(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority is preparing to release a report into Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's business-lending practices after the bank's top executives gave the go-ahead following months of controversy over its publication.
“The FCA welcomes the statement by RBS, given at today's Treasury Committee hearing, that they will not object to the FCA publishing" the report, the regulator said Tuesday in a statement. This will “require the consent of those who provided the information in the report and any individuals who are identified. We will approach these individuals, once the work on the focused investigation is completed.”
The FCA statement comes after RBS Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan and Chairman Howard Davies were grilled by lawmakers on the report, along with Tony Boorman, managing director at Promontory Financial Group, one of the authors of the review.
RBS's Global Restructuring Group, or GRG, unit came under scrutiny in 2013 after a government consultant claimed that small companies that owed the bank money were pushed into difficulties to help bolster earnings. Following the allegations, the FCA appointed consultants from Promontory and accountants Mazars to review RBS's conduct. In 2016 the bank agreed to pay 400 million-pounds ($565 million) in redress to customers.
RBS faced more embarrassment last week when it handed a cache of documents from the report to the Treasury Committee that included a note a junior manager had written telling staff "sometimes you need to let customers hang themselves."
Controversy
“Should the FCA wish to publish the full report, we will not object,” McEwan told lawmakers at a hearing in front of the Treasury Select Committee in London Tuesday. “It's their decision.”
The review has been the subject of controversy for months after the FCA declined to publish the full report, only issuing a summary of its findings. Lawmakers have repeatedly called for its release after a copy was leaked to the BBC last year. The FCA said it was compiled with the understanding that it would remain private and publishing it without the consent of those included in it could undermine the regulator's approach with other firms.
“We have lost a lot of trust across the industry and at RBS,” McEwan told the Treasury Committee. “There are many things we just did not get right.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Suzi Ring in London at sring5@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser, Peter Chapman
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