Sir James Crosby’s resignation statement and CV

READ Sir James Crosby’s resignation statement in full plus his CV.

Sir James Crosby’s statement in full:

In the light of recent media coverage I have decided to issue a short statement.

Just over three years ago I resigned my position as CEO of HBOS.

Towards the end of my time as CEO of HBOS, as part of a wider restructuring of group functions the Risk Function was elevated to report direct to the CEO.

As part of this I asked one of our risk managers, Paul Moore, to leave HBOS.

At the time he made a series of allegations.

These were independently and extensively investigated on behalf of the Board, the results of which they shared with the FSA. That investigation concluded that Mr Moore’s allegations had no merit.

Last autumn (on a BBC programme) and again yesterday at the Treasury Select Committee he repeated substantially the same allegations. HBOS has reiterated its view that his allegations have no merit.

Questions have also been raised about my independence from government.

During the last two years I have devoted considerable time to producing two reports for the Government; the first on identity assurance and ID cards (published last March) and the second on mortgage finance (published last November).

I am confident that anyone who either worked with me on the reports or indeed anyone who has read them will conclude that they are the work of someone who is genuinely independent of government. In addition I want to emphasize that I have absolutely no political connections or affiliations.

I am full of admiration for my colleagues at the FSA and the work they are doing under extreme pressure.

As a non-executive director I have an absolute responsibility to ensure that I do not make their task any more difficult.

Therefore, whilst I am totally confident that there is no substance to any of the allegations, I nonetheless feel that the right course of action for the FSA is for me to resign from the FSA Board which I do with immediate effect.

BORN in Yorkshire in 1956, he is married with four daughters and lives in Harrogate.

Educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford (Mathematics), he qualified as a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries in 1980.

He joined Scottish Amicable in 1977 and spent ten years in fund management before taking charge of IT, marketing and finance for the Group. A founder director of J Rothschild Assurance (now St James Place) in 1991 he was a director of St James Place plc from 2000 to 2006.

In 1994 he moved to the Halifax to launch its bancassurance business. Following the acquisition of Clerical Medical he joined the Board of Halifax plc with responsibility for the Group’s investment product and general insurance businesses. In January 1999 he became Chief Executive of Halifax plc and in September 2001, following the merger with the Bank of Scotland, was appointed as HBOS’s first Chief Executive. He stood down from this position in July 2006 and left the Group.

He is the senior independent director of ITV plc (formerly Granada plc, Nov 2002- present) and Compass Group plc (Feb 2007- present), Deputy Chairman of the Financial Services Authority (Jan 2004- present) and a trustee of Cancer Research UK (Feb- present). He is also a member of the European Advisory Board of Bridgepoint Capital (Sept 2006- present), a member of the Finance Committee of the Delegacy of Oxford University Press (Sept 2006- present . He received a knighthood in 2006.