Banks left with third of Bradford & Bingley shares

Nearly 30% of mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley will end up in the hands of other banks following its £400m (€502.6m) fundraising move, it was revealed today.

The rights issue's backers - investment banks Citi and UBS - as well as a clutch of high street banks - will hold almost 427 million new shares in B&B between them, representing 29.5% of its 1.45 billion shares in issue.