Fury at HBOS report delays
Furious politicians last night called for the report into the collapse of Halifax Bank of Scotland to be published after the City watchdog warned of further delays.
The findings were expected to be made public this summer nearly seven years after the downfall of the lender triggered a disastrous merger with Lloyds and a £20.5bn bailout from UK taxpayers. But a letter from regulators to the Treasury Select Committee warned of yet more hold-ups amid legal wrangling with those named in the report.
Tory MP Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the committee, said: ‘it is now almost seven years since the collapse of HBOS. £20.5bn of taxpayers’ money was required to bail it out. The Treasury Committee has been instrumental in ensuring that the public will receive the full explanation it deserves. We have been waiting a long time. The review should be published as soon as possible.’
Sources suggested that the report could still be published before the end of the year.
The f i ndings are expected to expose the disastrous blunders of former bank chief executives Andy Hornby and James Crosby as well as former chairman Lord Stevenson.
But it has been held up by socalled ‘Maxwellisation’ – the process where those due to be criticised in an official report are sent details and are permitted to respond prior to publication.
The letter, from Bank of England deputy governor Andrew Bailey and Sir Brian Pomeroy, senior independent director at the Financial Conduct Authority, revealed that 1425 representations have been made by more than 35 individuals and their legal representatives over the contents of the report. in some cases, this has resulted in even deeper criticism, meaning those concerned have the chance to make further representations before publication in a process known as ‘re-Maxwellisation’.
Regulators will then have to seek permission from individuals to publish any confidential information.
‘We are therefore not yet in a position to provide precise timing on the publication of the report,’ wrote Bailey and Pomeroy. ‘We can assure you that we remain committed, as ever, to publishing the report as soon as is practicable.’
ukip MP Douglas Carswell said ‘they have clearly been taking lessons from the Chilcot inquiry’ – the heavily delayed report into the 2003 invasion of iraq.
‘Given the billions of pounds spent on the bailout the least we can expect is disclosure,’ he said. ‘What is in this report that they do not want us to see? Politicians think that the banking crisis is a distant memory but the public remember. it beggars belief given the amount of well-educated and qualified people working on this that we cannot get a clear decision on the timing of publication.’
The Government has reduced its stake in HBOS-owner Lloyds from over 40pc to below 15pc – recouping over £13bn for taxpayers. George Osborne yesterday confirmed plans to sell the remainder of the bank before the end of March next year – including an offer to retail investors. But he also told MPs that the State’s 79pc stake in Royal Bank of Scotland – which was also bailed out – will be sold at a loss. The Government ploughed £45.8bn into RBS to save it from collapse but shares closed at 361.3p last night – well below the 500p paid by the last Labour administration – leaving taxpayers sat on paper losses of £12.9bn.
Osborne conceded it was ‘not politically convenient’ to start selling RBS shares any time soon because he will not recoup what then Labour chancellor Alistair Darling paid.
‘But i don’t think this country is going to get, at least in the shortterm, what my predecessor paid for it so we need to get on with trying to build a stronger economy,’ he told the Treasury Select Committee.