Nationalisation of Northern Rock In October 2008 the chairman Ron Sandler noted that there had been informal talks concerning the idea of the merger with the government, but there had been no subsequent discussion. Sandler did however add "It would not surprise me at some point if a closer look was taken at the method of managing loan books within government-owned banks". In March 2009 Alistair Darling said that he was keeping his options open during the "fast-moving" crisis in the banking industry, and thus not ruling out the possibility of a mortgage book merger between Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley. On 24
Nationalisation of Northern Rock by actively encouraging mortgage customers to leave when their mortgage deal matures. The reason for this change being government policy to increase the availability of credit. This £14 billion was split into £5 billion in 2009 and £9 billion in 2010. In March 2009 mortgages issued by the bank rose by 70%, compared to the previous month. In February 2010 "The Times" claimed that Northern Rock was interested in buying some of the branches of RBS and Lloyds. In February 2010 the government decided to remove the 100% guarantee of the deposits at Northern Rock. Savers received 3 months notice