Bank executives fined for hiding losses

LONDON, April 14 (UPI) -- Finance regulators in Britain have fined two former bank executives nearly $1 million for concealing 2,000 failing mortgage loans to hide bank losses.

The Financial Services Authority fined former Northern Rock deputy chief executive David Baker $780,000 and former managing credit director Richard Barclay about $230,000, The Times of London Online reported Wednesday.

The FSA said some of the loans were improperly "excluded from all reported data," because the orders of repossession were in place, but the bank had not yet been handed the keys to the homes.

Former Chief Executive Officer Adam Applegarth may also be under investigation, the newspaper said.

Northern Rock was nationalized in February 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, costing British taxpayers billions.

Had the sour loans been reported, the bank's arrears ratio would have increased by 50 percent. The loans were part of the bank's "Together" program that became controversial, as borrowers in the program were given loans up to 125 percent of the value of the property they were buying.