Northern Rock turns full circle
After months and months of winding down the mortgage operation, with large incentives offered to customers to move to other mortgage companies, the UK government has announced plans to grow the mortgage business in the future. It is expected that mortgage funding from the Northern Rock will increase to around £14 billion in years to come although it is highly unlikely the same investment strategy will be used!
The company will almost certainly be more dependent on customer deposits and to a lesser degree on the wholesale money markets which were originally the downfall of the group. It looks as though the company will have its work cut out trying to rekindle and recapture its former reputation in the mortgage market after effectively closing down the operation since been taken under government control. This is a marked turnaround by the UK government for a company which still owes the taxpayer in excess of £20 billion.
The Northern Rock has also been at the centre of claims of heavy handedness with the percentage of customers subjected to repossessions significantly higher than the industry average. It will be interesting to see what shape the new look Northern Rock will take and what investment strategies and customer services will be on offer.
Share this..
Related stories
Retail sales steam on
May's interest rate rise did little to dampen shoppers' appetite during May, the latest figures have shown.According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) retail sales in the UK rose 0.4 per cent over the last month.The unexpected increase comes despite the Bank of England's monetary policy committee voting to raise interest rates a quarter of a percentage point to 5.5 per cent at the beginn...
Read MoreUK pensioners missing out on tax breaks
Official data from the National Audit Office has revealed that 3.2 million pensioners in the UK are failing to take up their full tax allowances, 2.4 million are paying too much tax on their savings and more and more pensioners in the UK are frightened to ask for help. In a sign of the times it seems as though the ever more complicated UK tax system is causing more problems amongst pensioners in t...
Read MoreCould the World Cup give UK consumers a boost?
As we approach the South Africa 2010 World Cup there is hope that a good showing from the England team will give UK consumers, UK businesses and the UK economy a welcome boost. Historically we have seen boom time's in economies in World Cup years and there are hopes we will see a repeat this year as the UK economy desperately needs some inspiration. Pubs and clubs around the UK are already lick...
Read MoreOFT calls for consumer protection from targeted Internet advertising
In a repeat of the situation we saw last year, consumers and businesses in the UK may well become the centre of attention with regards to new Internet advertising systems which effectively track websites accessed by individuals and target adverts towards relevant subject matters. There are growing concerns regarding privacy issues and the fact that individual browsing activity could be used in a m...
Read More£20 billion worth of unsecured loans issued without sufficient proof
According to a recent report around £20 billion worth of personal loans was given out last year without sufficient checks being carried out with regards to the income of the borrowers. According to the research, which was carried out by uswitch.com, around two thirds of unsecured loans that were granted last year were given out without proper checks being carried out into the income of the borrow...
Read More