All is now set for Abbey to be announced this week as the biggest mortgage firm in the UK.

Reports emerging from the industry suggest that the Spanish-owned high street lender is only waiting for results tomorrow to be crowned the king of mortgage lending in the country.

The results will reveal that the lender won more than 25 per cent of all mortgages sold in the first six months of 2008.

This will enable it to effectively topple rival Halifax, owned by the Halifax Bank of Scotland.

Recently, Abbey said it was enjoying a huge share of the market in 2008 due to its rather minimal exposure to the complex mortgage-backed investment causing problems for its rivals.

Amidst the credit crunch, which forced other lenders to cut down lending, Abbey increased its of mortgage lending threefold, from 4.9 per cent in the first quarter of last year to 15.9 per cent in the same period this year.

Reports said that results are expected to show profits increasing to £4.87 billion in the first half of the year, from £3.58 billion last year.