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 to the credit crisis the company had focused on developing its own staff and most appointments including the Chief Executive, were made internally. At the time of the 2007 financial crisis Matt Ridley was the Chairman and Adam Applegarth was the Chief Executive. Ridley resigned in October 2007 and Applegarth resigned in November 2007, although the latter stayed on in a caretaker role until December 2007. The Chief Financial Officer was Andy Kuipers, who joined the company in 1987. After Applegarth's departure, Kuipers became the interim Chief Executive prior to the nationalisation before retiring on 31 August 2008. In February