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Sunday 21st of March 2010

Latest Northern Rock News

The latest news on the Northern Rock Building Society:

March 10, 2010

Northern Rock sees losses narrow

by Kay Murchie
”Northern
State-owned bank Northern Rock has today announced losses for the 2009 year fell to £258 million, compared with £1.36 billion in the previous year. Despite the loss, the Newcastle-based bank said it is awarding staff £14.9m in bonuses but Gary Hoffman, the chief executive of Northern Rock, is waiving his payout. Northern Rock said Mr Hoffman’s long-term incentive plan would only pay out after ...



February 24, 2010

Northern Rock savers to lose 100% guarantee

by Kay Murchie
”Northern
The Treasury has today announced savers with Northern Rock will lose the Government’s 100% guarantee on 24 May. The move means the crisis-torn bank is back in line with its rivals but savers will still benefit from the £50,000 guarantee to all savers under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The 100% guarantee was put in place after Northern Rock collapsed ...



January 18, 2010

Newcastle Utd signs 4-year deal with Northern Rock

by Kay Murchie
”Newcastle
Northern Rock, which was recently split into two divisions, is to continue its sponsorship of Newcastle United Football Club after signing a new four-year deal valued at between £1.5 million and £10 million. Rock has been the football club's shirt sponsor since 2004 and the new deal will run from season 2010/11 to 2014. However, the maximum value of the ...



December 15, 2009

Richard Pym to chair Northern Rock ‘bad bank’

by Kay Murchie
”Richard
Richard Pym, the chairman who was appointed to stabilise Bradford & Bingley last year, is to oversee Northern Rock’s ‘bad bank’ operations. It was announced earlier this month that nationalised Northern Rock would be split into two, after receiving the necessary approval from the European Union (EU). New Years Day is the date that has been agreed for the Rock to ...



December 8, 2009

Date set for Northern Rock split

by Kay Murchie
”Date
It was recently confirmed that crisis-torn Northern Rock would be split into two, after receiving the necessary approval from the European Union (EU). 1 January 2010 is the date that has been agreed for the Rock to be split into two divisions - a “good bank” of profitable assets and “bad bank” of toxic debts. The “good bank” will be known as Northern Rock plc, ...



November 4, 2009

Northern Rock sees improvement prior to split

by Kay Murchie
”Northern
Crisis-torn Northern Rock, which is due to be split after receiving approval from the European Union, provided an upbeat statement after it said that in the three months to the end of September, losses from bad loans being written off had lowered, its costs remained under control and net income had risen. Northern Rock collapsed at the onset of the credit ...



October 28, 2009

EU set to approve Northern Rock split

by Kay Murchie
”EU
Crisis-torn Northern Rock is to be split into two, after receiving the necessary approval from the European Union (EU). Northern Rock collapsed at the onset of the credit crunch in autumn 2007 after savers staged a nationwide run on the bank. It was then nationalised in February 2008. The plan is for bank to be split into two divisions - a “good ...



October 26, 2009

B&B mulling over split into good bank / bad bank

by Kay Murchie
”B&B
Nationalised Bradford & Bingley (B&B) is reportedly considering splitting itself into two in order to raise money to repay its £18.4 billion loan from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The troubled buy-to-let lender was nationalised over a year ago to prevent it from collapse which led to Spanish bank, Santander, acquiring B&B’s £20 billion savings base and ...



Virgin Money continues its quest to become a bank

by Kay Murchie
”Virgin
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Money has applied to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for a banking licence, which would enable the consumer credit arm of the Virgin Group to offer deposit accounts. The move comes at a time when consumers have lost confidence in existing High Street banks following the financial crisis and Sir Richard wants to take advantage ...



September 28, 2009

BSA argues Northern Rock should return to mutual status

by Kay Murchie
”BSA
The Building Societies Association (BSA) is urging the Government to return Northern Rock to the mutual sector, arguing that mutuals take less risk than banks owned by shareholders. Mutual building societies are owned by their members, not by shareholders, and are run for the benefit of those members. The BSA said a new report points to a strong ...



