Mortgage - Home Loan, Commercial Loan

LONDON (Reuters) - Northern Rock’s top executives will face a grilling from parliamentarians on Tuesday, a month after the global credit crunch first forced the mortgage lender to turn to the Bank of England for funding help.

The bank, whose market value has dropped more than 60 percent since the start of the crisis, is now assessing options including a sale, a break-up and closing to new business.

The following are key dates in the bank’s troubles.

June 27 - The bank issues a profit warning, cutting its 2007 profit growth forecast to 15 percent from an expected 17 percent on the back of higher funding costs after interest rate rises.

July 25 - Northern Rock reports interim profit numbers. It repeats warnings on 2007 profit, but says it continues to lend aggressively, taking an almost 19 percent share of first-half net mortgage lending — more than double its typical 8 percent.

Aug 9 - The date pinpointed by regulators and the bank itself as the date the “world changed” for Northern Rock.

The European Central Bank pumps a record 94.8 billion euros into Europe’s money markets after BNP Paribas freezes withdrawals on three funds hit by U.S. subprime market turmoil.

Aug 15 - Northern Rock shares fall to a 3-year low on growing concerns that credit market turmoil could hit its funding costs and scupper planned asset sales, prompting market speculation of a fresh profit warning.

The bank says it continues to raise funds and says conditions are easing.

Aug 20 - The bank sells 465 million pounds of commercial loans, only part of the loans earmarked for sale in June.

Aug 23 - A $2 billion move to shore up finances at U.S. lender Countrywide helps revive confidence in Northern Rock and other UK lenders.

Sept 14 - Northern Rock says the Bank of England has stepped in to provide support, triggering panic among customers and the first run on a major UK bank in over a century — despite reassurances from regulators the lender is not bust.

The bank’s shares crash over 30 percent.

Sept 15 - Customers besiege the bank, ignoring official reassurance and news it has not drawn down any of the money from the Bank of England facility.

Sept 16 - Northern Rock’s chief executive, Adam Applegarth, tells customers their savings are safe, as fears mount that a run on withdrawals will exacerbate funding problems.

Sept 17 - The government steps in, guaranteeing deposits at Northern Rock in a bid to stop the run on deposits.

Worries spread to Alliance & Leicester, which plunges over 30 percent after a rumour it had sought Bank of England assistance. The lender denied the market talk.

Sept 18 - The Bank of England pumps an emergency 4.4 billion pounds into money markets to bring down overnight interest rates, lifted by the Northern Rock crisis.

Northern Rock says separately the “tide has turned” after the government pledge on deposits eases a run on the bank.

Sept 20 - Shares tumble over 30 percent to hit a fresh record low on renewed concerns that a suitor may not materialise to pull Northern Rock back from the brink.

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King defends himself against accusations he was “asleep at the wheel” and blames UK regulation for preventing a covert rescue operation.

Sept 25 - Under pressure from the Treasury and regulators, Northern Rock cancels its interim dividend. It also confirms it is in “preliminary discussions with selected parties”.

Sept 26 - The head of Britain’s top business lobby group brands the UK regulatory system a failure, likening the run on the bank to something from a “banana republic”.

Oct 3 - U.S. buyout firms JC Flowers and Cerberus are in talks with Northern Rock’s advisers, according to sources familiar with the matter. One of the sources says Flowers has secured more than 15 billion pounds of funding to use in a takeover.

Oct 9 - Northern Rock gets another lifeline as the government offers to guarantee new retail deposits and extend funding arrangements to give the bank more time.

Oct 10 - Northern Rock shares jump over 40 percent after a regulatory filing shows SRM Global, the hedge fund run by former UBS trader Jon Wood, takes an interest of over 4 percent.

Oct 12 - Billionaire Richard Branson says he wants to rescue Northern Rock as head of a consortium that would inject cash and stabilise the bank’s finances.