Who will run Northern Rock?
Running it will be the job of senior banker Ron Sandler, who was drafted in before Christmas as prospective chairman should the need for nationalisation arise. Sandler will today meet the bank’s senior directors, unions and representatives of the Northern Rock Foundation, its charity. Last year the charity was handed £50m by the bank, which at the time was producing hundreds of millions of pounds of profits. Sandler said the government would guarantee the charity was paid at least £15m a year for the next three years as part of the deal. He said he would run the bank “along commercial lines” and seek deposits and mortgages from customers. Asked if it would compete aggressively with rival lenders, he said it would do all it could within EU state aid rules. Sandler will run the bank at arm’s length from the government, Darling said. Advertising and marketing will be the job of the board directors, but how many jobs are shed is likely to be sanctioned by Darling. Will it still attract cus
