Northern Rock draws down £2.9 bn from Bank of England

“The remaining £2.9 billion occurred in the other assets category and may represent the bank’s ‘lender of last resort’ support to Northern Rock,” said Ward. Northern Rock has refused to comment on its funding since saying on Monday that it had not drawn any funds from the emergency facility. The Bank of England stepped in to help Northern Rock on September 14 after the mortgage lender was hit by the global credit squeeze that dried up the money markets where it had been raising much of its funding.

News of the British central bank’s intervention prompted the worst run on a UK bank in 140 years, with around £2.5 billion to £3 billion withdrawn from retail deposits at Northern Rock, according to industry estimates.