HBOS was 8220 an accident waiting to happen 8221
A parliamentary report has suggested the bank was being poorly led and would have failed even without the 2008 global financial crisis.
HBOS – the subject of a bailout by the UK government - would likely have collapsed even if the 2008 financial crisis had not occurred, according to ministers.
The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards has produced a report labelling the lender an "accident waiting to happen", with poor business decisions made across the company.
According to the report, HBOS was heading towards insolvency even before the funding and liquidity issues that arose from the economic downturn.
The commission stated that, while regulators did not do enough to prevent the collapse, responsibility should lie with the company's chairman Dennis Stevenson and former chief executives Andy Hornby and James Crosby.
Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie chaired the commission and said the situation resulted from a "colossal failure of senior management and the board".
Mr Tyrie also suggested the three men highlighted should be punished by industry regulators. To date, only Peter Cummings – former head of corporate lending at HBOS – has been charged.
He was fined £500,000 by the Financial Services Authority in September and banned from the industry for life.
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