Annual Report & Accounts
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Annual Report & Accounts 2007 bbg.co.uk Bradford & Bingley is a UK based financial services business, focused on providing specialist mortgages and savings products. When our Company was first set up its purpose was clear: to build a better future for the people of northern mill towns. In 1851, we helped our first customer, John Abbey, build a better future for himself and his family by lending him money to buy his own home. We’re proud of our heritage. It continues to shape our business and its purpose. We’re still building a better future and we’re building it for people right across the UK. Bradford & Bingley Annual report & accounts 2007 01 Operating Contents Overview highlights 02 What we do Underlying profit before tax* £m 07 351.6 06 335.9 05 310.1 04 280.4 03 264.0 Profit before tax Directors’ report £m 04 Chairman and Chief Executive’s 07 126.0 06 246.7 introduction 05 263.5 06 Business review 04 100.2 ** 06 Our strategy 03 264.0 09 Key performance indicators 12 Our 2007 performance Underlying earnings per share* pence 18 Risk management and control 07 40.2 22 Our Board 06 38.1 05 35.4 24 Other matters 04 32.4 03 28.8 Governance Earnings per share 25 Corporate governance report pence 28 Corporate social responsibility 07 14.9 06 28.2 33 Directors’ remuneration report 05 30.1 40 Statement of Directors’ 04 4.6 responsibilities 03 32.4 Full year dividend pence 07 21.0 06 20.0 05 18.3 04 17.1 03 16.5 The accounts * A reconciliation of underlying profit before tax and the statutory measure profit 42 Independent auditor’s report before tax is provided in the summary income table on page 16. Figures relating to 2003 are on a UK GAAP basis and 2004-7 are on an IFRS basis. 43 Consolidated income statement ** Profit before tax including loss on sale of discontinued operations. 44 Balance sheets 45 Statement of recognised income and expense 46 Cash flow statements 47 Notes to the financial statements 91 Shareholder information 92 Our share price performance 02 Bradford & Bingley Annual report & accounts 2007 Overview Overview What we do Bradford & Bingley is a UK based financial services business, focused on providing specialist residential mortgages and a wide range of savings products. We offer residential mortgages, all secured on property, and focus on a range of niche areas providing mortgages for individuals who need a more specialist product than those available in the mainstream market. Bradford & Bingley also places great importance on its savings business and provides a competitive range of savings products through 197 branches and network of 140 third-party branch-type agents, by phone, post and online. Our major mortgage product is buy-to-let, providing loans to individuals who wish to invest in UK property, enabling them to become landlords and providing a good supply of high quality accommodation for those wishing to rent, rather than buy, their home. Bradford & Bingley time line Bradford Equitable celebrates its centenary. Despite a local recession in the textile trade, the Society was well placed to ride out the slump with Bradford’s £56m assets of £22m assets and 23 branches merged with Bingley’s Bradford Equitable £46m assets Building Society 1951 and 29 branches established Bingley Building Society 1964 established The newly 1851 formed Society proclaimed its 1922 merger in an advert in The Assets in Bingley Building Society Building Societies reached £1.1m. Bingley booming Gazette post-war, population now 20,000 with 350 houses built between 1920-25 Bradford & Bingley Annual report & accounts 2007 03 197 140 Overview retail branches branch-type agencies We also offer self-cert loans for individuals who have more complex income streams, including the self-employed, those with more than one job and those with significant bonus income. Our other products include lifetime mortgages which enable homeowners over 60 with significant equity in their property to release some of that equity to provide income or a lump sum. The vast majority of our specialist products are sold through mortgage intermediaries under the Mortgage Express brand. Additionally, a range of Bradford & Bingley branded mortgage products are available through our branches and through our telephony and online distribution channels. In addition, we offer a wide choice of financial services from a range of providers, including general insurance, wealth, protection and personal loan products. We don’t offer current accounts, and offer personal loans and credit cards through third parties only. 1968 1983 1987 Bradford & Bingley’s New Acorn children’s account first computer launched to fill a gap in our installed ready for product range. In first 6 weeks, the gigantic task 14,000 accounts were opened