Northern Rock shareholders are demanding a public inquiry into the dramatic leaking last September of the stricken lender's pleas for emergency funding from the Bank of England. The Independent
Small investors in the bank say the way in which the mortgage lender's troubles came to light played a major part in its subsequent collapse and was in stark contrast to the tight secrecy surrounding the Bank's current liquidity operation to prop up the banking system.
The shareholders' call for a probe was given additional urgency yesterday as Northern Rock announced it had started a consultation with unions about its plan to shed 2,000 jobs, or about a third of the bank's workforce, across all levels of staff.
The Northern Rock Shareholder Action Group has written to the Chancellor calling for a probe into the leak, which prompted savers to queue outside the bank's branches and bombard its website to get their money out. The letter has been copied to the Prime Minister, the Governor of the Bank of England and the chief executive of the Financial Services Authority.