The Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008 (c 2) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

that entered into force on the 21 February 2008 in order to enable the UK government to

nationalise Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

high-street banks under emergency circumstances by

secondary legislation Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislative and executive branches of governments in representative democra ...

. The Act was introduced in order to nationalise the failing bank

Northern Rock Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank i ...

after the bank was supported by Bank of England credit and a private-sector solution was deemed "not to provide sufficient value for the taxpayer" by the UK government. Opposition to the Act by the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

was based on: the Bill providing an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the large liabilities to the taxpayer and the alleged lack of independence from the government. The Bill was also sufficiently widely drawn to allow the nationalisation of any financial institution, leading to the concern that other banks might be in financial difficulty. After the

nationalisation of Northern Rock In 2008 the Northern Rock bank was nationalised by the British government, due to financial problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis. In 2010 the bank was split into two parts (assets and banking) to aid the eventual sale of the bank back ...

, the Act allowed for the nationalisation of the mortgage and personal loan book of Bradford & Bingley on 29 September 2008. On 8 October 2008, the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...

announced that an order under the Act was being used to transfer all retail deposits with Heritable Bank, a UK-based banking subsidiary of the failing Icelandic bank

Landsbanki Landsbanki (literally "national bank"), also commonly known as Landsbankinn (literally "the national bank") which is now the name of the current rebuilt bank (here called "New Landsbanki"), was one of the largest Icelandic commercial banks that f ...

, and Kaupthing Edge to ING Direct. However section 2(8) of the Act provides that the Treasury may only make Transfer Orders under the Act for a maximum of a year after its passage.The Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008
section 2
/ref> The Act therefore expired on 21 February 2009, when it was superseded by the Banking Act 2009.

List of banks acquired/transferred under the Act

References

External links

The Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008
as amended from the National Archives.
The Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008
as originally enacted from the National Archives.
Explanatory notes
to the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008.

{{2008 economic crisis United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2008 Great Recession in the United Kingdom 2008 in economics Banking legislation in the United Kingdom

List of banks acquired/transferred under the Act

See also

References

External links