The holding company is Granite Finance Holdings Limited. The shares in this holding company are held for the benefit of charities under a trust arrangement. The named charity is Down's Syndrome North East Association (UK) and other charities which the company can select. Because Granite was set up as a funding vehicle for Northern Rock, it would not have been appropriate for a third party to own the shares in Granite Finance Holdings Limited. A charitable trust is a method of legally achieving the required result. These structures are commonly used in mortgage-backed securitisations in the UK.