UK's bank Northern Rock was forced to be prioritized by 2013 under the agreement of Chancellor George Osborne. The reason is that the European Commission under the government's aid to banks demanded the government to sell the largest part of its stake by 2013. The bank was sold on Thursday to Virgin Money for ВЈ747m. George Osborne claimed that it was the best possible solution for taxpayers. However, the investigation showed that earlier taxpayers provided ВЈ1.4bn into Northern Rock and the sale will mean a paper loss of about ВЈ650m, reported Robert Peston, the BBC business editor.