Northern Rock
 |
|
| Plc | |
| Industry | Bank |
| Fate | Sold to Virgin Money |
| Founded | 1850 (Northern Counties) 1865 (Rock) 1965 (merger, as Northern Rock) 2010 (split from 'bad bank') |
| Defunct | 12 October 2012 |
| Headquarters | Northern Rock House, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK |
|
Number of locations
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75 branches (2011) |
|
Area served
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UK (formerly operated in Denmark, Ireland, Guernsey) |
| Services | Banking, Mortgages |
| Revenue | £5 billion (2006) |
| £627 million (2006) | |
| Profit | £443 million (2006) |
| Owner | Virgin Money |
|
Number of employees
|
~6000 (2007) |
| Website | www |
Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. It was based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. Northern Rock was best known for becoming the first British bank in 150 years to suffer a bank run after having had to approach the Bank of England for a loan facility, to replace money market funding, during the credit crisis in 2007. Having failed to find a commercial buyer, it was taken into public ownership in 2008, and was then bought by Virgin Money in 2012. During 2012 the Northern Rock brand was phased out and replaced by Virgin.
Northern Rock Building Society became Northern Rock bank in 1997 when the society floated on the (with the ticker symbol NRK). On 1 January 2010 it was split into a 'good' and a 'bad' bank, the "Northern Rock" brand was transferred to the good bank and the other division was renamed Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM), with its own unique branding.
Northern Rock Building Society was formed in 1965 as a result of the merger of two North East Building Societies; the Northern Counties Permanent Building Society (established in 1850) and the Rock Building Society (established in 1865). During the 30 years that followed, Northern Rock expanded by acquiring 53 smaller building societies, most notably the North of England Building Society in 1994.
Along with many other UK building societies in the 1990s, Northern Rock chose to demutualise as a building society and float on the stock exchange as a bank. Throughout this period a concern against demutualisation was that the assets of a mutual society were built up by its members throughout its history, not just by current members, and that demutualisation was a betrayal of the community that the societies were created to serve. Northern Rock chose to address these concerns by founding the Northern Rock Foundation, which funded community-based projects. At its Stock Exchange flotation Northern Rock distributed shares to members with savings accounts and mortgage loans; the flotation share price was £4.51908. It joined the stock exchange as a minor bank and was expected to be taken over by one of its larger rivals, but it remained independent.
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Wikipedia