Date: 11 November 2022
Disclosure:
The cost to the Prudential Regulation Authority (‘PRA’), which is part of the Bank of England (the ‘Bank’), and Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) of the HBOS individual investigations is estimated at £7,238,000.
This includes both regulators’ internal and external costs. The internal costs cover the cost of the permanent FCA and PRA staff engaged on this matter and then the separate costs of the independent committees, the Bank’s Enforcement Decision Making Committee (‘EDMC’) and the FCA’s Regulatory Decisions Committee (‘RDC’). The external costs, which equate to £2,711,622 include expenditure on external legal counsel, external forensic accountants and external contractors to assist with the investigation.
The PRA estimates that the costs to the PRA of the HBOS individual investigations were £4,135,000, of which £2,723,466 represents costs reimbursed to the FCA. Costs reimbursed by PRA to the FCA include the PRA’s share of the cost of the permanent FCA staff engaged on this matter and PRA’s share of costs paid by the FCA for external legal counsel, external forensic accountants and external contractors.
The PRA and FCA published a press notice in relation to the conclusion of these investigations on 26 August 2022.