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 difficulties banks faced over the summer of 2007 in raising funds in the money market. The bank's assets were always sufficient to cover its liabilities in the long run, but it had a liquidity problem because institutional lenders became nervous about lending to mortgage banks following the US sub-prime crisis. Bank of England figures suggest that Northern Rock borrowed £3 billion from the Bank of England in the first few days of this crisis. With shares in Northern Rock plummeting by nearly a third, the British Government moved to reassure investors with the bank, with account holders urged not to