The world is a different place if you're a bank.

Despite its denials, Bradford & Bingley, the buy-to-let lending specialist hammered by the mortgage markets, went cap in hand to investors this morning seeking £300 million.

At the same time, Johnston Press, the local newspaper publisher hammered by the advertising downturn, passed around the begging bowl to its shareholders for £212 million.

Both are shoring up their balance sheets. Bradford is tinkering with its Tier 1 capital ratio - a key measure of its financial efficiency.

Johnston is worried about breaching its convenants so is buying back debt.

Both firms had their share prices clobbered.

At the last look, B&B was off more than 9 per cent, while Johnston was down almost 13 per cent.

This is where the two companies begin to diverge.

B&B is the latest in a growing line of financial services firms to pursue the rights issue route. First there was RBS, seeking £12 billion, then HBOS, wanting £4 billion.

The back story of how we got here - through exposure to toxic and subsequently valueless securities after a race to lend to iffy American homeowners - is well documented.

So in reality, it's not that much of a surprise that B&B is in this position. As long as the queue of banks seeking equity bailouts does not grow too long, there is every reason to think that the investors who have remained loyal so far will continue to support the bank.

The discount it's offering is an appropriate 48 per cent.

Not quite the case with Johnston, which took the market by surprise with its move.

The publisher, equipped with a long-standing reputation for good management, has fallen quickly from grace - overspending on acquisitions and running up its debt bill, as well as being the most exposed to the debilitating effects of the internet.

Johnston of course has no national newspaper to soak up what nationwide ad spending there is.

This may help explain the chunky discount of 61 per cent against last night's close that Johnston is offering investors.

As a non-bank, it remains to be seen whether Johnston's investors will shell out, or ship out.

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