Sants: Regulator should investigate bank failures

The Prudential Regulatory Authority – the new regulator taking over the supervision of big UK financial institutions in 2013 - should be charged with investigating bank failures and making its findings public, Hector Sants has said.

The chief executive of the FSA, who has been tipped to head the new Prudential Regulatory Authority, told the Financial Times the regulator would need this explicit power to avoid a repeat of the recent commotion over the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The FSA announced in December it was barred under confidentiality rules from explaining why it was closing its probe of RBS's 2008 collapse without bringing charges, writes the Financial Times.

When the move prompted intense criticism, two City leaders were appointed to conduct an independent review that would report on what went wrong with the bank, which is now 83 per cent government owned.

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