The takeover of Manchester Building Society by Newcastle Building Society has been approved by the sector watchdog.
Confirmation of the go ahead for the move came from the Prudential Regulation Authority which has looked at the deal, first announced to the market in August last year. Since then the two societies have been in talks, with a legally-binding contract put in place in March.
Newcastle Building Society is the larger of the two mutuals with around 345,000 members, 31 branches and assets of about £5.3bn. Meanwhile Manchester has about 11,000 members and total assets of about £178.2m.
