Northern Rock: The Crisis of a UK Mortgage Lender

The global market liquidity squeeze for securities that initiated in 2007 has increased pressure among banks to sell, pushed down prices, and impacted the market for interbank loans, leading to a funding gap at Northern Rock, Britain’s fifth largest mortgage bank. This paper presents an analysis of the events that lead to the collapse of Northern Rock in the second half of 2007 and its rescue by the UK Government towards the end of the same year and the beginning of 2008. The paper presents the implications and banking reforms proposed by the UK financial authorities.