It must surely be only a matter of time before Rod Kent, Bradford & Bingley’s executive chairman, packs up his desk and vacates the bank’s premises.

TPG’s decision to pull out of part-funding a £400 million rights issue is especially galling given that only days before, Mr Kent had the chance to secure the full amount from investors, with Clive Cowdery’s Resolution ready to lead the chief executive-less bank.

However, he was too stubborn to open B&B’s books to Resolution, and now the shares, that rallied to 80p on Mr Cowdery’s approach, are languishing just above the 55p rights issue price.

Was the £1.8 million break fee B&B would have had to pay TPG if it had gone with Resolution a step too far for Mr Kent? Or was it his conviction that he is better placed to lead B&B, even though he and his board denied a rights issue in April, admitted it the next month, gave a profits warning and restructured its capital raising plan.

Mr Kent is likely to stick around until July 14 when investors vote on this very latest capital raising plan. Only his well-documented stubbornness, or investor apathy, will allow him to stay any longer.

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