Britain’s Northern Rock Names New CEO Amid Steep Decline

The British lender, Northern Rock, yesterday named Andy Kuipers, a director who stood down from the board last month, its next CEO replacing Adam Applegarth, who leaves the company today, according to Reuters.

In an update for investors yesterday, the lender said it had taken a $574 million hit, or two-thirds of its market value, from its exposure to the credit crisis.

Northern Rock is being auctioned off by its advisers after it became Britain's highest profile casualty of the credit crisis, but questions about that process have been raised in recent weeks after two suitors withdrew offers. The bank faces the prospect of being left with only one bidder -- its preferred suitor Virgin Group -- after investment group Olivant said it had been rebuffed by the bank and threatened to withdraw. It called for the timetable to speed up and to be given access to the financing banks involved, according to a source quoted by Reuters.