ABSTRACT
This chapter looks more closely at the Banking Act 2009. The handling of Northern Rock plc by the United Kingdom Government and its agencies has shown a strong official concern to preserve this company at almost all costs. Interestingly, in addition to the GBP 27 billion that were injected into the Bank at the time of its nationalization, the United Kingdom Government in late February 2009 indicated that it will inject an additional GBP 14 billion into the bank so as to facilitate mortgage lending. At the same time, Northern Rock and other banks that have benefited from Government support are moving to isolate their 'toxic' assets into new legal vehicles so as to protect and enhance their underlying banking structures. The Banking Act 2008 was enacted on 21 February 2008 to provide emergency legal tools with which to deal more effectively with the credit crisis that had first been felt in the United Kingdom.
