UK banks to bear the brunt

George Osborne, U.K.s chancellor of the exchequer, poses for a photograph following a Bloomberg Television interview at the International Festival For Business in Liverpool, U.K., on Monday, June 13, 2016. Osborne called for pro-European Union businesses to speak up about their concerns as polls suggest momentum is building for a vote to leave the bloc. Photographer: Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg

LONDON: Investors contemplating how London could look outside the European Union (EU) have already identified some potential victims: fast-growing British lenders that might have to face their first economic downturn as public companies.

Billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Money Holdings UK Plc and small lenders like OneSavings Bank Plc have ridden the recovering economy of recent years to help them win market share from the nation’s entrenched players. With the UK Treasury and some analysts predicting that a British vote to leave the EU on June 23 could cause the worst drop in house prices since the financial crisis, the banks could see their progress reversed as they’re saddled with bad debts.