of transferring the Acquired Mortgage Express, ledger ready for bringing specialist lending decimalisation market expertise to the Group in 1971 LISTED ON LONDON STOCK 1969 EXCHANGE Bradford & Bingley 2000 campaigned 1986 After 149 years for building Bradford & Bingley as a mutual societies to be issued its first £100m building society, included in the Eurobond floating rate Bradford & Bingley new SAYE scheme, note as its first venture converted to plc generating 8,500 into the wholesale status and listed new accounts in funding market on the London the first 3 months Stock Exchange 04 Bradford & Bingley Annual report & accounts 2007 Directors’ report Chairman and Chief Executive’s introduction The condition of our lending book is very important to us and we continue to have great belief in the quality and prospects for buy-to- let lending. Tenant demand remains very strong and is driven by robust fundamentals. We took the decision early in 2007 to reduce our appetite for self-cert lending to preserve Directors’ report Directors’ business quality. We have not relaxed our credit criteria across any of our products and have focused on higher quality loans, using risk-based pricing to ensure we cover any incremental risk with a higher price. The credit performance of all our portfolios has been in line with expectations. Arrears levels have increased during the year, reflecting rising Rod Kent Steven Crawshaw interest rates in the UK. Chairman Group Chief Executive Liquidity and funding We have been pleased with the way we Introduction underlying profit before tax by 5% to £351.6m dealt with the extreme liquidity problems 2007 proved to be an eventful and difficult (2006: £335.9m) and underlying earnings per which emerged in the wholesale markets year for the banking sector. share increased by 6% to 40.2 pence (2006: 38.1 in the second half of 2007. pence). Statutory profit before tax was £126.0m Despite the turmoil in the financial markets in (2006: £246.7m) and earnings per share 14.9 In general terms, we were well placed for such the second half of the year, Bradford & Bingley’s pence (2006: 28.2 pence). The difference difficulties. We had been careful to retain our underlying business progressed satisfactorily between underlying and statutory profits arises conservative approach to our funding and, in with underlying profit before tax of £351.6m, due to the exclusion of certain strategic, external particular, had continued to invest in our branch gaining by some 5%. and fair value items from underlying profits. network and build up the amount of our retail These are set out in the Income Statement table. deposits. We had also pursued the policy of The disappointment of the year has been the prefunding our net new lending and of holding For more information on § write-downs and impairments, caused by the financial performance see pages 12-15 sufficient liquidity for at least four months manifesting of the liquidity crunch, that have without recourse to wholesale money markets. been made against a very small proportion We made good progress against our objective of our Treasury assets. Largely because of of growing residential lending, adding a record In response to the unfolding liquidity crunch, this, our statutory profit before tax was £8.3bn to our balances, an increase of 27%, to we took a number of steps to reduce our reduced to £126.0m. take our total residential balances at the year funding needs. We increased our mortgage end to £39.4bn. pricing to contain volumes and protect The Group’s conservatism and diversity of margins; raised our savings pricing to attract funding, combined with our policy to prefund The savings business made an excellent additional customer deposits; reduced the our new business pipeline and our decision to contribution during the year, with an level of mortgage portfolio acquisitions; and dispose of non-core mortgage portfolios, additional £1.6bn being raised through our increased our focus on lower risk lending. meant that we weathered the much publicised traditional branch network. Retail Savings are For many years we have worked hard at liquidity problems in the financial markets well. a very valuable part of the business, attracting diversifying our funding base and building new customers to the Group and providing strong relationships. This proved very Underlying trading a stable source of funding. Total retail savings beneficial when we raised £2.5bn in Despite the diversion caused by market events, deposits were £21.0bn (2006: £19.7bn) and private funding transactions in September and as a direct result of the fortitude of our at the end of the year, total customer deposits and October when the public wholesale colleagues throughout the Group, we achieved of £24.2bn funded 60% of customer loans markets were