'I'm a scapegoat,' says £500,000 fine banker

UK Political Editor

Thursday 13 September 2012

THE banker accused of helping to bring down Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) claims he is being made a scapegoat after receiving a record £500,000 fine and a lifetime ban from holding a senior post in the industry.

SINGLED OUT: Scots banker Peter Cummings.

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MICHAEL SETTLE UK POLITICAL EDITOR

Peter Cummings, 57, from Dumbarton, is the only top UK banker to be sanctioned following the downfall of the institution during the financial crisis of 2008.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said the penalty was the biggest it had ever imposed on a senior executive for management failings– including excessive risk-taking and presiding over a culture of aggressive growth without adequate controls. It also banned Mr Cummings, former head of corporate banking at HBOS, for life from holding any senior position in a UK bank, building society, investment or insurance firm.

Mr Cummings rejected the ruling and denied liability. He said the FSA's process was "fundamentally flawed, one-sided and oppressive" and called for an independent inquiry into the failure of HBOS. The Scots banker said for the past three years he had been "singled out and subjected to an extraordinary Orwellian process by an organisation that acts as lawmaker, judge, jury, appeal court and executioner".Mr Cummings – well known as a lender to Top Shop founder Sir Philip Green and other high-profile business executives – said he would not appeal the matter to a tribunal because of the financial costs and emotional strain that would be placed on his family. He retired from HBOS after it was rescued by Lloyds TSB in 2008 on a pension worth £352,000 a year, built up over a 40-year career, that started at the Bank of Scotland in 1973 when he was just 18. In a statement, he said: "In 2007 and 2008 the banking industry was almost destroyed in a global liquidity crisis that exposed deep structural flaws in the industry that rocked, and in some cases brought down, so many institutions, including HBOS, where I had worked for almost 36 years."Many people must bear collective responsibility for what happened, including governments and regulators as well as the boards of the banks themselves. But the fact I am the only individual from HBOS to face investigation defies comprehension."Last night, Sir Tom Hunter, one of Scotland's most successful businessmen, moved to support Mr Cummings. Sir Tom said: "The injustice has been wrought through a flawed process where key evidence from critical witnesses such as the group finance directors simply was not called upon. The net result is an FSA report that adds nothing to the sum of learning about the financial meltdown and, at a fundamental level, calls into question the judgment of those who pursued one man."The FSA ended its inquiry into the failure at Royal Bank of Scotland without taking action against Fred Goodwin, the Edinburgh institution's former chief executive, who was subsequently stripped of his knighthood. Johnny Cameron, ex-head of investment banking at RBS, agreed not to take another job in the City in return for no action being taken against him; he made no admission of guilt.From 2006 to 2008, Mr Cummings headed HBOS's corporate banking division, which lent billions of pounds to property developers. He oversaw one of the bank's quickest spurts of growth but also one of its sharpest falls with huge losses when property prices crashed. A run on HBOS's shares led it to be rescued by Lloyds TSB, which later had to be bailed out by the taxpayer to the tune of billions of pounds. It is 40%-owned by the state.The FSA accused Mr Cummings of pursuing an "aggressive growth strategy" despite being aware of concerns within HBOS about some markets in which his division operated and amid growing signs of problems in the economy."Rather than taking reasonable steps to mitigate potential risks, he directed his division to increase its market share as other lenders were pulling out of deals," said the FSA.The retired Scottish banker was also said to have led a "culture of optimism", which affected the division's judgement about bad debts.Tracey McDermott, FSA director of enforcement and financial Crime, said: "It is essential senior executives understand that incentivising revenue over risk is a dangerous folly. "Growth is a sound ambition, but risk must be properly managed and robust controls are imperative to ensure growth is achieved in a way that is both stable and sustainable."The authority accepted the problems affecting HBOS had existed before Mr Cummings was appointed, that he did attempt to make improvements and that critical business decisions were made collectively.It also accepted he did "not act deliberately or recklessly in breaching FSA regulations and that the full severity of the global financial crisis and its effects were not reasonably foreseeable during the early part of the time period reviewed. Nonetheless, the authority said he was personally culpable for "failing to exercise due skill, care and diligence in managing HBOS's corporate division during this critical period".

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'I'm a scapegoat,' says £500,000 fine banker

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