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The charitable arm of Northern Rock is to increase its charity spending by £4 million following the bank's nationalisation.

It had been expected that the Northern Rock Foundation would announce grants of £7 million to organisations in the north-east this year but this has been increased to £11 million.

The foundation has been guaranteed a minimum income of £15 million a year in 2008, 2009 and 2010 by the government.

The foundation has also named the 15 charities that will benefit first from funding packages over the next three years.

These include Tyneside Rape Crisis Centre, Equal Arts and Show Racism the Red Card.

Northern Rock Foundation chairman Alastair Balls said: "Northern Rock's history is one of benevolence. In fact, several of the organisations which came together to form the bank were benevolent societies, and so we aim to do is continue this tradition."

Since its launch in 1997, Northern Rock Foundation has been supported by an annual donation of five per cent of Northern Rock's pre-tax profits. To date, the bank has donated £190 million to the charity.

Northern Rock was hit last year by a cash-flow crisis when the wholesale money markets effectively closed during global financial turmoil. It was nationalised on February 21st after the government failed to find a suitable buyer.