Richard Pym, Bradford & Bingley’s chief executive, abandoned the lender’s signature bowler hat and donned a tin one instead – slashing jobs, closing offices and writing down B&B’s toxic mortgage assets in a clean-up operation that has raised expectations that it is preparing for a possible sale.

B&B also said it would cut lending, eliminating all of its branch-based mortgage advisers in a dramatic reaction to the downturn in the housing market.