Ex-boss of failed UK bank returns knighthood

The former boss of failed British bank HBOS will return his knighthood and forego 30 percent of his pension following last week's damning parliamentary report into its collapse during the financial crisis. James Crosby, who served as chief executive between 2001 and 2006, also resigned as a non-executive director of Compass Group, the world's biggest catering company. The influential Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards attacked Crosby in last week's report -- called 'An Accident Waiting to Happen.' The Commission slammed three ex-bosses for a "colossal failure" of management in pursuing a high-risk strategy that caused the bank's downfall in 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis. The panel of lawmakers blamed the men's "toxic misjudgements" for a collapse which sparked a vast £20.5-billion ($31-billion, 24-billion-euro) taxpayer bailout. In light of the report, Crosby offered to return the knighthood awarded in 2006 and 30 percent of his £580,000-a-year ($888,000 or 680,000 euros) HBOS pension. "Although I stood down as CEO of HBOS in 2006, some three years before it was taken over by Lloyds, I have never sought to disassociate myself from what has happened," Crosby explained. "I would therefore like to repeat today what I said when I appeared in public before the commission in December; namely that I am deeply sorry for what happened at HBOS and the ensuing consequences for former colleagues, shareholders, taxpayers and society in general. "Shortly after I left HBOS, I received the enormous honour of a knighthood in recognition of my own -- and many other people's -- contribution to the creation of a company which was then widely regarded as a great success. "In view of what has happened subsequently to HBOS, I believe that it is right that I should now ask the appropriate authorities to take the necessary steps for its removal." His request is being considered by a Whitehall honours committee.