IN BRIEF (Page 17)

Northern Rock returns

Northern Rock, Britain's first major victim of the global credit crisis, started the new year yesterday under a new structure intended to prepare the mortgage lender to return to the private sector.

Under the overhaul effective on Jan 1, the company's riskiest assets have been vested in a new company known as Northern Rock (Asset Management) PLC. That company will not be accepting deposits or making new loans, but will free up the rest of Northern Rock to do business. Northern Rock, once the country's fifth biggest lender, suffered the first run on a British bank since 1866 after the Bank of England announced in September 2007 that it had provided emergency funding.