The chairman of Bradford & Bingley (B&B) has admitted that the government has bought into a “vulnerable” market.

Sharon Flaherty, FTAdviser – Tuesday , November 18, 2008

Speaking at a Treasury Select Committee meeting this morning (18 November) to discuss the recently nationalised B&B, Richard Pym, the new chief executive of the bank, said it has a 20 per cent share of all buy-to-let (BTL) loans in the UK market totaling £24bn.

“There are some elements of the book that are not vulnerable at all, there are certainly some of the higher loan-to-value loans which are vulnerable,” he said.

“Essentially the buy-to-let market, in the way that we would have known it a year ago, is closed. Most of the lenders who are active have now withdrawn all their products.”

At the session, it was also revealed that last year B&B’s director’s received incentives totalling £3.77m, which former B&B chairman Rod Kent said was “justified”.

“I think it was justified but in respect of 2008, other than Pym himself, none of the executive director’s will be getting any bonus of any sort at all.” Full Article