(Lab) [V]:...I have in front of me some
correspondence between the commissioner and the Prime Minister’s
office, from which I shall read some extracts. On 30 May 2017,
possibly in response to previous invitations, the commissioner
wrote to Prime Minister , saying:
“There is a serious problem with bank governance, which appears
to be corrupt at the highest level in a number of our major
banks. The governance system itself is being run by those most
involved in cover ups and corrupt practices. For instance, the
senior partner of the audit company that failed, either through
incompetence or complicity, to notice a £1 billion fraud within
HBOS is now Chairman of the Financial Conduct Authority, and the
Chairman of the bank when much of this was covered up is now
Chairman of the Financial Reporting Council ”
The letter goes on:
“Some of the cover up also involves the Treasury and two past
Chancellors”.
These are serious allegations by a senior law enforcement
officer, in a letter to the Prime Minister...
[V]:...I will comment briefly on a further development in
the FCA’s investigation into car finance, which I have referred
to in the House in the past. Since the FCA introduced its new
rules banning discretionary commission models in January 2021 and
subsequently closed its investigations into Lookers, the car
dealership firm, for possible mis-selling, it was revealed that
the UK’s accounting watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council was
investigating accounting giant Deloitte for its role in auditing
the very same Lookers that the FCA had only just ended its
investigation into a few weeks earlier. The FCA never confirmed
or dismissed whether there had been any mis-selling, remarking
that it had made its concerns clear and did not intend to impose
penalties on this FTSE 250 firm. However, the opening of a new
investigation relating to Lookers raises questions about the
thoroughness of the original FCA investigation: were all aspects
investigated?
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