Northern Rock

The government has come under fire for rewarding its "friends in the City" after it gave a knighthood to Paul Ruddock, founder of hedge fund Lansdowne Partners, in its New Year's honours list.

NBNK Investments, the banking venture run by former Northern Rock chief Gary Hoffman, will call itself the New Generation Bank if its bid to buy more than 600 Lloyds branches proves successful.

UK Asset Resolution (UKAR), a company set up a year ago to manage the closed mortgage books of Bradford & Bingley and the asset management arm of Northern Rock, is to shut an office in Newcastle where about 700 people work.

JC Flowers, the American private equity firm, has set aside a £1.5bn "war chest" to buy mortgage books from British banks after failing to purchase Northern Rock.

A leading Liberal Democrat has claimed the taxpayer is being "taken for a ride" over the sale of Northern Rock to a consortium led by Virgin, amid fears the bank wil have its assets stripped.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has reassured savers with Northern Rock plc and new owner Virgin Money that account holders will have separate cover at each of the two banks.

The Virgin Money buy-out brings with it both good and bad news, but it is the latter - the £653m loss to taxpayers - that will make all the headlines.

The Treasury has sold Northern Rock plc to a consortium led by Richard Branson's Virgin Money for £747m, at a £650m loss on the £1.4bn of capital it injected into the bank.

The new body set up to regulate advisers may lack proper accountability and needs closer scrutiny of its role, according the chair of the Treasury Select Committee (TSC) Andrew Tyrie.

Sir Richard Branson is on the brink of buying the taxpayer-owned Newcastle bank Northern Rock in a £1bn deal as American rivals start to fall away.