House of Lords slams Big Four auditors for role in banking crisis
THE HOUSE of Lords yesterday accused the Big Four auditors of misleading investors by giving the banks a clean bill of health before the financial crisis.
The Lords’ economic affairs committee grilled bosses of Ernst &Young, Deloitte, PwC and KPMG as part of a probe into a possible lack of competition in the financial services market.
Deloitte chief John Connolly was shot down for arguing the firms played no part in the downfall of companies including RBS, which his firm audited.
“That seems to me to be extraordinarily self-satisfied in light of what we know to be the case,” said Nigel Lawson, a former finance minister.
Auditors are required to state whether a company can last another year, but Lawson said the firms were using loopholes to sign off banks that were “on thin ice”.