La banque Northern Rock : un exemple anglais de la crise des prêts hypothécaires à haut risque (subprimes)

The northern rock-one of the UK's largest mortgage lenders has become the highest profile UK-based victim of the fallout from the global credit crunch, which stemmed from the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US. The Bank of England has agreed to give emergency financial support to the northern rock and it avoided from going bust.

northern rock is one of the top five mortgage lenders in the UK in terms of gross lending. As well as mortgages, the bank also deals with savings accounts, current accounts, loans and insurance. The company also promotes secured loans to its existing mortgage customers.

In September 2007 northern rock asked the Bank of England, as lender of last resort in the United Kingdom, for a liquidity support. The bank's assets were always sufficient to cover its liabilities, but it had a liquidity problem because institutional lenders became nervous about lending to mortgage banks following the US sub-prime crisis.