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
Northern Rock price was £4.51908. It joined the stock exchange as a minor bank and was expected to be taken over by one of its larger rivals, but it remained independent. In 2000 Northern Rock gained promotion to the FTSE 100 Index, but was demoted back to the FTSE 250 in December 2007 and later suspended from the LSE on nationalisation. On 14 September 2007 the Bank sought and received a liquidity support facility from the Bank of England, following problems in the credit markets caused by the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The bank was more exposed than others to restrictions in