A report into the collapse of mortgage lender HBOS in 2008 has called for up to ten of its executives to be barred.

The long-awaited report by the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority was finally published yesterday, and blamed its top three executives at management level for the bank’s demise. The three, chairman Lord Stevenson and chief executives James Crosby and Andy Hornby, were also blamed at the time by a group of MPs.

A separate report conducted by independent QC Andrew Green, also published on Thursday, criticized the FSA for its failure to properly hold individuals to account for the crisis and urged other regulatory bodies to review the FSA’s decision not to act against key executives.

The merger between Halifax Building Society and The Bank of Scotland was valued at £30bn, but collapsed just seven years later wiping out its entire value. The taxpayer then injected £20.5 billion into the bank to avert a crisis.

Andrew Bailey, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, promised rapid progress into the investigation of HBOS’ executives:

“It’s not the intention to have a lengthy investigation. We will do this piece of work as soon as possible,” he said.

20/11/2015