London - Britain's nationalized mortgage lender Northern Rock said Tuesday it was "well ahead" of its government loan repayment target, having paid back more than half of the 26 billion pounds (45 billion dollars) in emergency loans from the Bank of England.

Government-appointed Northern Rock chief executive Ron Sandler said that, as at September 30, the sum of 11.4 billion pounds was still outstanding.

Since nationalization of Britain's fifth-biggest mortgage lender in February, Sandler's strategy has involved halving the balance sheet to 50 billion pounds by the end of
2011 by stopping all business lending and accelerating mortgage redemptions for existing customers.

Northern Rock said it had attracted 3 billion pounds of new retail deposits during the third quarter, taking the total to 17.2 billion pounds as customers flock to banks perceived as "safe."

The lender said it advanced 2.4 billion pounds of mortgage lending during the nine months to the end of September and 1,500 of 6,500 jobs have been cut.

However, the group's mortgage arrears figures jumped by nearly 60 per cent during the last three months, as the number of home repossessions increased. (dpa)