Existing shareholders of Bradford & Bingley - Insight Investment, Legal & General, M&G and Standard Life - will purchase £400m worth of new shares following the withdrawal of Texas Pacific Groups (TPG) offer to buy 23% of the British Bank.

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The Bradford & Bingley, Co-operative bank and First Direct have today raised the cost of their fixed rate mortgages as Banks find it increasingly difficult to raise finance to fund mortgage deals. The Co-op saw the biggest rise as they increased their rates between 0.7% and 0.9%. The move by these three banks now takes the average cost of a fixed rate mortgage to over 7%. (more…)

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will annouce that over 90% of its shareholders have signed up for its £12bn rights issue. With growing negativity in the banking sector following recent bad news, including a poor set of results from the Bradford & Bingley, there had been concerns that investors would shy away from the rights issue. (more…)

Following what happened to Northern Rock, Alistair Darling has been quick to stress that depositors money is safe at the Bradford and Bingley. The announcement came as the mortgage bank with a significant exposure to the buy-to-let sector announced an £8m pre-tax loss for the first four months of the year. The result compares to a £108m profit for the same period last year. (more…)

Bradford and Bingley chief executive Stephen Crawshaw, is to step down from the roll for health reasons - a serious cardiovascular condition. He will be replaced by the Chairman Rod Kent until a longer term successor is found. (more…)