Nationwide's £2.9billion takeover of Virgin Money UK has been cleared by Britain's competition watchdog.

The Competition and Markets Authority on Friday said the deal, which will create Britain's second biggest savings and loans group, does not 'give rise to a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition'.

The CMA launched the probe in May amid concerns about the deal's impact on the supply of owner-occupied mortgages, buy-to-let mortgages and or credit cards in the UK.

But the regulator said its investigation had concluded that the merged business would not hold an outsized position in any of those markets, with sufficient competition to keep it in check.

Britain's biggest building society's acquisition of the stock-market-listed lender has not been without controversy, with Nationwide declining to give its 16million owner-members a vote on the deal.

Nationwide says the buyout will give it access to business banking, cheaper funding and the lender's profits.

It plans to run Virgin Money as a separate brand for at least four years, paying tycoon and biggest shareholder Sir Richard Branson at least £76million for the privilege, as it gradually integrates the two lenders.

Nationwide has warned it will have to plough funds into bringing Virgin Money's customer service and IT systems up to scratch.