Report into HBOS collapse to criticise bosses

A much-delayed report into what went wrong in the run-up to the collapse of HBOS will be published ​today at noon, once more heaping severe criticism on its former bosses and putting pressure on regulators for their handling of the inquiry.

But reports suggest it is now too late to fine any former executives deemed responsible for the lender’s demise and subsequent taxpayer bailout, leaving authorities powerless to levy penal- ties.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) will publish the 500-page report, which has been delayed by more than a year due to lengthy legal wrangling, with a separate 100-page document due alongside it by Andrew Green QC looking at why only one former HBOS executive, Peter Cummings, was formally investigated and fined.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is thought that regulators may look to ban ex-HBOS chief executives Andy Hornby and James Crosby, as well as past chairman Lord Stevenson, from working in financial services – the only sanction available as fines are no longer seen as possible, because the report has taken more than six years to produce.

​Former HBOS finance director Mike Ellis, now the chairman of Skipton Building Society​, has previously been exonerated but could come in for criticism in the new report.