UK Would Guarantee Mortgage Lender's Deposits

United Kingdom government agencies will guarantee liquidity-challenged mortgage lender Northern Rock PLC's existing deposits for the duration of the current credit crunch if necessary, according to a British Treasury official."Following discussions with the governor and the chairman of the [Financial Services Authority], should it be necessary, we, with the Bank of England, would put in place arrangements that would guarantee all the existing deposits in Northern Rock during the current instability in the financial markets," said British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling in a speech Sept. 17. He also said that he had discussions with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson about the global credit crunch involving "measures we believe are necessary to improve the regulation of international markets." The British Treasury can be found on the Web at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk.