Royal Bank of Scotland (FSA Report)

Richard Fuller Excerpts

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

It is interesting, is it not? It is not often that we see particular Ministers highlighted in reports published by independent bodies. The three who are mentioned are Tony Blair, the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown) and the shadow Chancellor. The shadow Chancellor took great pride in taking credit for the design of the regulatory structure, which failed, and he compounded those mistakes in the design of the structure by putting pressure on the FSA to go for a light-touch regime. The taxpayer has picked up the consequences of the failure to design that structure correctly and of the inappropriate pressure to have a light-touch regime when it came to the regulation of RBS and others. The taxpayer is paying the cost and the Opposition should be apologising for that.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

Although the report includes useful forward-looking recommendations, its review of the actions of executives, directors, regulators and Ministers that led to the crisis amounts to 487 pages of “Oops!” That includes the laughable statement on page 352 that

“deterrence will most effectively be achieved by bringing home to such individuals the consequences of their actions.”

Does the Minister agree that deterrence would be more effectively achieved by those people hearing the clunk of the prison door and the turning of the key?

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend is right to say that many taxpayers up and down the country who have seen £45 billion poured into RBS want to know why action has not been taken against its directors. Today’s report is an attempt to address those issues. It recognises that there are some problems with the sanctions available to the FSA and in the Companies Acts, and we are committed to reviewing them and seeing which tougher sanctions can be put in place to deal with directors who let down the businesses they work for and the customers they serve.