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Brown aide quits amid allegations
The deputy chairman of the British financial regulator quits after allegedly contributing to a major banking failure by ignoring warnings.

HBOS ex-chief James Crosby left the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on Wednesday after his former head of regulatory risk Paul Moore accused him of contributing to the bank's failure.

According to Moore, Crosby risked too much and would not listen to warnings that the bank was rapidly approaching failure.

He also claimed that he had been sacked by Crosby in 2005 after confronting him on the issue.

The credit crunch took its toll on HBOS last month, prompting the bank to be absorbed into the Lloyds Banking Group as a result of a successful government-brokered takeover bid.

Premier Gordon Brown, whose government used to take Crosby's economic advice, however, insisted that the bank had sunk "because its whole business model was wrong" and not because of the surrounding allegations, BBC reported.

"It is important that the FSA show at this time that it is operating to the best standards possible," he added while defending the Crosby resignation.

Posted by: Fred 2009-02-13
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=262404