Tyrie calls for FSA to reveal RBS findings
THE FSA is expected to release a public summary of its investigation into stricken bank RBS, after an influential MP wrote to chairman Lord Turner demanding a fuller account.
Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative chairman of the Treasury select committee, said it was “crucial to learn the lessons” from the “catalogue of mistakes” that led to the huge taxpayer-funded bailout of RBS.
The FSA conducted a lengthy probe into the rescue of the Scottish bank, which is now 70 per cent owned by the state after almost perishing in the financial crisis.
The report cleared former chief executive Fred Goodwin of any wrongdoing, but the FSA came under fire after it said it could not make its findings public for confidentiality reasons.
Goodwin has already said he has no objection to the details being published.
While Tyrie acknowledged that the Financial Services and Markets Act restricts the FSA from publishing details relating to individuals without their consent, he said the watchdog could still release a summary of its findings.
He said: “The FSA have assured us that they have conducted a thorough investigation. We need to see it.”
Pressure also came from a cable released by Wikileaks yesterday that claimed current RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton said the bank’s directors had failed to live up to their “fiduciary duties”, contradicting the FSA’s announcement that exonerated them last week.
Hampton is said to have told visiting politicians that one of the biggest mistakes made by the bank was its ill-timed takeover of ABN Amro.
RBS and the FSA yesterday declined to comment on whether any of the watchdog’s findings would now be made public.