HBOS bankers to be slammed in parliament probe

BANKERS who ran HBOS in the run-up to its collapse are set to be heavily criticised in a damning parliamentary report.

Sources close to the investigation into the failure of the bank in 2008, which is to be published by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards tomorrow, said the findings would present a case study of a failed bank with poor governance and weak credit risk controls.

It is also set to reveal that the total cost of bailing out HBOS rose to almost £30bn, it was reported today.

One source said that the report was so critical that they likened its findings to “the first mass bloodletting” of the lender’s leadership.

Created in 2001 from the merger of Halifax and the Bank of Scotland, HBOS became one of the biggest disaster stories of the financial crisis. Former chairman of the bank, Lord Stevenson, and ex-chief executive Sir James Crosby are set to come under fire.