At a glitzy dinner in a Mayfair hotel in London last week, prizes were awarded to the best capital markets performers in 2006. Strikingly, the group that grabbed the tag "best financial borrower" - meaning, most creative in raising funds - was not a bulge-bracket Wall Street or City name.

Instead the honour went to Northern Rock, a lender to homebuyers, which is based in north-east England's gritty Newcastle and has become an enthusiastic issuer of mortgage-backed bonds.