LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - The body charged with handlingBritain's stakes in lenders has hired a senior banker from UBS to manage its holdings in the 'bad bank' books ofNorthern Rock and Bradford & Bingley.
UK Financial Investments (UKFI) said Christopher Fox, whowas UBS's head of UK banks coverage and head of the financialinstitutions group for the Middle East and Asia based in London,had joined on Monday.
The loan books of Northern Rock and B&B, both nationalisedin 2008, are together called UK Asset Resolution (UKAR). UKAR isa 'zombie bank' that does not take new business, and still hasto repay the government 43.4 billion pounds ($64.59 billion).
It paid back 4 billion pounds last year as customers repaidloans or the term of their mortgage ended, and has said itexpects to repay all of the funds over the next decade.
Fox left UBS in March, a person familiar with the mattersaid.
Keith Morgan previously looked after the government's stakesin Northern Rock and B&B, but he left UKFI in 2012. UKFI did notimmediately replace him, but has now done so as the governmenthas said it is keen to start selling its Lloyds Banking Group, which is expected to occupy senior executives there.
Lloyds (LLOY)
