deadline for northern rock bids

Virgin Group and up to two other bidders are expected to meet a Monday deadline for Northern Rock offers. Sir Richard has already confirmed that Virgin aims to meet the deadline, and is said to be the frontrunner.Northern Rock got itself into financial difficulties because its business model left it ill-prepared for the global credit crunch.

Unlike the great majority of UK banks, Northern Rock relied upon borrowing funds from the wholesale money markets to fund its mortgage business, rather than the usual method of using savers’ deposits.