August 17, 2009

BSA against Northern Rock split

by Kay Murchie
”BSA
The Government announced earlier this year it was planning to split nationalised Northern Rock into two divisions - a deposit bank and a mortgage platform. However, the proposals have met with criticism from the Building Societies Association (BSA) saying that the split would put building societies at a big disadvantage. Northern Rock collapsed at the onset of the credit crunch in autumn 2007 ...



August 4, 2009

Northern Rock “Together” mortgages push up arrears

by Gill Montia
”Northern
Blighted by its "Together" 125% loan-to-value mortgages, Northern Rock has revealed that residential mortgage accounts over three months in arrears rose to 3.92% in the six months to the end of June. The proportion compares with a national average of 2.39% and is up from 3.67% at 31st March 2009 and 2.92% at 31st December 2008. Excluding "Together" loans, residential mortgage ...



Northern Rock posts first half loss

by Kay Murchie
”Northern
Nationalised lender Northern Rock has today reported a pre-tax loss of £724.2 million for the first half of the year, compared with a loss of £585.4 million in the same period a year ago. Northern Rock collapsed at the onset of the credit crunch in autumn 2007 after savers staged a nationwide run on the bank. The problems meant it had to seek ...



July 6, 2009

Northern Rock offers mortgages to existing customers

by Gill Montia
”Northern
Northern Rock is once again offering mortgages to existing customers. The move follows a gap of well over a year during which period borrowers coming off fixed deals either reverted to the Rock's standard variable rate or were forced to go elsewhere. The nationalised lender is strictly interested in retaining its best customers and only those with at least 25% equity in ...



June 28, 2009

Restructure sees Northern Rock split into two divisions

by Kay Murchie
”Restructure
Nationalised Northern Rock is to be split into two divisions - a deposit bank and a mortgage platform. The crisis-torn bank collapsed at the onset of the credit crunch in autumn 2007 after savers staged a nationwide run on the bank. It was then nationalised in February 2008. However, following European Union (EU) approval, it has now been confirmed that the ...



April 27, 2009

Government plans to sell Northern Rock

by Kay Murchie
”Government
It has been reported by The Sunday Times that the Government is planning to sell crisis-torn Northern Rock by the end of the year. Under a plan to retrieve some the hundreds of billions of pounds injected into the banking sector, the Government is preparing to divide the nationalised lender into two: one good and one bad bank, according to the newspaper. It ...



April 23, 2009

Northern Rock’s £14bn mortgage surge

by Peter Charalambous
”Northern
The nationalised mortgage lender, Northern Rock, has announced plans today to increase lending over the next two years to £14 billion to Britain's homebuyers. Having sought out a £25 billion bailout from the Bank of England in February last year, it is now in a position to help the stumbling property industry with up to £5 billion of that lending occurring within 2009. Despite ...



March 3, 2009

Northern Rock arrears and repossessions soar

by Gill Montia
Northern Rock arrears and repossessions soar
Northern Rock has reported that its home repossessions rose by 63% last year to 3,620. Arrears also soared with 17,264 borrowers three months or more behind with their repayments at the end of 2008, up from 3,492 at the close of 2007. The rise takes the percentage of the bank's total mortgage book in arrears to 2.92%, compared with an industry average ...



February 23, 2009

Northern Rock returns to new lending at 90% LTV

by Gill Montia
Northern Rock returns to new lending at 90% LTV
Northern Rock is reversing its post-nationalisation strategy of running down its mortgage book and will begin offering new loans of up to 90% of a property's value. The move offers hope to the UK's beleaguered housing market, which despite the recent rise in new buyer enquiries reported by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and property website, Rightmove, will ...



February 13, 2009

Northern Rock shareholders lose court battle for compensation

by Kay Murchie
”Northern
Former shareholders of Northern Rock have failed in their legal challenge to the Government's plan to compensate them. Rock’s biggest former investor SRM Global brought the case against the Government, with RAB Capital and 150,000 private investors. The case entered the High Court in January and shareholders were contesting the way in which the bank’s finances were assessed and ...