LONDON – A report into what caused the 2008 collapse of British bank HBOS said Thursday that the firm’s former bosses were “ultimately responsible” for its failure, and recommended that regulators ban them from working in financial services.
The report also blamed a past regulator for failing to investigate bank leaders properly.
Only one former HBOS executive has so far been formally investigated. Peter Cummings, the former head of corporate banking, was fined 500,000 pounds ($763,000) and banned from working in senior banking positions.
HBOS, formed from the merger of Halifax and Bank of Scotland in 2001, expanded too rapidly before the financial crisis struck and collapsed in 2008. It was taken over by the Lloyds Banking Group and required billions of pounds in a bailout funded by taxpayers.
Current regulators — the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority — said they will now review whether to take any enforcement action against three of the bank’s former leaders. They are ex-chief executives Andy Hornby and James Crosby, as well as former chairman Dennis Stevenson.
The report also said former finance director Mike Ellis, former head of the bank’s international division Colin Matthew and former chief of the bank’s treasury department Lindsay Mackay should be investigated.
