Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society.

During the early 2000s the company borrowed substantially to fund mortgages, with the aim of ambitious growth, and also donated large amounts to charitable purposes and communities directly and through sponsorships.

[3] Unable to find a commercial buyer or secure the further government support needed, it was taken into public ownership in 2008, as an alternative to insolvency.

[5] As of May 2024[update] the Northern Rock Shareholder Action Group are continuing their campaign to obtain compensation for the shares that were taken over by the Government when the bank was nationalised during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

This would later form part of shareholder's action to seek compensation as, at that point, the aid was certain and the company had never stopped operating as a going concern.

Under non-executive chairman Matt Ridley and Chief Executive Adam Applegarth, Northern Rock had a business plan which involved borrowing heavily in the UK and international money markets, extending mortgages to customers based on this funding, and then re-selling these mortgages on international capital markets, in a process known as securitisation.

The major UK banks also faced the same problems raising funding, but as less of their business model was reliant upon securitisation, the effective freezing of the market in August 2007 was less critical.

Reporting of this complex scenario led to panic among individual depositors, who feared that their savings might not be available should Northern Rock go into receivership.

[3] As the UK government provided the liquidity support facility, they also exerted pressure on the bank to create a longer-term recovery plan.

Chief Executive Adam Applegarth's resignation was then announced in mid-November, with the caveat that he would remain with the group until it established independent funding or was purchased.

Four non-executive directors, Sir Derek Wanless, Nichola Pease, Adam Fenwick and Rosemary Radcliffe also resigned.

Notably, Dave Jones, the Group Finance Director through the crisis, had only been in his role since the retirement of Bob Bennett in January 2007.

A report by the Financial Services Authority conceded in February 2008 that it had been wrong to consider Northern Rock low risk, and as a result had given the company too little scrutiny.

[31] The group was criticised when it emerged that they had begun to pay in excess of 150 senior staff members substantial retention bonuses.

Northern Rock hoped the bonuses would enable them to retain critical staff members at risk of being poached by other companies.

[44] On 23 February 2009, Northern Rock announced that they would be offering £14 billion worth of new mortgages, over the next two years, as a part of their new business plan.

The Committee reached the conclusion that HM Treasury has made a substantial amount of money from running down the loan book of the bank.

The NRSAG committee made several failed appeals to the Government previously, but the facts were not fully known then, but it is evident now that all loans to the taxpayer have been paid in full at penal rates of interest.

That means compensation to shareholders will not be a charge on taxpayers or upon the general public because it is payable out of the surplus funds, built since nationalisation in 2008, as a result of asset disposals.

The NRSAG asked the Government to review their original compensation decision, given that the updated and widely confirmed numbers prove a huge surplus.

Northern Rock continued to sell credit cards under its own brand through The Co-operative Bank until November 2007; the decision to stop was made before the 2007 crisis.

The bank was based on a large site at the Regent Centre in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne called Northern Rock House.

It had customer contact centre operations at both North of England House in Doxford International Business Park in Sunderland and at its head office.

The first branch of the bank opened in Denmark on 7 February 2007;[71] however as part of the Government restructuring, the Danish operations ceased on 18 June 2008.

One of Northern Rock's final advertising campaigns before the purchase by Virgin was titled 'Works for Me' and featured local customers.

Prior to the credit crisis the company had focused on developing its own staff, and most appointments, including the chief executive, were made internally.

[82] On 4 November 2010 Northern Rock announced that Gary Hoffman had left the bank and was to move to NBNK Investments as CEO.

The art entitled "Northern Rock @ Baltic" included mobile light stem sculptures and large scale external graphics.

[90] Northern Rock sponsored the North East Premier League competition for recreational club cricket.

In February 2008, documents relating to the sale came to light, attracting much criticism that the purchase has been made at a time of impending crisis.