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RBS bank chief Sir Philip Hampton was forced into a grovelling apology after two executives “wilfully” misled MPs over the actions of a predatory subsidiary firm, it was revealed yesterday.
The bank’s Global Restructuring Group (GRG) is said to have forced small businesses to go bust before snapping up their assets.
Sir Hampton wrote personally to Treasury select committee chair Andrew Tyrie after two slippery senior RBS bankers rejected criticism of its GRG during a Commons hearing.
A furious Mr Tyrie branded Chris Sullivan and Derek Sach’s evidence “wilfully obtuse” following their defence of GRG against accusations that it systematically plunged companies into financial crisis before swooping in to turn a profit.
The pair later wrote to change their evidence, prompting the Tory MP to fume: “If this is how RBS deals with a parliamentary committee, how much can customers and regulators rely on it to be straightforward with them?”
Claims related to GRG had appeared in a scathing report into its operations by deputy Bank of England governor Sir Andrew Large, who labelled the RBS subsidiary a “profit centre” for the firm.
In fact, Sir Philip admitted, “the evidence the bank’s representatives gave was not correct.”
The letter, which only came to light yesterday, was written as RBS launched a damage-limitation exercise that included winding up GRG after its activities hit the headlines.
It also paid for an “independent” study that found no evidence that it had set out to defraud small businesses.
Mr Tyrie said yesterday: “Anybody can make a simple mistake in their evidence.
“But this was more than that — it was materially incorrect on a crucial point and unacceptable.”