Andy Hornby, chief executive of HBOS, was adamant yesterday that the bank's trading performance remained "resilient" in spite of reporting rising mortgage arrears and falling house prices.

The UK's biggest mortgage lender, which is in the middle of a £4bn rights issue, delivered its eagerly awaited trading statement to a market that for weeks has been jittery about UK mortgage lenders amid a steady stream of gloomy data from the housing market.