Former HBOS
chief stripped of knighthood

The official announcement that the honour had been withdrawn from Mr Crosby was reported in the London Gazette.

Mr Crosby, who lives in Harrogate, asked to have the honour removed after the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards said he was the “architect of the strategy that set the course for disaster” in his handling of the bank and held primary responsibility for its collapse along with former chairman Lord Stevenson and
fellow chief executive Andy Hornby.

The Leeds-born banker, who was chief executive of the Halifax Building Society during the 1990s before taking charge of HBOS after the merger, was given the knighthood after leaving HBOS but said following the report in April “it is right that I should now ask the appropriate authorities to take the necessary steps for its removal”.

He also gave up 30 per cent of his £580,000-a-year pension, and stood down from his roles with Leeds Bradford Airport owner Bridgepoint and as a director of food group Compass, as well
as from his voluntary position as a trustee of Cancer Research 
UK.

For a knighthood to be withdrawn, the Honours Forfeiture Committee has to make a recommendation to the Prime Minister, who then passes it on to the Queen for a decision.