|
Showing 1 - 4 of
4 matches in All Departments
This report finds the three bankers guilty of "catastrophic
failures of management" in the run-up to the collapse of HBOS which
resulted in its emergency takeover by Lloyds bank. "Toxic"
misjudgments by the three led to the bank's downfall. Lloyds later
needed a GBP20.5bn taxpayer bail-out at the height of the financial
crisis as a direct result of its acquisition of HBOS. So far only
one former HBOS director, Peter Cummings, has been penalised, after
being fined GBP500,000 and banned for life from working in the City
last September. The Commission said it was wrong that he should
shoulder the blame alone. They claim "The primary responsibility
for the downfall of HBOS should rest with Sir James Crosby,
architect of the strategy that set the course for disaster, with
Andy Hornby, who proved unable or unwilling to change course, and
Lord Stevenson, who presided over the bank's board from its birth
to its death.", and calls on the new City regulator to consider
barring them from taking up any role in the financial sector.
Senior executives of HBOS tried to blame the losses on the
temporary closure of wholesale markets. During the financial
crisis, banks stopped lending to each other, resulting in their
short-term supplies of funding drying up. But members of the
Commission said they were disappointed by such explanations, as it
was the lending approach that was to blame. The FSA's failure to
act exposes what a flawed regulatory framework was in place and
politicians of all parties backed the propping up of the banks with
frighteningly expensive bailouts
The Commission welcomes the Government's acceptance of the
principle that it's proposed framework for ring-fencing requires
reinforcement. The Commission sees no merit in the proposition that
the first reserve power will create uncertainty for banks or put at
risk their attempts to raise funds for lending. That power will be
a source of uncertainty only for those minded to take actions that
conflict with the objectives of the ring-fence. It is important
that the regulator's powers to break-up a bank should be
exercisable only after by an independent reviewer. It is also
important that the reviewer should be independent of Government.
The Government should make explicit provision in the Bill to enable
the regulator to require a bank to divest itself of a specified
division or set of activities which would fall short of the
requirements of the first reserve power. The Government's proposal
for the periodic review to be conducted by the regulator is wholly
inadequate. Government has been at pains to make the case against
the provision for full separation being implemented on the say so
of the regulator. Instead, it is envisioned that the legislative
provisions would be brought into force only in the light of the
recommendations of the independent review. It is essential that the
timetable for the progress of the current Bill allows adequate time
not only for the full scrutiny of the current content, but also for
the addition of provisions to give effect to their recommendations
In its struggle against international terrorism following 9/11, the
United States developed rendition - the international transfer of
an individual without customary due processes - as an instrument of
policy. Rendition became associated with the use of coercive
interrogation techniques - techniques often crossing the threshold
of torture, in violation of international standards to which
successive American administrations committed themselves. To a
degree yet to be fully established, Britain was implicated in that
policy. Whatever its alleged benefits, rendition's cost is clear -
not simply in terms of the human impact of the abuses, but also in
terms of the huge damage done to the moral authority of the West.
By creating a powerful image of injustice, rendition gives Islamist
radicals a recruiting and propaganda tool. Moreover, the policy is
a severe setback to efforts to enhance shared international
standards in humanitarian and human rights laws. The All-Party
Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition was founded in
December 2005, following the emergence of allegations that the
United States had been operating a programme of 'ghost flights' and
'black sites'. In the five years since then the Group has
contributed to public knowledge and awareness of the debate
surrounding rendition and Britain's involvement in it.
The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards was established
in July 2012, in the wake of the LIBOR scandal, the report Changing
Banking For Good (HL 27-I, HC 175-I) is the result of their inquiry
into professional standards and culture in the UK banking sector,
and makes recommendations for legislative and other action. Key
recommendations include: a new Senior Persons Regime, replacing the
Approved Persons Regime, to ensure that the most important
responsibilities within banks are assigned to specific, senior
individuals so they can be held fully accountable for their
decisions and the standards of their banks in these areas; a new
licensing regime underpinned by Banking Standards Rules to ensure
those who can do serious harm are subject to the full range of
enforcement powers; a new criminal offence for Senior Persons of
reckless misconduct in the management of a bank, carrying a
custodial sentence;
|
You may like...
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|