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 2009 was laid before parliament and in this the Treasury announced that this restructuring would take place from 1 January 2010. There are two companies; the first being a new company, to be re-registered with the name "Northern Rock plc", which contains the bank's retail and wholesale deposit business, and the second being the current Northern Rock plc renamed to "Northern Rock (Asset Management) plc", which retains the balance of the bank's mortgage book, the Government loan, other borrowings, derivatives and certain wholesale deposits (held on behalf of Granite). The bank, "Northern Rock plc", would be offering new savings and