Re: Northern Rock - how badly could foreclosures hit it?
It's now the main item on the website - see below
Northern Rock asks for Bank help
One of the UK's largest mortgage lenders, the Northern Rock, is applying to the Bank of England for emergency financial support, the BBC has learned.
However this does not mean that the bank is in danger of going bust, the BBC Business Editor Robert Peston says.
There was no reason for people with Northern Rock savings accounts to panic, he added.
The bank has struggled to raise money to finance its lending ever since money markets seized up over the summer.
The decision for the Bank of England to become the "lender of last resort" comes after consultation with the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority.
However the disclosure is expected to rock financial markets, Mr Peston said.
"Although the firm remains profitable, the fact that it has had to go cap in hand to the Bank is the most tangible sign that the crisis in financial markets is spilling over into businesses that touch most of our lives," he said.
The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, said in a letter to the Treasury Select Committee on Wednesday that the Bank would be prepared to provide emergency loans to a bank that ran into difficulties, so long as those difficulties were the result of temporary market conditions.
"The fact that the Bank of England has been prepared to act as the lender of last resort is an indication that it thinks the problems at Northern Rock are temporary ones," Mr Peston added.
The loan would be provided at a penal interest rate, he said.
Following the widespread losses made by investors in loans to US homebuyers with poor credit history, the so-called sub-prime loans, investors have become wary of buying all mortgage debt, including Northern Rock¿s. "All banks are having greater difficulties than normal getting funding from the market," Mr Peston said. "But as a specialist mortgage lender, Northern Rock, no-one really wants to lend to them."