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Giles said he will leave the company at Christmas.

He said: "With the UK mortgage market no longer enabling the economic distribution of specialist mortgages via intermediaries, Kensington will focus on existing customers and asset management in 2009 and thus this feels like the right moment for me to say goodbye to Kensington and start looking for a new challenge elsewhere.

"I have had a great time at Kensington, experiencing the buoyant market of 2006, the excitement of the sale to Investec in 2007 and the many challenges of reputational management in 2008."

Kensington announced last month it was making 60 redundancies to align its workforce with the current economic environment.

Alex Hammond, PR manager for Kensington, told Financial Adviser in November: "As part of the ongoing process of having the right cost base for Kensington in the current climate, there will be a number of people leaving the business over the next few months.

"We will retain the capability to design, distribute and underwrite mortgages, ready to re-enter the market at an appropriate moment; in the meantime we will concentrate on maximising the performance of our existing customer base and investigating other opportunities for diversification."