REGULATORS have launched investigations into problems at Co-operative Bank and the role of its former managers following the collapse of its deal to buy Lloyds TSB Scotland and other businesses from Lloyds Banking Group.
After pulling its £750 million offer in May last year, Co-op bank admitted it had a £1.5 billion capital shortfall. The subsequent restructuring left it controlled by hedge funds.
Its problems were exacerbated when former bank chairman Paul Flowers was arrested during an investigation into the supply of drugs.
The Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are conducting separate inquiries into the problems at the bank.
A planned probe by the Government will be put on hold. The FCA said this was consistent with the approaches taken during its examination of the collapses of Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank of Scotland.
The authority said it would look at the decisions and events at the bank up until June 2013, when the full extent of the bank's problems emerged.
The PRA will focus on the capital shortfall. Any failings by individuals will be scrutinised by the FCA.
Regulators have come under fire for the length of time taken to publish the findings of investigations. Previous regulator the Financial Services Authority only published its findings on RBS in late 2011.
The HBOS report has yet to be published.
After an overhaul at Co-op, the group is now run by Scot Euan Sutherland while compatriot Niall Booker heads the bank.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article