Northern Rock


It seems that nervous savers have removed at least £3,000,000,000 in cash from their Northern Rock accounts in the last week, wiping out over 70% of the share price, exposing them to the possibility that they'll either:


  1. Get bought by a competitor
  2. get bought by the Bank of England, effectively privatising the bank and making the Government the biggest property company in the UK...

of course, they could also simply weather the storm, but they might have made life easier for themselves if they'd maybe offered some sort of "loyalty Bonus" for investors who trusted Northern Rock and left their money with the bank; it could be a percentage of savings up to a maximum of say £500 for someone saving £50,000 or more. The minimum would be something like £10 then up on a sliding scale. The condition being that no money could be taken from the account.

Going further, they could maybe even consider a "golden hello" to new investors, with an attractive savings interest rate, or enhanced account terms.

All underwritten by the Bank of England - or effectively, us.

Hmmmm... maybe not such a hot idea

Queue at Northern Rocks' Croydon Branch

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