MPs question Brown over banking crisis

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Last Modified: 12 Feb 2009
By: James Blake

As MPs question the prime minister over the banking crisis, he appears to blame the financial regulator for its oversight of HBOS.

The prime minister has told MPs that the bank regulator, the Financial Services Authority, had given HBOS a clean bill of health for its financial strategy before the appointment of its former chief executive to the regulator.

Sir James Crosby yesterday resigned as deputy chairman of the FSA after it emerged that a former employee had claimed he had been sacked by Sir James for warning that Halifax Bank of Scotland was taking too many risks.

Called to give evidence to the cross-party liaison select committee of MPs this morning, Gordon Brown said the treasury had not been aware of the investigation and that Sir James's appointment to the FSA had been recommended by an independent panel.