B&B boss resigns due to ill health

Bradford & Bingley chief executive Steven Crawshaw has resigned due to ill health.

The buy-to-let lender, which is in the process of raising £300 million from shareholders, confirmed that Mr Crawshaw has stepped down with immediate effect due to a serious heart condition.

It also said it would issue a trading statement on Monday, but declined to comment on a report that said it would warn that profits for this year were likely to be lower than analysts' forecasts.

Mr Crawshaw, who is 47, joined B&B from Lloyds TSB in 1999 and worked on the company's flotation before being appointed to the main board in 2002. He became chief executive in 2004.

The West Yorkshire-based company said non-executive chairman Rod Kent would take on Mr Crawshaw's duties while a full-time replacement is sought.

Mr Kent joined the board of B&B in September 2002, becoming chairman in November 2002. He was managing director of investment bank Close Brothers for 28 years until 2002, and was appointed Close chairman in November 2006.

B&B's value hit £3.2 billion at its peak in 2006, but the slide in its share price left the company valued at just £545 million on Friday.

It is currently offering investors the chance to buy discounted stock at 82p a share, but ahead of the fundraising its share price has tumbled to just 6.25p above this level.

As well as the impact of the property market slowdown, confidence in the bank has been shaken by the rights issue, which it announced just weeks after it said it had no need to go to the stock market for a bail-out.

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