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Gold9472
09-14-2007, 01:23 PM
Northern Rock Customers Crowd Branches, Withdraw Cash

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=asdTfUAtiNWI&refer=worldwide

By Sabine Pirone and Shelley Smith

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of Northern Rock Plc customers crowded into branches in London today to pull out their savings after the mortgage-loan provider sought emergency funding from the Bank of England.

"It's scary," said Peter Pye, 60, a retired university lecturer standing in a line of about 30 people outside the Moorgate branch in the financial district. "I have my life's savings in Northern Rock." He said he would withdraw a "six- figure" sum and leave 5,000 pounds in the account.

The Bank of England said it will provide emergency cash to Northern Rock, Britain's third-largest mortgage provider, in the nation's biggest bailout of a financial institution in 30 years. The rising cost of credit left the lender unable to make new loans and stoked concern among customers about their money.

Northern Rock, which has 1.4 million retail depositors and 800,000 mortgage customers, hasn't imposed any special limits on withdrawals, spokesman Don Hunter said. The Newcastle, England-based company, which traces its roots back to 1850, had to restart its Internet banking site "over a period of time" today after unusually high usage froze the service, he said.

"It is understandable that customers are concerned," Hunter said. "Their mortgages and savings are safe."

Northern Rock has 76 bank branches, according to Hunter. By 11 a.m., dozens of people formed queues on the sidewalk outside the Moorgate office, the Maddox Street branch in the West End shopping district, and the Kingston Upon Thames outlet in southwest London.

`No Risk'
"There is no risk," said James Hamilton, an analyst at Numis Securities in London. "The Bank of England said Northern Rock is solvent." Hamilton said that "as credit turmoil will return to normal, Northern Rock's business will." The British Bankers' Association said there's "no reason for either mortgage customers or savers to worry." The group provides London interbank offered rates, or Libor, a benchmark for money- market rates in the dollar, the euro and 11 other currencies.

"Why leave your money in a bank that obviously has some major problems?" said Michael Ribotham, 74. "I'm not young and don't have a chance to make it back again." Ribotham was waiting at Moorgate for about 40 minutes.

Northern Rock was formed from a merger between two building societies and the initial public offering of Northern Rock Building Society in October 1997. The stock plunged 31 percent today. The lender said profit will trail analysts' forecasts, blaming a "severe liquidity squeeze" and rising short-term interest rates.

`On The Safe Side'

"I am going to take out the lot, every penny," said William Gough, 75, queuing with about 30 people outside the Maddox Street branch. Gough, from Belfast, in Northern Ireland, was "horrified" to hear about Northern Rock's request for emergency funding.

Hunter, the bank's spokesman, was unable to say how many customers were demanding to reduce or empty their accounts.

"I'm worried," said Jenny Western, 33, a photographer from London. "I am taking all my money out. Maybe everyone is overreacting but I want to be on the safe side."

The bailout will "help Northern Rock to fund its operations during the current period of turbulence in financial markets," the Bank of England, U.K. Treasury and Financial Services Authority said in a joint statement.

"I don't think anything is going to happen because the Bank of England won't allow it to happen," said Paul Delamere, 46, waiting at Maddox Street to withdraw his money. Still, he was "more comfortable" with reducing his account.

AuGmENTor
09-14-2007, 08:23 PM
"There is no risk," said James Hamilton, an analyst at Numis Securities in London. "The Bank of England said Northern Rock is solvent."

I tend to just see the salient points. If the institution is solvent, why did it need to borrow emergency funds? Further, how does this affect US economics? That last wasn't a rhetorical question, I really want to know.

beltman713
09-15-2007, 04:48 AM
Didn't Bank of America and some other big bank recently have to have the banking rules bent for them, by the federal reserve, because they were both in financial trouble?

Gold9472
09-15-2007, 09:06 AM
Something like that.

AuGmENTor
09-15-2007, 09:40 AM
Didn't Bank of America and some other big bank recently have to have the banking rules bent for them, by the federal reserve, because they were both in financial trouble?Yeah,and that was fairly recently. There was also a bank in California that everyone showed up at to withdraw their cash just like in this story. In fact, I thought it had happened HERE again until I saw the Britain thing. Does that happening over there affect our economy?

Chana3812
09-15-2007, 10:32 AM
Bank of America recently bailed out Countrywide Financial - Two Billion dollars worth - but that is a drop in the bucket to those mega-financial institutions

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1XeiV3oscOA&refer=home
Countrywide Rallies
Countrywide rose the most in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, gaining $2.31, or 14 percent, to $18.93. Countrywide's financing ``should substantially address funding concerns,'' Credit Suisse analyst Moshe Orenbuch wrote in a research note.

Countrywide last month borrowed $11.5 billion from bank credit lines to help weather a decline in investor demand for mortgages and reduced access to the commercial paper market, where the company usually borrows money. Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest U.S. bank, invested $2 billion in Countrywide on Aug. 22.