Northern Rock faces MP scrutiny

The bank's chief executive, Adam Applegarth, is likely to bear the brunt of an extremely tough grilling over Northern Rock's business model and its actions following crisis talks with the Bank of England (BoE)

Mervyn King, head of the BoE has already faced the MPs' hard line of questioning over the BoE's actions in the matter.

Northern Rock's reputation has been irreparably damaged by the events over the past month. It is in dire need of a complete rebrand before it begins to regain consumer confidence.

The failure of its business model was the catalyst for the crisis - leaving it very much in the line of fire for today's questioning. This is because most of the money it raised for mortgages was raised through the wholesale credit market - primarily by selling the debt on in the form of bonds.

Over two thirds of its mortgage products have been pulled in the wake of the crisis, with its market value plunging by 60 per cent.