COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Coventry Building Society has expressed an interest in taking over nationalised lender Northern Rock.



Britain's third largest mutual society said Northern Rock customers could benefit if it became part of Coventry.

The society stopped short of saying if it had made any approaches to Northern or the government about a takeover.

But it said in a statement that remutualising Northern Rock "as part of Coventry Building Society" might make sense.

The government split bankrupt Northern Rock into two last year, forming a mortgage and savings bank called Northern Rock plc and Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM).

NRAM is the so-called 'bad bank', containing all the toxic loans from the financial crash.

Northern Rock is the 'good bank' - holding savers' deposits and new mortgages - and is being prepared for a return to private ownership.

Coventry said in its statement: "Coventry Building Society's commitment to mutuality has helped deliver consistently superior financial performance and member value throughout the financial crisis.

"The board believes that these credentials would benefit Northern Rock customers if it were to be remutualised as part of Coventry Building Society."

Earlier this month Northern Rock reported a loss of £232.4m for 2010, but said it was making progress toward returning to financial stability.