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Four of the bankers blamed for Britain's financial meltdown made a grovelling apology for their role in the crisis - but insisted they had been victims too.
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Four of the bankers blamed for Britain's financial meltdown made a grovelling apology for their role in the crisis - but insisted they had been victims too.
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Re: We're so sorry we've lost millions, the men at the heart of the banking crisis te
We're so sorry (for ourselves) that we've lost millions, the men at the heart of the banking crisis tell MPs
By James Chapman and Ian Drury
Last updated at 12:19 AM on 11th February 2009
- Bankers say sorry for their role in financial crisis...
- ... but they insist they have also lost millions
- Ex-RBS boss admits ABN-Amro deal was 'bad mistake'
- 'I led responsibly', says Sir Fred 'the Shred' Goodwin
At the start of a bruising session with MPs, the former chiefs of Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, which had to be bailed out with billions of pounds of taxpayers' cash, were quick to express their regrets.
But the four - former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin and chairman Sir Tom McKillop, and former chief executive of HBOS Andy Hornby and chairman Lord Stevenson - rejected claims that they had behaved recklessly.
Grilling: (from left) Lord Stevenson, Andy Hornby, Sir Fred Goodwin and Sir Tom McKillop giving evidence to the Treasury Committee
Labour and Tory MPs accused them of 'arrogance' and a refusal to accept personal responsibility.
In the three-hour grilling by the Treasury select committee:
- All the ex-bank chiefs admitted they had no banking qualifications;
- They conceded the City bonus culture had contributed to the crisis;
- Lord Stevenson prompted uproar by claiming HBOS had not got things 'very wrong';
- Sir Tom admitted he did not fully understand complex financial instruments - essentially parcels of 'toxic' debt - sold between banks;
- Sir Fred admitted his disastrous takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro was a 'bad decision' but insisted he had acted in a 'responsible fashion'.
Sir Fred, who was paid a salary of £1.46million last year, claimed to have lost more than £5million in shares, and Mr Hornby, who earned £940,000, said said he had lost more on his shares than he had been paid in the past two years.
Mr Hornby said that while he was 'extremely sorry for the turn of events' that led to HBOS's rescue takeover by Lloyds TSB and Government bail-out, he was 'not personally culpable' for the crisis.
He was ridiculed by MPs after admitting he did not know how much Job-Seekers' Allowance was worth.
He was put on the spot by Labour backbencher John Mann who used the initials 'JSA' in an attempt to highlight how out of touch the ex-HBOS boss was.
A clearly-baffled Mr Hornby - who is still earning £60,000 a month as a consultant for Lloyds TSB - had to have it pointed out that this was the new name for the dole.
It is worth £60.60 a week.
He said: 'I don't know the precise amount. I suspect it's a very low quantity of money.'
Mr Mann retorted: 'I don't know if you're going to be relying on it.'
Sir Fred and Sir Tom faced accusations of 'destroying a great British bank' in RBS, which is now almost 70 per cent state-owned.
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Re: We're so sorry we've lost millions, the men at the heart of the banking crisis te
SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did the 'Sorry' work for you?
I remember my 'Sorry' at school for forging my mums signature was a lot more heartfelt, I still got the slipper though.Comment
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Re: We're so sorry we've lost millions, the men at the heart of the banking crisis te
Is the 'sorry we've lost millions' refering to the bonuses that they are reluctantly not taking? or is it a missquote, from what I have been reading they actually lost many hundreds of billions, not millions.Borrow money from a pessimist -- they don't expect it back.Comment
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