Drawing a line under the financial crisis is a Herculean task. It has left multiple legacies and not just in the shape of unpunished bankers. Just how panicked the FSA was as the credit crunch morphed into a full-blown financial crisis is well illustrated by the bonkers belief that it could strengthen HBOS, with its reliance on wholesale funding, by allowing it to rescue struggling buy-to-let mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley. Much of the B&B mortgage book is still in the hands of the Government, and how to deal with assets acquired by the Government during the crisis is proving a mammoth task. ...read
Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail's recent articles
ALEX BRUMMER: Why didn't watchdog ask vital questions about HBOS's dependence on short-term funding?
When the financial system almost froze over in September 2008 the Bank of England had to step in with £24.5bn of cash to keep the ATMs loaded. One might have thought that any association with a bank as deeply flawed as HBOS would have disqualified directors and executives from working in the City, if not the whole of commerce, ever again. ...read
ALEX BRUMMER: In 2011 Bob Diamond told the Commons the bankers’ time for remorse is over - no, it’s not
One would hope that after the reforms of recent years, banking practices have been cleaned up and the army of compliance officers now employed have crushed the sharp practice. But we cannot be too sure. That is why we have to take the bankers’ whinges about taxation and the lack of regular dialogue with the authorities with a pinch of salt. ...read
November 2015
October 2015
- The 15-year-old girl who was sitting on top of the bomb that brought down Russian jet over Egypt: Explosives hidden under seat 31A 'went off with the force of a kilo of TNT'
- Couple accused of plotting a bomb attack at 'Westfield' to coincide with the tenth anniversary of 7/7 'made a video of a test run explosion in their back garden'
- 10,000 troops to be deployed on British streets to deal with a Paris-style attack, as Cameron warns ISIS could get hold of chemical weapons
- 'I love you and I will love you forever': Sister of Paris suicide bomber posts Instagram tribute to her 'generous' brother
- Divided Kingdom: One in five British Muslims have sympathy for those joining ISIS - as it's revealed attacks on hijab-wearing women have rocketed since Paris massacre
- Ghost town Brussels: Schools shut, shops deserted and metro closed as Belgium remains on lockdown after 21 are arrested in hunt for world's most wanted - who is seen 'heading towards Germany in a BMW'
- Celine Dion brings American Music Awards to tears by singing haunting Edith Piaf love song ‘Hymne a L'Amour’ in tribute to Paris
- Now Prince Charles blames the 'horrors' of the Syria war on a failure to tackle climate change... so finally someone agrees with Charlotte Church
- Britain and France have 'joint obligations' to defeat ISIS, says Hollande as Cameron visits Bataclan theatre in Paris
- Britain takes the fight to ISIS by launching 17 deadly bombing raids since the Paris attacks - including seven in past three days
- France launches first attacks on Syria from Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier after Russia takes out 472 ISIS targets in weekend bombing missions
- Details of EVERY passenger flying in and out of Europe to be shared between countries to help track ISIS fighters
- Smiling newlyweds defy Brussels lockdown to marry in low-key ceremony that sees them flanked by armed soldiers rather than a wedding party
- Forget the battering Ronda Rousey took to the face - what happened to her FEET? Photos of humiliated UFC champ's purple and yellow toes take over the internet
- Former babysitter, 21, charged with abducting two-year-old girl from her bed in the middle of the night was a private-school educated college-dropout who got engaged just weeks ago
- Celine Dion brings American Music Awards to tears by singing haunting Edith Piaf love song ‘Hymne a L'Amour’ in tribute to Paris
- Three suspects arrested over rape and murder of pregnant pastor's wife who was killed in her home
- Campus zealots hound student out of lectures and bars with shouts of 'rapist' after he dared to question the effectiveness of rape 'consent workshops'
- Ghost town Brussels: Schools shut, shops deserted and metro closed as Belgium remains on lockdown after 21 are arrested in hunt for world's most wanted - who is seen 'heading towards Germany in a BMW'
- King of Sweden calls for a ban on BATHS and admits he is now ‘ashamed’ to run one after realising how much energy they use
- University's free yoga class is shut down over 'cultural appropriation' fears after complaints from 'social justice warriors'
- Laughing in the face of terror: Belgians respond to police request not to tweet details of their hunt for the Paris killers by posting hilarious pictures of their cats
- Video shows the moment Dallas high school teacher is attacked by 16-year-old female student she corrected during presentation
- George and Amal Clooney create their very own love nest with a swing chair and wood burner in grounds of their new UK home
- EXCLUSIVE: Hasidic woman kills herself - months after her tech executive sister jumped to her death from Manhattan rooftop bar following split from strict faith
- Sixteen hurt as two gunmen open fire on crowd in New Orleans park during music video shoot
- MOST READ IN DETAIL