – its strategy left it exposed to the sub-prime crisis.

The issue had not been helped when TPG Capital, who had previously agreed to take a 23% stake in the company, withdrew their support.

[6] Due to the effects of the credit crunch, in September 2008 the company's share price dropped to a record low.

On 29 September 2008 it was also announced that the Spanish Santander Group under its Abbey National brand would acquire all of Bradford & Bingley's £20 billion (2.7 million customers) savings business and branch network.

[12] Bradford & Bingley's 197 retail branches, 141 agencies and related employees were transferred to Santander's subsidiary Abbey.

[12]In November 2008, the government set up a new company, UK Financial Investments (UKFI), to manage the shareholdings in Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley.

[14] When the shares closed on 26 September they were worth 20 pence each, valuing the bank at £256 million, substantially less than Santander paid for it.

[18] The decision was appealed to the Upper Tribunal's Tax and Chancery Chamber where on 19 July 2012, Judge Sir Stephen Oliver recorded that the court was satisfied that the valuer had carried out his duties wholly in accordance with the compensation scheme.

[26] Under UKAR's ownership, a number of asset sales were undertaken, with the proceeds use to repay the government loan.

[34] Planning permission for a new supermarket was granted in September 2011,[35] but in April 2012, Sainsbury's admitted that building work would not begin for another 12 months.

[41] During the nationalisation process, it was revealed that the bank had registered more than 100 separate trademarks featuring the bowler hat, its long-running logo.