As the authorities increasingly became mindful of the risks of a widespread crisis developing, Northern Rock was granted emergency liquidity assistance by the Bank of England and eventually nationalised by the British government. Internationally, regulators were given much food for thought by the turbulence in the financial markets.
The ability of a problem in one area of the financial system to spread and contaminate other areas was again illustrated rather vividly. The problems attached to innovative financial products were again underlined, including the need for adequate transparency and disclosure of the exact nature of and risks attached to each type of asset.