VIRGIN Money has sold a savings and mortgages division in a £13m deal.

The Newcastle-based lender says it has finalised the sale of regional bank Church House Trust Limited (CHT) to Ocean Industries SA.

CHT, based in Yeovil, Somerset, was a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Money, providing savings and mortgages.

The agreement was subject to Prudential Regulation Authority approval.

The move comes after Virgin, part-owned by Sir Richard Branson, made its official debut on the London Stock Exchange, which it expects to raise £150m.

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Virgin Money chief executive, said: “The acquisition of CHT back in 2010 was an important step forwards for Virgin Money, but with our acquisition of Northern Rock in 2012 and subsequent initial public offering, now is the right time for us to sell the business.

“I would like to thank all the team at CHT for their support over the past five years and wish them and Ocean every success for the future.”

Virgin hopes to break the banking sector’s big four of Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns Natwest, by using the £150m from its listing to grow the business in a number of areas.

Bosses previously said they wanted to lift its share of the UK mortgage lending market to more than three per cent, while raising its credit card lending from £1bn to £3bn by 2018.

Virgin has also announced the acquisition of £363m of Virgin credit card assets from Bank of America company MBNA.

The accounts are new Virgin Money accounts written since Virgin Money bought a £1bn portfolio of Virgin credit card assets from MBNA on 18 January 2013.

Ms Gadhia added: "This strengthens further the platform upon which we will build our future credit card business.

"Our credit card business complements our existing mortgages and savings business and represents another significant step in growing our bank."