B&B racks up £27m in losses
B&B made losses of £26.7m in the first half after suffering mortgage arrears and fraud
Bradford &
Bingley (B&B) chief executive Richard Pym has a job laid out for him
following the buy-to-let specialist’s deeper plunge into the red at £26.7m from
mortgage losses and fraud compared to a profit of £180.4m in the same period
last year.
An £18m provision was needed to cover the mortgage fraud, lifting the
lender’s credit impairment charges for the six months, to £74.6m, from £5.3m in
the same period last year, the Guardian reports.
B&B revealed a £15m charge to cover losses from fraud in June when
finance director Chris Wilford said no new scams had been discovered since then,
however another £3m against accrued arrears was needed to cover more losses.
Chairman Rod Kent said most of the scams uncovered in the last six months
could be traced back to mortgage professionals and had been discovered as a
result of falling house prices. He said the alleged culprits were being pursued
by the police and the regulator.
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