05/04/2013

Call To Ban HBOS Bank Bosses

The Banking Standards Commission has said financial regulators should consider banning three top HBOS bankers from future roles in the financial sector.

The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards said former chairman Lord Stevenson, as well as past Chief Executives Sir James Crosby and Andy Hornby, were to blame for the collapse of the bank.

In its report, it said their "catastrophic failures of management" ultimately led to the bank's downfall and the £20.5bn taxpayer bailout during the height of the financial crisis.

It then asked why the Financial Services Authority (FSA) had not looked at whether the three men should be stripped of their Approved-Person status. The title permits individuals to carry out particular financial functions.

Peter Cummings is the only former HBOS director to have been penalised by the FSA; last September he was banned for life from working in the City and was fined £500k. However, the commission has said it is wrong that Mr Cummings should be the only one to blame. It therefore called on the new City regulator to consider barring Sir James, Mr Hornby and Lord Stevenson from taking up any role in the financial sector.

It said: "The primary responsibility for the downfall of HBOS should rest with Sir James Crosby, architect of the strategy that set the course for disaster, with Andy Hornby, who proved unable or unwilling to change course, and Lord Stevenson, who presided over the bank's board from its birth to its death."

Last year, former RBS boss Fred Goodwin was stripped of his knighthood but Sir James and Lord Stevenson have retained their titles.

(JP/CD)

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