The nationalization of U.K.'s Bradford & Bingley followed a FSA verdict that the mortgage lender “no longer met its threshold conditions for operating as a deposit taker”. U.K. Chancellor Darling said today that the “first way of redeeming the costs that we are incurring comes from redeeming the assets of Bradford and Bingley. If that isn’t enough, then there will be a claim under the compensation scheme.” The government will take on B&B’s GBP 50B liabilities, while Banco Santander is acquiring the GBP 21B savings and branch network for GBP 0.61B. However, Santander will immediately be able to recoup 0.20B that supports the branch network. Santander already owns British Abbey and is taking over Alliance & Leicester and the B&B deposit would add to its already existing assets of GBP 68B in retail savings. Meanwhile, the pound-dollar (GBPUSD) continued to come under heavy selling pressure to break below 1.80, and may continue to hold near the intraday low as growth prospects turn increasingly dim.