UK: Treasury Committee publishes banking crisis fourth report

The House of Commons Treasury Committee, as part of its banking crisis inquiry, has today published its fourth report: Banking Crisis: regulation and supervision. The report makes wide-ranging recommendations and describes as a "muddle" the manner in which responsibility for financial stability will be shared amongst the Bank of England, Financial Services Authority, HM Treasury, new Council for Financial Stability and the Bank of England's Financial Stability Committee.

With regard to bank directors, the Committee recommends that the Financial Services Authority should assess whether they possess relevant qualifications. The Committee's view is that banking qualifications should become one of the core indicators against which the FSA assesses a candidate’s competence for acting as a bank director. The Committee notes, however, a potential risk that may arise from greater FSA oversight of bank directors: the crowding out of due diligence by others. 

The Committee's earlier reports are available here:

First report: the impact of the failure of the Icelandic banks | Second report: dealing with the failure of the UK banks | Third report: reforming corporate governance and pay in the City |