Nationalisation of Northern Rock in the event that the takeover bids fail. On 12 January 2008, the Treasury recruited Ron Sandler, the former Lloyd's of London Chief Executive, to lead Northern Rock, in the event that the bank was nationalised. If the Bank was to be temporarily nationalised, the government would manage the Bank at "arm's length" on a commercial basis, where services for savers and borrowers would not be affected and the company would continue to operate as normal. However nationalisation would also address the future of the Northern Rock Foundation. Alistair Darling rejected the possibility of the Bank being put into administration.
Nationalisation of Northern Rock remained employed within the company. Currie later took early retirement with a bonus package reportedly worth £2.5 million, and in 2012, aged 56, was found dead at his home after reportedly suffering from depression over the bank's demise. The Chief Executive after the departure of Applegarth was Andy Kuipers, who joined the company in 1987, and later left on 31 August 2008. By January 2008, Northern Rock's loan from the Bank of England had grown to £26bn. On 11 January, Northern Rock announced that it had sold its portfolio of lifetime home equity release mortgages to JP Morgan for £2.2bn