UK backs Dunfermline takeover

Nationwide Building Society took over key assets of Scotland's largest building society yesterday in a rescue deal engineered by the Bank of England and backed by the Treasury.

The move was somewhat controversial - managers at Dunfermline Building Society and some Scottish politicians said the lender could have remained independent if it had simply been granted a loan, a claim Prime Minister Gordon Brown rejected.

Nationwide acquired 2.3 billion in deposits from Dunfermline's 300,000 customers, 34 branches and a 1 billion pound mortgage book.