There goes the neighbourhood. That TPG Capital is sniffing round Paragon is either a sign that David Bonderman’s private equity group is without shame, or that the mortgage lender is desperate. Perhaps both.

It’s barely two weeks since Mr Bonderman became the City’s least-favourite moneybags by dumping Bradford & Bingley back into the mire following a credit rating downgrade. But there is nothing that whets the appetite of a trained predator more than the sight of a circling competitor (in this case, Blackstone and perhaps others). TPG must have figured that, in a dire housing market with securitisation out of the question, the banking sector’s beggars cannot be choosers.