In the wake of the subprime crisis, Northern Rock, the respected English mortgage bank also widely known as a sports sponsor, with its headquarters in Regent Centre near Newcastle upon Tyne and, at the time, 76 branches in Germany and abroad, went into a tailspin. This triggered a run on the bank’s deposits; in mid-September 2007, customers withdrew almost GBP 2 billion (!) from the bank’s accounts in just three days. The bank’s share price fell by thirty percent. – Lloyds TSB Bank in London, which was hardly affected by the subprime crisis and was in good health, then wanted to take over Northern Rock. However, the Bank of England prohibited the takeover. – To everyone’s surprise, the central bank and the British government now guaranteed the deposits at Northern Rock. Days earlier, the Bank of England had refused to act as lender of last resort for Northern Rock. After failed attempts to sell it, Northern Rock was finally taken over 100 percent by the British government in February 2008. – The zigzag course of the British central bank triggered a worldwide debate about whether reckless risk planning and reckless speculation by an institution – as happened with Northern Rock – should be covered by public support. – At the same time, it became apparent that even a regional bank like Northern Rock could be dangerous to the financial system if a run on the institution began. – See buyouts, central banking, bail-out, banking crisis, bank failure, Bradford nationalization, crash, deposit insurance, Fortis bailout, maturity transformation risk, moneylender of last resort, Hypo Real Estate bailout, IndyMacBankruptcy, air securities, market discipline, ninja loans, moral hazard, mortgage equity withdrawal, securities, toxic, refinancing risk, rebound effect, run, shock recovery, asset levy, trust.
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University Professor Dr. Gerhard Merk, Dipl.rer.pol., Dipl.rer.oec.
Professor Dr. Eckehard Krah, Dipl.rer.pol.
E-mail address: info@ekrah.com
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Ernst_Merk
https://www.jung-stilling-gesellschaft.de/merk/
https://www.gerhardmerk.de/