1984 Bradford & Bingley advert.

Bradford & Bingley plc (LSE: BB.) is a British bank headquartered in the West Yorkshire town of Bingley. It was formed by the flotation of the former Bradford & Bingley Building Society on 4 December 2000. Previously, as a building society, the Bradford & Bingley was owned by its customers. When it floated on the London Stock Exchange, members of the society received free shares worth up to £5,000.

Bradford & Bingley Building Society was formed in 1964 as a result of the merger of the Bradford Equitable Building Society and the Bingley Permanent Building Society, both of which were established in 1851.

Today Bradford & Bingley is one of the United Kingdom’s largest mortgage lenders with an estimated 2.9% share of total mortgage balances outstanding at the end of 2006 making it the 10th largest residential mortgage lender in the UK. Bradford & Bingley’s approach to mortgage advising has been innovative in the past as they advised on and sold other providers mortgages as well as their own from 2000-2006. In late 2006, as part of their aim to become the UK’s leading Specialist Lender, Bradford & Bingley reverted to selling only their own mortgages under the Mortgage Express and Bradford & Bingley brands. In addition, Bradford & Bingley acquires mortgages from GMAC-FRC and Kensington Mortgage Group Ltd, this accounted for 35% of gross residential advances in H1 2007.

The group runs two distinct businesses: retail and lending.

Info taken from Wikipedia