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Bankers ban

November 19, 2015

A report by British regulators has recommended banning former bosses of the collapsed bank HBOS from working in the finance industry. The bank went under in 2008 and has drawn scrutiny for its reckless mortgage lending.

https://p.dw.com/p/1H91S
England London Bankenviertel
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Rain

The report, published Thursday by the Bank of England (BoE) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), blamed HBOS' former management for the bank's failure and took a past regulator to task for its failure to determine who was ultimately responsible.

In light of the reports, the BoE and FCA said they would decide "as soon as possible" whether to punish three of the bank's former leaders as well as other managers by prohibiting them from working in financial services. A decision could come as early as next year.

So far, only one executive, Peter Cummings, has been formally investigated and fined.

In the BoE's and FCA's crosshairs are former HBOS chairman Dennis Stevenson, now a member of the British parliament, and the bank's former treasury director, Lindsay Mackay, who went on to become chief executive at Alpha Bank London Limited.

HBOS collapsed in 2008 and was rescued by the Lloyds Banking Group in a government-orchestrated bailout that stirred much public anger and raised questions as to why taxpayers should have to pay for bankers' mistakes.

After absorbing HBOS, Lloyds eventually required a bailout of its own that cost taxpayers 20 billion pounds ($30 billion,28 billion euros).

cjc/hg (Reuters, AP)