Nationalisation of Northern Rock that Northern Rock was to be nationalised claiming that the private bids did not offer "sufficient value for money to the taxpayer" and thus the bank was to be brought under a "temporary period of public ownership". The government is the sole shareholder through UK Financial Investments Limited, and the Bank is managed at "arm's length" on a commercial basis by an independent board under Ron Sandler. Customers are not affected by this change. A Government-appointed arbitration panel will decide on a fair price for the compensation to be offered to investors for their shares. Prior to the markets opening
Nationalisation of Northern Rock loan that stood at £26.9 billion at the end of 2007. On 21 October Standard & Poor's Ratings Services revised their outlook on Northern Rock to stable from positive; they also affirmed the bank's long and short-term 'A/A-1' counterparty credit ratings. The Press Association noted on 22 October that Northern Rock may give their employees bonuses in the future, if certain targets in paying back the Government loan are met. On 21 January 2009 it was revealed that the bank's employees would receive a 10% bonus, due to the bank meeting its targets for repaying the Government loan. This caused