Northern Rock still had some stock market value on Friday – £1.8bn – but the lender’s franchise and business model have been severely damaged. And that limits the options facing this former trailblazer of the banking world.

Its only reliable source of funding – customer deposits – is walking out of the door of branches from Gallowgate to Moorgate. The bank’s use of emergency funding from the Bank of England has evidently weakened the value of the Northern Rock brand name.