THE men who ran HBOS in the years leading up to its collapse face being banned from the financial services sector if a new report advises tougher scrutiny of their roles in the crisis.
Peter Cummings, 57, HBOS's former head of corporate banking, is the only senior manager to have been sanctioned for his role in the 2008 failure, before the institution was rescued by Lloyds with Government help.
Mr Cummings, of Dumbarton, was banned from working in financial services for life and fined £500,000 by the regulator in 2012. The actions of his former banking colleagues came under the spotlight yesterday when the Financial Conduct Authority outlined its terms of reference for a review of the bank's collapse. The regulator is to "assess the reasonableness" of the scope of investigations by its predecessor, the Financial Services Authority.
Among those likely to be in the firing line are ex-chief executive Andy Hornby and his predecessor James Crosby. It said this includes giving its opinion as to if the regulators should "consider afresh whether other former members of HBOS's senior management should be subject to an investigation with a view to prohibition proceedings".
Among those likely to be in the firing line is former chief executive Andy Hornby, who is now chief executive of bookmakers Coral, and his predecessor James Crosby, 58. Mr Crosby, who was stripped of his knighthood in 2013, oversaw the merger of Halifax and Bank of Scotland into HBOS before resigning in 2006. He was deputy chairman of the FSA from 2004 to 2009.
A report by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards has already singled him out as "the architect of the strategy that set the course for disaster".
The FCA and the Bank of England said work has been done on the review which will summarise why HBOS failed and make any recommendations. It is to be published by the end of the year.
A spokesman for Lloyds Banking Group said: "This is a matter for our regulators to comment upon. Lloyds Banking Group is co-operating fully with our regulators in relation to this review, which relates to HBOS plc in the years prior to its acquisition by the Group."
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