Northern Rock may have borrowed more from Bank

LONDON (Reuters) - Stricken British mortgage lender Northern Rock is likely to have borrowed a further 3 billion pounds from the Bank of England in the past week, according to Bank of England data.

The data indicate Northern Rock has borrowed up to 16 billion pounds since being offered emergency funds on September 14.

The estimate is based on the "other assets" category in the Bank of England's weekly accounts, which economists say would include the central bank's "lender of last resort" support.

The BoE and Northern Rock have refused to comment on how much the central bank has lent. But on Tuesday Northern Rock Chairman Matt Ridley told politicians that estimates it had borrowed 13 billion pounds up to last week, based on the BoE data, were broadly accurate.

The data signal there was an acceleration in borrowing from Northern Rock last week after a slowing trend. The data indicated Northern Rock borrowed 2.3 billion in the previous week and 2.9 billion the week before, after borrowing peaked at 4.9 billion in the week to September 26.

This week's data indicate "that Northern Rock's funding problems remain acute", said Simon Ward, economist at fund manager New Star.

Ward said there had been hopes the rate of borrowing would slow following the government's announcement last week that its guarantee would be extended to new retail deposits.

Northern Rock has been engulfed in crisis since the Bank of England stepped in to offer it emergency loans five weeks ago after it had struggled to access financing due to a liquidity squeeze in financial markets. The news prompted the first run on the deposits of a major British bank in over 140 years.

Building societies said on Thursday they benefited from the run of withdrawals from Northern Rock, estimating they received record net receipts of 2.8 billion pounds last month, double the month before.

Northern Rock is assessing options for its future and has received approaches from several groups, including a consortium led by Virgin Group. Talks with Virgin are continuing.