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| LIVE: Bankers grilled by MPs | LIVE: Bankers grilled by MPs |
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| Former bankers give evidence to the Treasury Select Committee | Former bankers give evidence to the Treasury Select Committee |
| By Brian Wheeler 1009 They are asked by committee chairman John McFall on whether they lived up to the definition of a bank that they are responsible for the safekeeping of people's money. After a lot of talking around the subject, Mr McFall decides they did not. | |
| 1006 From BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson: So "sorry" isn't the hardest word. Each of the former bankers in turn have, predictably enough, said sorry. Each claimed that they had apologised before already - although that was to shareholders and not the public. Interesting that Lord Stevenson - the most political of the bunch - anticipated what will surely be another line of questioning on whether they've gained whilst we've suffered the pain by saying that "our shareholders - all of us - have lost a great deal of money". | |
| 1003 Sir Fred Goodwin says they did not get the scale and speed of the downturn. Everyone thought it was going to turn "at some point" but everyone was taken by surprise by the speed of it, he tells the MPs. | |
| 1002 Did they think low interest rates and favourable economic conditions would last forever. Lord Stevenson chooses his words carefully. He did not "slavishly worship at that doctrine". Three years ago HBOS decided to lower their share of the housing market out of caution. But, he adds, the prevailing view was "bound to have an influence on us." | |
| 0958 This is starting to look like a show trial. All four men have now offered sincere apologies. Former RBS chief Sir Fred "Goodwin said he wanted to offer a "profound and unqualified apology for all the distress that's been caused." | |
| 0956 We're off. Lord Stevenson is first to be given the opportunity to apologise by committee chairman John McFall. He says: "We are profoundly and I think unreservedly sorry at the turn of events." | 0956 We're off. Lord Stevenson is first to be given the opportunity to apologise by committee chairman John McFall. He says: "We are profoundly and I think unreservedly sorry at the turn of events." |
| 0954 "I would ask whether they're sick of being made scapegoats for an entire nation's folly and addiction to debt." Pete, Cheshire | 0954 "I would ask whether they're sick of being made scapegoats for an entire nation's folly and addiction to debt." Pete, Cheshire |
| 0952 The four men - former HBOS chief executive Andy Horny, his former chairman Lord Stevenson, former RBS CEO Sir Fred Goodwin and his former chairman Sir Tom McKillop - have just filed into the Thatcher Room to face the panel of MPs. They are swapping small talk and pouring each other glasses of water. We should be under way any second now. | 0952 The four men - former HBOS chief executive Andy Horny, his former chairman Lord Stevenson, former RBS CEO Sir Fred Goodwin and his former chairman Sir Tom McKillop - have just filed into the Thatcher Room to face the panel of MPs. They are swapping small talk and pouring each other glasses of water. We should be under way any second now. |
| 0948 "They should all be stripped of their knighthoods and made to pay back all bonuses paid to them during the period in question." Robert Taylor, London | 0948 "They should all be stripped of their knighthoods and made to pay back all bonuses paid to them during the period in question." Robert Taylor, London |
| 0946 Committee chairman, Labour MP John McFall, told the BBC News Channel he wants to find out "what went wrong" and how these "once proud institutions have been brought to their knees and what lessons we can learn for the future." He is also expected to quiz them about how they justify their bonuses. | 0946 Committee chairman, Labour MP John McFall, told the BBC News Channel he wants to find out "what went wrong" and how these "once proud institutions have been brought to their knees and what lessons we can learn for the future." He is also expected to quiz them about how they justify their bonuses. |
| 0935 Welcome to our live text coverage of the Treasury Select Committee. This morning, the four men who presided over the rise and spectacular fall of two of Britain's biggest banks will be questioned for two hours or more on their role in Britain's financial crisis. The four - until recently senior executives at the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS - will face a panel of senior MPs in the Thatcher Room at Westminster's Protcullis House. The session is due to start at about 0945. | 0935 Welcome to our live text coverage of the Treasury Select Committee. This morning, the four men who presided over the rise and spectacular fall of two of Britain's biggest banks will be questioned for two hours or more on their role in Britain's financial crisis. The four - until recently senior executives at the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS - will face a panel of senior MPs in the Thatcher Room at Westminster's Protcullis House. The session is due to start at about 0945. |