Northern Rocky!

Current update below! Northern Rock are not a company we have recommended to our clients in the past, mainly due to their tendency to charge high fees and large redemption penalties on mortgages, but it shows what media hype can do to a company, even one as well known as Northern Rock. Realistically, savers are panicking when there is very little reason to do so - Northern Rock are in a similar position to Barclays who also had to go to the Bank Of England for emergency funding just a few weeks ago - but the fact that Northern Rock's situation has been massively overhyped as a sign of impending doom seems to have meant that it will, untimately, be forced to sell up or ship out.

"Britain's fifth largest mortgage lender was today deluged by panicking savers for a third day as they lined up at Northern Rock branches to empty their accounts after the bank opened early to accommodate the anticipated rush. An estimated £1.5 billion to £2 billion was withdrawn by Northern Rock savers on Friday and Saturday after the mortgage lender was forced to go to the Bank of England to seek emergency funding.

The crisis-hit lender's share price plummeted by 36.93 per cent today despite the bank's embattled chief executive, Adam Applegarth, attempting to reassure customers and investors the bank is a "viable" business.

It has also emerged that Northern Rock had asked Lloyds TSB to acquire the bank but that the deal was blocked by the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority (FSA). There was speculation today that National Australia Bank was another possible rescuer."