HBOS failure report leads to call for FCA review

Released today, the Treasury Committee’s Review of the reports into the failure of HBOS, the chair of the committee Andrew Tyrie MP said regulators’ ability to protect consumers from regulatory failures, was still a “work in progress”, particularly at the FCA.

Related topics:  Finance News
Amy Loddington
26th July 2016
FCA

Tyrie said that the findings of the HBOS report, undertaken by Andrew Green QC, strengthened the case for a review of the FCA's enforcement function with a view to giving this power to a seperate body - a measure which was proposed in 2013 by the Parlimentary Commission on Banking Standards and later rejected by the Treasury.

He added:

“A separate body would bolster the perception of the enforcement function’s independence, and provide the regulators with greater clarity over their objectives. The case for separation merits serious re-examination. The Treasury should appoint an independent person to undertake a review.”

Commenting on the report, Right Hon. Andrew Tyrie MP, Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, said:

"The regulators failed, both before and after the HBOS crisis. Seven years after the bank’s collapse, we now know just how badly. And not because the regulators showed a spirit to learn the lessons of the past. It took persistent pressure from the Treasury Committee to ensure these failures weren’t swept under the carpet.

"So the HBOS experience calls for the FCA and the PRA to exhibit greater vigilance and energy if they are to win public confidence. This has on occasion been lacking.

A lot is at stake. The plain fact is that the FSA did not succeed in protecting consumers from spectacular regulatory failures. The creation of the FCA and the PRA has been an opportunity to build something much better. This is still work in progress, particularly at the FCA."

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