BoE 'blocked the takeover of Rock'

The retiring chief executive of the Financial Services Authority yesterday revealed that he had supported a taxpayer-backed takeover of Northern Rock by Lloyds Bank when it got into trouble in late 2007, but his plan was blocked by the Bank of England and not supported by the Government.

Hector Sants, who leaves the FSA at the end of this month after eight years, said: "I think things would have been very different if the Government and the Bank had taken my recommendation that they should provide liquidity support to Lloyds to purchase Northern Rock."

Northern Rock had to be nationalised the following year.