Former City regulators given £550,000 of taxpayers' money in return for doing nothing for six months

  • Sir Hector Sants and Adair Turner took the money on leaving the watchdog
  • The FSA said the money was compensation for being barred from working elsewhere for six months

By Rob Davies

PUBLISHED: 19:25 EST, 10 July 2013 | UPDATED: 19:46 EST, 10 July 2013

The two men at the helm of the City regulator during the financial crisis have been given a £550,000 payoff for six months of doing nothing.

Sir Hector Sants, former chief executive of the Financial Services Authority, and Adair Turner, its ex-chairman, took the combined sum on leaving the watchdog.

The FSA said the money was ‘compensation’ for being barred from working elsewhere for six months after leaving.

Adair Turner, FSA's ex-chairman
Hector Sants, the Deputy Head of the Financial Services Authority (FSA)

Sir Hector Sants (right), former chief executive of the Financial Services Authority, and Adair Turner (left), its ex-chairman, took the combined sum on leaving the watchdog

Sir Hector then negotiated himself a £3million-a-year role with Barclays as head of regulation, while the FSA was scrapped after failing to predict the banking crisis.

The so-called gardening leave drew fierce criticism last night.

 

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Tory MP Douglas Carswell said: ‘This should make us really angry because these two quangocrats have failed catastrophically. It’s quite disgraceful.’ 

Labour MP Teresa Pearce, who sits on the Treasury Committee, said: ‘During its existence the FSA did not cover itself in glory.

‘Yet it seems the culture never changed and these payouts are symbolic of that.’  

The payments were revealed in the FSA’s final annual report before it was replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority.

When Sir Hector resigned last July he received £300,178 to compensate him for not being allowed to work for six months, taking his annual pay deal to £530,441.

Lord Turner was given a £252,000 payoff, taking his pay for his last year to £785,153.

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We should demand it back, that could have helped a lot of people. We should all strike.

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"City regulators", isnt that an oxymoron?

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Absolutely DISGUSTING - this lot and the BBC just as revolting. Shame on them.

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We hsould have the right to sack MP's then we might start to put right the wrongs in this country. Afterall who knows where the 25% of GDP the Bank of England printed under the label Quantitative Easing went?

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Why is failure rewarded? Whenever I have left a post I have never been given a payoff or golden goodbye. It just doesn't work like that in the real world.

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Half a mill for doing nothing, could I get the same, I`ve done nothing for 18 months. Oh no I`m not well off and moneyed enough with a title to be able to get hand outs like that

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I wouldn't mind being barred from working elsewhere and being paid over £500,000 s for the privelge; doesn't it smack of jobs for the boys; old school network; contempt for the public and a closed shop for those in government and the top. Do they understand that; yes folks, there really is life north of Watford and we; yes we are alive, exist; maybe they should send out an expedition to the Northern Regions to check this out; take notes that there are indeed millions of very angry ordinary people who are sick and tired of hearing of this gravy train of money they will never see or earn.

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Can't really understand why they had a clause stopping them working for financial institutions for 6 month unless it was to give them 6 months pay for doing nothing.

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They did nothing for the previous years they were at the FSA as well - just sat back watched the Banks wreck the world economies and bullied the smaller companies. Hector & Adair are more responsible for the banking fiasco than the banks because they were the 'Regulators' in charge at the time who looked the other way and let it happen.

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These are the real benefits cheats along with the bosses of Banks, NHS, BBC, MP's and the rest of the ruling classes, all scrounging scum!!!

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