DAVID CAMERON intensified pressure on the former directors of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) to give up honours and pension rights, urging them to look to their consciences.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman praised a decision by Sir James Crosby, the bank's ex-chief executive, to relinquish his knighthood and millions of pounds in pension payments.
But he added it was up to the consciences of other executives as to whether they followed suit.
Both Sir James's successor, Andy Hornby, and the bank's former chairman, Lord Stevenson, have faced questions following a report into the crisis at the bank, which was bailed out with £20 million of taxpayers' money.
MPs said Sir James's actions should not be in isolation.
Asked whether other HBOS executives should make gestures similar to that made by Sir James, The PM's spokesman said: "It's a matter for their consciences."
Asked whether Lord Stevenson should absent himself from the Lords, he said: "That must be a matter for the individual."
Last year the former head of RBS, Fred Goodwin, was stripped of his knighthood.
Despite Sir James saying he will hand back one-third of his pension, he will still receive in excess of £400,000 a year.
The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards found all three had to take primary responsibility for HBOS's collapse.
Business Secretary Vince Cable has already ordered regulators to consider whether there is evidence that could bar the men from working in the City.
Earlier this week, Sir James also gave up a directorship at Compass, the catering giant, but he is still chairman of Moneybarn, a financial company. He later said he was sorry for what had happened at the bank.
While there is no mechanism to expel members of the House of Lords, peers can apply for a "leave of absence".
Around 70 current peers are thought to have done so for a range of reasons including ill health. A House of Lords spokesman said no-one was refused a leave of absence.
l Accountants KPMG may face a probe by the Financial Reporting Council over the audit work that gave HBOS a clean bill of health in the run-up to its collapse.
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