Northern Rock Troubles Continue

Northern Rock Troubles Continue

Northern Rock’s troubles continue with Chancellor Alistair Darling hitting back following the nationalisation of Northern Rock after it emerged the troubled bank’s best assets would stay private.  

He believes the taxpayers would not benefit from the nationalisation of offshore trust Granite, which holds £45bn of Northern Rock’s high-value mortgages, he also added that the bank was separate from Granite and still had a valid mortgage book of its own.

Our view

To the man on the street, this is complex and not easy to understand.  Our explanation for you is simple.  This is bordering on “asset stripping”, where taxpayers will be left with the low quality high risk debt on the Rock’s mortgage book, such as unsecured loans.  Granite, which is not public owned, will keep the better quality loan book.

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