Bradford & Bingley may be in safe hands at last.
But its nationalisation represents more than just a disaster for its shareholders the potential impact on the already fragile property market is more devastating news for investors large and small.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown reiterated his governments commitment to stand behind the bank, while encouraging the U.S. Congress to pass a $700 billion bailout plan to prop up its own institutions and most importantly confidence.
So where did it all go wrong?
The Bradford & Bingley Building Society was established in 1964 by a merger between the Bradford Equitable Building Society and the Bingley Permanent Building Society, both of which were established in 1851.
The company bought Mortgage Express from Lloyds TSB for 64m in May 1997 and in December 2000 demutualised and floated on the London Stock Exchange.
Savers received a minimum of 250 shares, with the largest investor collecting shares worth up to 5,000 each. Those that chose to hang on to their windfall are likely to be among the losers this week.
The Government announced on Monday (September 29) that the bank had been part nationalised and that the Spanish bank Grupo Santander had purchased the companys 20billion savings business.
The bailout followed widespread global financial melt down due to the sub-prime crisis in America. The company's share price dropped to a record low in September from a high of 536p in 2006. They are virtually worthless today.
The financial institutions that backed B&B's 400m rescue rights issue in the summer of 2008 Barclays, Citigroup, RBS, HBOS, Lloyds TSB and Standard Life have suffered too.
They had collectively bought more than 35% of the bank's stock after investors shunned the offer.
The UK Shareholders' Association has opposed the nationalisation and raised concern about the rights issue on Monday one of the most remarkable days in finance history.
As Wall Street recorded its largest ever one-day drop, several UK lenders pulled their buy-to-let mortgage offers, or re-priced them upwards.
Birmingham Midshires announced it was raising the cost of its buy-to-let mortgages within hours of the B&B nationalisation announcement. The Mortgage Works, which is owned by the Nationwide building society, pulled its specialist landlord deals.
These maneuvers suggest the fractured industry is already anticipating the Governments need to offload the B&B mortgage book.
The buy-to-let market accounts for 1.1m mortgages worth 132.5bn 10% of the UK total, many of which were sold through loans with B&B.
B&B's Mortgage Express is leading lender, followed by HBOS's Birmingham Midshires, Paragon, Bank of Ireland's Bristol & West, and Lloyd's TSB's Cheltenham & Gloucester.
There was some good news for B&B buy-to-let mortgage holders yesterday when it was revealed they may be in a better position than investors with other lenders.
Investigations are ongoing into whether B&B had a clause in many of its contracts allowing customers coming off cheaper fixed-term deals to take a loan at a standard variable rate (SVR) of the base rate plus 1.75% .This would represent one of the best rates available as other lenders hike to rate of borrowing, in stark contrast to what happened when Northern Rock was nationalised. Watch this space.
What B&B demonstrates beyond any doubt is the Governments commitment to stave off collapse of the entire financial system.
The US authorities, led by treasury secretary Henry Paulson, are desperate to secure the $700bn needed to prevent further bank losses - and there is little doubt the bail out will come.