RegulationApr 1 2015

HBoS report not due until after general election – FCA

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HBoS report not due until after general election – FCA

The long-awaited report into the failure of HBoS will not be published until after the general election, the City watchdog has confirmed.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the regulator confirmed that the report into the failure of HBoS, following the conclusion of enforcement action against former head of corporate banking Peter Cummings, does not even have a specific publication date.

According to the response: “The report will not be completed before the start of the pre-election period. Should the report be completed during the six-week pre-election period, it would not be published until after the election.

“This is in order to protect the impartiality of the report, and to allow for it to be debated by parliament. As yet we have no specific time for publication and we will be able to comment more then.”

The former FSA began the report into the failure of HBoS in September 2012. According to the FCA, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the FCA are “committed to publishing the report as soon as possible, but the process of Maxwellisation is currently under way, and this can take some time”. Consentfrom various parties will then be needed to publish any information deemed confidential by law in the report.

Adviser view

Steve Farrell, IFA for Hampshire-based Lawrence Clarke, said: “Clients feel that banks are not to be trusted. Globally, banks brought the economy to its knees, and with the succession of credit card fraud, Forex fraud, mis-selling and Libor, there has not been a lot of trust among clients about the banks.

“Of course this rubs off on their trust in the wider financial services industry. Thankfully, it has helped us with conversations with clients, who trust us to advise them well.”