£196m loss for Bradford & Bingley

Nationalised lender Bradford & Bingley posted annual losses of £196m (€218m) today as write-offs on bad debts and fraud almost doubled.

Although the slide into the red was less than 2008’s £278m (€309.7m) reverse and a better result than expected in its business plan, the firm took an £884.1m (€985m) loan hit – up from £467.7m (€521m) the previous year.

Of this, £388.4m (€433m) came through provisions for fraud and professional negligence, which the former buy-to-let specialist said mostly related to property valuations during the housing boom.

B&B is running down its mortgage loan book after being rescued by the taxpayer in September 2008, when its savings business was sold to Spain’s Santander.