The boss of one of the UK’s largest buy-to-let lenders saw his pay slashed 40% after a big fall in profits.

Andy Golding, CEO at OSB, suffered a cut of £1.2 million, down from £3.1 million to £1.9 million last year, as his bonus and share rewards fell.

The bank’s profits dropped more than £200 million after investors switched from one fixed rate to another in double quick time to avoid higher variable rates.

OSB was not prepared for the sharp increase in interest rates which changed borrowers’ behaviour, The Times reports.

And its shares plummeted 29% in just one day of trading.

£26bn loan book

Golding, who is 55, has been CEO at OSB since 2012, including the period when OneSavings Bank merged with Charter Court Financial Services in 2019.

OSB’s brands include Kent Reliance and Precise Mortgages, and it has a net loan book of almost £26 billion.

Precise, which offers buy-to-let and residential mortgages, saw its borrowers spend only five months on variable rates, down from 17 months.

Mortgage rate impact

The Bank of England has held the base interest rate at 5.25% recently, but that is only after a series of sharp increases which pushed mortgage costs up.

Many buy-to-let investors have seen their monthly loan payments rise steeply, forcing many to reconsider the size of their property portfolio.

Interest rates are expected to fall this year, once the Government reaches its target inflation figure of 2%. With inflation currently at 3.4%, the Bank has so far been reluctant to reduce the base rate.