Spanish plan to sell-off TSB

SCANDAL-HIT bank TSB is set to be sold off by its Spanish parent.

The lender needs to be made more profitable before it goes up for sale – according to Josep Oliu, chairman of TSB’s owner Sabadell – a process he said could take three years.

Oliu added that after this, he hopes to find a buyer.

Sabadell bought TSB for £1.7bn in 2015 as its way into the UK banking market, with hopes of acquiring other lenders too.

But that dream soured last year after TSB suffered an IT meltdown that saw 1.9m people locked out of their accounts and sparked a wave of fraud.

The debacle forced chief executive Paul Pester to quit and left TSB’s plans to challenge the major High Street lenders in tatters.

It has been widely rumoured that Sabadell intends to cut its losses and sell the business.

And last night Oliu said: ‘TSB is a retail bank with a costly structure, it has to be turned around. For that it needs three years, an adequate return, then it can be a candidate to enter into a consolidation process. A merger or a sale are options.’

TSB’s new chief executive, Debbie Crosbie, will slash costs and axe branches, Oliu said.