The final report by the Commission on Banking Standards could be released as early as this week and will contain a series of recommendations on bank governance as well as changes to the “approvals regime”, which registers senior bank executives, the Sunday Telegraph reports.
The 568-page document is expected to say the regime has failed and needs to be replaced, as well as urging regulators to enforce current laws rather than recommending new criminal legislation for the banking industry.
It was the disclosure that Lord Stevenson, the former chairman of HBOS, had remained an “approved person” for several years after the bank’s collapse which persuaded the commission that the regime needed to be changed.
A chapter on the approved persons framework is expected to say that the current process is a failure and needs to be reformed so that individuals involved in any future banking collapse can be barred from working in the financial services industry.
The commission’s 10 members will meet on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the draft report ahead of its publication, which could come as early as Wednesday.
Andrew Tyrie MP, the chairman, is expected to face tough questions over the report’s contents as rival commissioners look to ensure their views are reflected.
Among the main parts of the report is a section devoted to the banking industry’s resistance to reform, as well as a segment on improving competition, particularly by encouraging alternative sources of finance.
There has also been much behind-the-scenes lobbying of commissioners and an early chapter of the report is expected to discuss banks’ “resistance” to reform.
One of the longest chapters, at about 70 pages, is focused on the regulatory and supervisory approach in financial services and is expected to include a series of recommendations on how this can be made more effective.
The commission was formed by George Osborne last July following the public and political outcry that met Barclays’ admission that it had attempted to rig global interest rates.
One commissioner said the report would ask “a lot of questions” of the Chancellor and the Treasury about how successful reforms had been so far.
