Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009

The HBOS Whistlebower speaks !!! - read it and weep

Time online: HBOS whistleblower: statement of evidence

"Notwithstanding this I was dismissed by the CEO (he wrote that it was “... his decision and his alone”). I sued HBOS for unfair dismissal under the whistle blowing legislation. Ironically, I was also the “Good Practice Manager” for whistle blowing purposes at HBOS but could hardly report my case to myself! - HBOS finally settled my claim against them for substantial damages in mid 2005. I was subjected to a gagging order but have decided so speak out now because I believe the public interest demands it. " - Love to see HBOS sue him now.

Posted by shining wit @ 05:36 PM (1141 views) Add Comment

14 Comments

1. stillthinking said...

James Crosby (now Sir of course) seems to be ,
1) incredibly wealthy
2) up to his neck in the UK's collapse

You can't help but wonder if the two are related ... I hope nobody suggests that he's had his fingers in the till.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 06:01PM Report Comment
 

2. hpwatcher said...

James Crosby (now Sir of course) seems to be

Isn't one of them an aid of Gordon Brown?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 06:05PM Report Comment
 

3. plato said...

Lord soon!!!.......and why not?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 06:18PM Report Comment
 

4. mdmick said...

We need that guy from 'The Day Today':
"Sorry? You're not sorry at all, are you?!!"

I guess these people are thinking, "My actions are the same type of actions that got me promoted this high in the first place and which earned me respect. It's only now that the strategy has produced a bad result, and now suddenly I am to blame for everything!"
In that sense, it must be hard to apologise. Yes, you are sorry that loads of people are in dire financial straits as a result of your decisions but you also know that you were following a long-time successful financial model to arrive there.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 06:31PM Report Comment
 

5. fun 4 now said...

isnt he advising...something about kickstarting mortgage lending?......
hopefully no one will listen to him now

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 06:41PM Report Comment
 

6. jack c said...

Come on guy's surely you know where Sir James ended up? after all it's just one big game !

www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/about/who/board/crosby.shtml

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 07:12PM Report Comment
 

7. shining wit said...

In April 2008, Crosby was appointed by Chancellor Alastair Darling to head up a Working Group of mortgage industry experts to advise the Government on how to improve the functioning of the mortgage market: result:

www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/crosby290708.pdf

Incredible

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 07:25PM Report Comment
 

8. paul said...

@MdMick

We need that guy from 'The Day Today':
"Sorry? You're not sorry at all, are you?!!"


You mean this one ...

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 07:31PM Report Comment
 

9. amjidk said...

i think the following paragraph of the rather long story summarises everything..

o mix a few well known similes / metaphors / stories, the current financial crisis is a bit like the story of the Emperor’s new clothes. Anyone whose eyes were not blinded by money, power and pride (Hubris) who really looked carefully knew there was something wrong and that economic growth based almost solely on excessive consumer spending based on excessive consumer credit based on massively increasing property prices which were caused by the very same excessively easy credit could only ultimately lead to disaster. But sadly, no-one wanted or felt able to speak up for fear of stepping out of line with the rest of the lemmings who were busy organising themselves to run over the edge of the cliff behind the pied piper CEOs and executive teams that were being paid so much to play that tune and take them in that direction.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 07:52PM Report Comment
 

10. shining wit said...

The Prime Minister, when chancellor appointed (sir) David Crosby to the FSA when Mr Crosby had himself, sacked the Group risk assessor 3 years before the HBOS, the bank Crosby ran, all but went to the wall, only rescued by £20 billion of OUR money and then, Gordon Brown then broke his own monopoly rules, allowing Lloyds to buy the HBOS creating an inherently unfair giant in the UK banking industry.

If you wrote this in a novel a couple of years ago any publisher/editor or reviewer would have ridiculed you saying that this sort of fiction was unbelievable

How can Crash Gordon keep his clunking fist still tonight

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 07:55PM Report Comment
 

11. amjidk said...

agreed shining wit, + the whole of the past 18 months or for that matter 8 years have been unbelievable

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 08:06PM Report Comment
 

12. quiet guy said...

Paul Moore, Ex-head of Group Regulatory Risk (GRR) at HBOS said:

"I am still toxic waste now for having spoken out all those years ago! I would be amazed if there were not many executives who, if they really examined their consciences closely, would not say that they knew this too."

For me, this is the heart of the matter and this problem doesn't just occur in banking - the only difference is the scale of the money involved. The FSA failed and the next regulatory regime will fail to curb the excesses of the next crop of 'Super Bankers' some time (probably a long time) in the future.

I suggest that we should concentrate on legislation to structure future banks so that they can fail without state support. Hoping that we can somehow avoid another disaster caused by banker's greed is too much to hope for. When times are good, anybody who stands in the way gets run over.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 08:19PM Report Comment
 

13. Tenyearstogetmymoney Back said...

Interesting to read the timing of all this.

This http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3478635.stm program (Mortgage Madness)
was broadcast in Feb 2004. I was so appalled by what Halifax / Birmingham Midshires
were exposed as doing (telling people to lie on Self Cert mortgage applications) I sold
my Halifax shares the next day.

The only real surprise was that the whole house of cards / CDOs took such a long time to collapse.
In fact anyone who predicted it in 2004 was beginning to look a bit stupid by 2007.

:- Duncan

Bought 1989 £65500 Sold 1999 £70500

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 11:44PM Report Comment
 

14. troy said...

"For me, this is the heart of the matter and this problem doesn't just occur in banking "

political ponerology exposed at a high level?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009 06:18AM Report Comment
 

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