Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, called for a debate over rules to allow bosses of failed banks to be automatically banned
Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, called for a debate over changing the rules to allow bosses of failed banks to be automatically banned or stripped of their pay after the regulator was forced to explain why it had not taken disciplinary action against former directors of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
He also said that regulators should be given powers to formally authorise or prevent future bank takeovers after the FSA did not intervene to stop RBS taking over ABN Amro.
The FSA made clear, however, that if former RBS directors applied to work in the City again it would take into account their "competence" before approving them.
The regulator added that Johnny Cameron, the former head of the investment bank, would not have met its current standards for approval.
Vince Cable, the business secretary (left) is reconsidering whether there are any grounds to ban individuals as company directors, having concluded that the initial information provided to him did not provide sufficient grounds for any ban.
After receiving the full FSA report yesterday, Cable said he was appointing legal counsel to advise him.
The auditors, Deloitte, may also face an investigation from the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board, which regulates accountants and to which the FSA has also handed its report into what went wrong at RBS.
The discipline board would also have the opportunity of reviewing the role of the former RBS chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, who is a chartered accountant.