Shares Of British Banks Tumble Down On Account Of Bradford & Bingley's Nationalization

London, England (AHN) - The nationalization of Bradford & Bingley led to a tumble down of shares of major British banks.

Stocks of the Royal Bank of Scotland plummeted over 20 percent, Lloyds TSB dipped by 15 percent, while the Halifax Bank of Scotland lost 12.5 percent.

The agreement made over the weekend characterized by intense negotiations resulted in British taxpayers shouldering B & B's $74 billion (41 billion pound) mortgage, while Spanish bank Santander was convinced to take in $7.24 billion (4 billion pound) in exchange for Bradford & Bingley's savers and branch network.

The development led to a shedding by the FTSE 100 Index of 213.3 points by 3:15 pm., causing the London Stock Exchange index to go down 4.2 percent to 4,875.2.

Lord Turner, head of U.K.'s Financial Services Authority, told Guardian Unlimited B & B's nationalization is not a signal the banking crisis is over. "We are not necessarily right at the end of this process... At the moment we believe our other high street banks are well capitalized and in a reasonable condition but we will have to keep this situation under review."

Meanwhile, because of the mortgage lending crisis which had spilled over to U.K., the Bank of England said value of mortgages lent to British homebuyers fell 95 percent in August to $258.7 million (143 million pound), which is a fraction of the $5.42 billion (2.998 billion) lent in July.