I have a lot of time for Sir Richard Lambert. I worked with him on the Financial Times in the 1970-80s and after I left he rose to become a very successful editor of the paper. Then followed a stint on the Monetary Policy Committee, then a period as Chief Executive of the CBI. But I can’t help thinking he has his work cut out to change the culture of Banking.
Tag: Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards
On the day that Robert Peston breaks news of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards draft report, I’m on my way to speak to an interesting group of bankers in Dublin. Questions sent in advance may whet the appetite for tonight’s dinner.
We now know what the price of failure is for the CEO of a wrecked bank. Fred Goodwin at RBS set the tariff: a lost knighthood and a third off the pension. Now James Crosby at HBOS has fallen into line. But what should happen to the chairmen?
The Parliamentary Commission report repays careful reading, not least for its strident criticism of the board and their habit of self-congratulation rather than rigorous challenge.
The significance of the HBOS report from the Parliamentary Commission is not in any new evidence it has uncovered – we always knew why the bank went bust – but in the uncompromising way in which it named the men primarily responsible for bringing it down, chairman Lord Stevenson and chief executives Sir James Crosby and Andy Hornby.
Newspapers made great play on the rewriting of history by Eric Daniels, former Chief Executive of Lloyds, last week, when he appeared to backtrack on his statement that the takeover of HBOS had been done with inadequate due diligence.
Evasive, repetitive, unrealistic. Unless my old newspaper instincts have deserted me that description by Andrew Tyrie of Lord Stevenson’s evidence to the Parliamentary Commission, is what will make the headlines. And the former HBOS-chairman will find it hard to outlive the label.