The Wall Street Journal
March 10, 2010, 7:36 A.M. ET

Northern Rock's Government Loan Surges
By Madeleine Nissen

LONDON--Northern Rock, the mortgage lender nationalized by the U.K.
government after its near-collapse, said its net loss narrowed in
2009, while its loan from the government rose sharply.

Northern Rock's full-year net loss narrowed to £309.1 million ($463.5
million) from £1.38 billion in 2008. In line with many other U.K. bank
executives, Northern Rock Chief Executive Officer Gary Hoffman waived
his bonus entitlement for 2009, which he said would have been
£700,000.

Northern Rock said the government loan increased to £22.8 billion,
after the legal restructuring of the bank into two entities on Jan. 1.
At Dec. 31, net borrowings from the government were £10.7 billion,
plus £3.6 billion in cash held at the Bank of England.

Northern Rock collapsed in 2007 after suffering a run on deposits and
was nationalized in February 2008. The mortgage lender has since been
split into a "good" bank—which holds the bank's deposit and some
existing mortgages—and a "bad" bank holding mortgages that will be
gradually wound down.

The idea is that the good bank will eventually be sold. Mr. Hoffman
said Wednesday there is no timeline in place and no deadline set by
the government. The removal of the deposit guarantee announced in
February 2010 is just one of many steps in that process.

--Margot Patrick contributed to this article.

Carol wrote:

The idea is that the good bank will eventually be sold. Mr. Hoffman
said Wednesday there is no timeline in place and no deadline set by
the government. The removal of the deposit guarantee announced in
February 2010 is just one of many steps in that process.

How to get rich:

A) Borrow money
B) Gamble it on the horses/stockmarkets/CDS's/Whatever

If you're rich then stop, else

C) Get a lot of government money to cover your gigantic losses
D) Split yourself into a good person and a bad person, passing all the
debts to the bad person and all the government wonga to the good person.
E) Pay large slices of aforementioned wonga as a bonue to the good person for
getting you out of debt.
F) Retire to the Bahamas as the good person and write nasty letters to
the Grauniad about the bad person.

On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:57:51 -0800 (PST), Carol
wrote:

The Wall Street Journal
March 10, 2010, 7:36 A.M. ET

Northern Rock's Government Loan Surges
By Madeleine Nissen

LONDON--Northern Rock, the mortgage lender nationalized by the U.K.
government after its near-collapse, said its net loss narrowed in
2009, while its loan from the government rose sharply.

Northern Rock's full-year net loss narrowed to £309.1 million ($463.5
million) from £1.38 billion in 2008. In line with many other U.K. bank
executives, Northern Rock Chief Executive Officer Gary Hoffman waived
his bonus entitlement for 2009, which he said would have been
£700,000.

Northern Rock said the government loan increased to £22.8 billion,
after the legal restructuring of the bank into two entities on Jan. 1.
At Dec. 31, net borrowings from the government were £10.7 billion,
plus £3.6 billion in cash held at the Bank of England.

Northern Rock collapsed in 2007 after suffering a run on deposits and
was nationalized in February 2008. The mortgage lender has since been
split into a "good" bank—which holds the bank's deposit and some
existing mortgages—and a "bad" bank holding mortgages that will be
gradually wound down.

The idea is that the good bank will eventually be sold. Mr. Hoffman
said Wednesday there is no timeline in place and no deadline set by
the government. The removal of the deposit guarantee announced in
February 2010 is just one of many steps in that process.

So the rich investors will get all the good bits and the taxpayer will
be left subsidising the dregs. What idiot thought up this brilliant
idea :-(
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

I love the way that the UK is already going back down the route of offering high bonuses for bankers taking on high risks.

The justification....if we don't pay them high bonusses, they will leave the UK and earn profits for other banks.

I say, who cares!? We'll be the ones laughing in 5 years time when the next credit crunch comes along!

On Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:47:11 +0000, stephen735
wrote:

I love the way that the UK is already going back down the route of
offering high bonuses for bankers taking on high risks.

The justification....if we don't pay them high bonusses, they will
leave the UK and earn profits for other banks.

If they leave then good riddance I say. Hopefully they will be
replaced by people with a better attidude to risk.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]