MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, told a Treasury committee meeting that there never was a firm Lloyds TSB proposal to buy Northern Rock before the bank was forced to take emergency Bank of England support. He said there was "a vague phone call" in which Lloyds TSB wanted 30 billion pounds of funding for a few years at no penalty rate. King said he was of the view such a loan would be akin to state aid barred by the European Commission.