The sale of 125,000 Northern Rock mortgages by HM Treasury has been questioned by the chairman of the Treasury select committee.
Andrew Tyrie has written to Harriett Baldwin, the economic secretary to the Treasury, about last month’s sale of a collection of mortgages to US private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.
He said: “Concerns have been raised about the suitability of Cerberus as the buyer of the mortgage book. This merits further scrutiny.
“The impact on future tax revenues - as a result of a company’s international tax arrangements - should be taken in to account.
“Furthermore, the interests of customers need to be considered even after an asset is off the government’s books.
“Those customers, understandably, will want assurance that they will not be adversely affected as a direct result of this sale.”
He warned the Treasury about taking short-term profitability into account over the long-term value of the assets.
The mortgages, which were originally owned by Northern Rock, were taken on by UK Asset Resolution when the Newcastle-based company was nationalised in 2008.
UKAR said it would be selling the portfolio for £280m more than its book value.
When Ms Baldwin was asked in Parliament what the book value of the portfolio was, she simply said that Cerberus has agreed to sell £3.3bn of the loans to TSB.
