Northern Rock: How a £100 Billion Bank Ran Out of Borrowed Money

In September 2007, savers queued outside Northern Rock's 72 branches to get their money out. Since becoming a listed bank in 1997, the Newcastle lender had grown its assets from £15.8 billion to £101.0 billion, but by the end of 2006 only 22.4% of its funding came from savers. About half came from securitisation. When the money markets froze in August 2007, its standby insurance was only about $2.3 billion. Here is the full rise and ruin of Northern Rock, from the leaked rescue and the run to nationalisation and the sale to Virgin Money, told with charts built from the Treasury Committee and National Audit Office reports, plus lessons for business owners. 0:00 Intro 0:58 Part 1: The rise 2:14 Part 2: The funding machine 3:08 Part 3: The cracks 4:11 Part 4: The fall 6:51 Why Northern Rock really failed 7:46 Lessons for your business SOURCES (all charts and timelines are our own, made from these): House of Commons Treasury Committee: The run on the Rock, Fifth Report: Introduction https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm20... House of Commons Treasury Committee: The run on the Rock: Northern Rock's business model https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm20... House of Commons Treasury Committee: The run on the Rock: FSA supervision and the events of 2007 https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm20... House of Commons Treasury Committee: The run on the Rock: the events of 13-17 September https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm20... House of Commons Treasury Committee: The run on the Rock: formal minutes https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm20... National Audit Office: HM Treasury: The nationalisation of Northern Rock https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/hm-treasury... National Audit Office: The creation and sale of Northern Rock plc https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/... National Audit Office: The £13 billion sale of former Northern Rock assets https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/the-13-bill... Northern Rock plc (deposited in Parliament): Northern Rock plc Annual Report and Accounts 2008 https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers... Northern Rock plc (via vb.is): Northern Rock interim results, six months ended 30 June 2006 https://vb.is/eftir-vinnu/northern-rock-pl... CNBC: Northern Rock shares plunge as customers run https://www.cnbc.com/2007/09/17/northern-r... Journal of Financial Crises, Yale Program on Financial Stability: Bank of England emergency liquidity facility for Northern Rock (case study) https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/journa... tutor2u: Sunset for the Rock https://tutor2u.net/economics/blog/sunset-... FundingUniverse: Northern Rock plc history https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-hi... Wikipedia: Northern Rock (pointer for management dates) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Rock Figures are in nominal pounds sterling unless stated, and come from the filings and reports above. Some series mix restated years; see the sources for detail. This video is commentary and education, not financial advice. Narration uses an AI voice. #NorthernRock #BusinessHistory #RiseAndRuin