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| Vince Cable 'considers ban for former HBOS directors' | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Business Secretary Vince Cable has launched formal proceedings which could lead to the three former directors of HBOS being banned from serving as company directors, the BBC understands. | Business Secretary Vince Cable has launched formal proceedings which could lead to the three former directors of HBOS being banned from serving as company directors, the BBC understands. |
| A department source said he requested a review of evidence to disqualify Andy Hornby, Lord Stevenson and Sir James Crosby, the BBC's Carole Walker said. | A department source said he requested a review of evidence to disqualify Andy Hornby, Lord Stevenson and Sir James Crosby, the BBC's Carole Walker said. |
| A report on Friday blamed them for failures in the bank's 2008 collapse. | A report on Friday blamed them for failures in the bank's 2008 collapse. |
| Mr Cable was said to feel outraged by the situation, our correspondent said. | Mr Cable was said to feel outraged by the situation, our correspondent said. |
| The business secretary wanted to find out if there were legal grounds to do something about it, she reported. | The business secretary wanted to find out if there were legal grounds to do something about it, she reported. |
| 'Architect' of the downfall | |
| HBOS collapsed in 2008, wiping out shareholders and costing thousands of jobs. | |
| The bank was then forced to merge with Lloyds in early 2009 and received a £20.5bn taxpayer bailout. It was one of the most high profile casualties of the UK's banking crisis, which precipitated a wider economic downturn. | |
| In its report on Friday, the Banking Standards Commission expressed frustration that City regulators had "taken no steps" to consider banning the three men from further involvement in financial services. | |
| None of the men has been formally punished for their roles leading up to HBOS's failure, despite what the commission described as a "colossal failure of management" and a strategy dating back to 2001 that "sowed the seeds of disaster". | |
| Labour MP John Mann - who sits on the House of Commons' Treasury Committee - has also called for Sir James, described as the "architect" of HBOS's downfall, to be stripped of his title. | |
| Disqualification proceedings | |
| Following the report, Sir James, who served as chief executive at HBOS between 2001 and 2006, resigned from an advisory position he held at a London-based investment firm. | |
| The BBC understands the board of Bridgepoint, a private equity firm, requested that Sir James stand down. | |
| He retains other positions, including the post of non-executive director at Compass Group, a food services company. | |
| However, the BBC's political correspondent Carole Walker understands that Mr Cable has called on officials at the investigations and enforcement branch of the government's insolvency service to see if there is sufficient evidence to start disqualification proceedings against Sir James, Mr Hornby and Lord Stevenson. | |
| Lord Stevenson, who presided as chairman of HBOS throughout its eight-year existence, is currently a non-executive director at the bookseller Waterstone's. | |
| Mr Hornby, who took over the running of HBOS in 2006, has been the chief executive of gambling company Coral since 2011. | |
| The Banking Standards Commission was set up to improve the UK's banking system following the 2008 financial crisis. |