FORMER Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) chief executive Sir James Crosby has apologised for his role in the bank's collapse but said it is for others to decide whether to strip him of his knighthood.

Sir James told a parliamentary inquiry into events leading up to the Edinburgh-based institution's rescue takeover by Lloyds TSB in 2008 that his reputation would not recover and he would no longer be allowed a senior banking job.

He apologised for his role in the crisis that led to the combined Lloyds Banking Group receiving a £20 billion taxpayer bailout. He added: "I was horrified and deeply upset by what happened."

Sir James became chief executive of the Halifax in 1994 and ran the combined HBOS after its merger in 2001 until he stepped down in the summer of 2006.

Sir James admitted business lending by Bank of Scotland was "incompetent". He said it was losses on these loans, rather than solely the financial crisis, that brought down the bank. He also said he had not given up any of his pension, arguing he lost money from the bank's collapse.

He said that "it is for others to decide" whether he should be stripped of his knighthood in the manner of the former Sir Fred Goodwin.