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LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Britain's finance ministry didnot interfere in the process of state-backed Lloyds BankingGroup's planned sale of hundreds of branches to theCo-operative Bank, finance minister George Osborne toldlawmakers.
The Treasury Select Committee, which examines the work ofthe Treasury, has conducted an inquiry into whether there wasundue political pressure applied to Lloyds or on the regulatorto clear the way for the bank to sell 631 branches to the Co-op.
Lloyds was ordered to sell the branches, code named Verde,by European regulators as a condition of its 20.5 billion pound($34.1 billion) bailout during the 2008/9 financial crisis.
"Ministers and officials made clear to the FSA (FinancialServices Authority) that the regulatory decision on whether toallow the Co-op/Verde deal to proceed - and, in particular, theprudential judgment on whether there were financial stabilityconcerns from doing so - was a matter wholly and solely for it.At no point, did the Treasury seek to interfere in thosejudgments," Osborne said in a letter to Committee Chairman AndreTyrie.($1 = 0.6012 British Pounds) (Reporting by Matt Scuffham)
