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 the bank to move to NBNK; Sandler reverted to his Executive Chairman position. In October 2008, the post-nationalisation management of Northern Rock decided not to bring legal action for negligence against the directors in charge during the crisis, including former chief executive Adam Applegarth, citing insufficient grounds to do so. There will be no action either against the auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers. In January 2009 it was announced that Ann Godbehere would be leaving her post as Chief Financial Officer at the end of February. Some former directors of the bank have been fined and banned by the FSA including former deputy