MPs attack 'disastrous' RBS deal

Ghosts of years past came back to haunt the Financial Services Authority (FSA) after MPs on the Treasury select committee attacked the authority for failing to block a disastrous RBS deal.

It was accused of "serious misjudgement" by not stopping RBS's "calamitous" near-£50 billion takeover of Dutch rival ABM Amro in 2007 - a year before RBS needed a £45.5bn bail-out by the government.

The MPs' report into the FSA's own report on the collapse of RBS - now 84 per cent owned by the taxpayer - said failings were a "serious indictment" of bosses at both the bank and the regulator.

The committee is urging the government to legislate to ensure the regulator is required to approve major bank acquisitions to prevent a repeat of the disastrous deal.

But then the watchdog itself shot out of its kennel and bared its teeth - it fined the Bank of Scotland £4.2 million for holding inaccurate mortgage records for 250,000 of its customers.

The FSA said failures in the bank's systems meant it relied on incorrect records for "considerable periods of time" between 2004 and last year.

In part of the mess-up the bank incorrectly got in touch with 33,700 customers who should never have been included in a certain programme and mistakenly handed out £20.4m worth of goodwill payments to 22,700 of them.

And the Daily Record reported that 12,000 shareholders through the RBS Action Group are launching a legal case involving Mr Goodwin - formerly Sir Fred - for £4bn.

They're claiming he and two other RBS chiefs misled them in 2008 - just before the bail out - when the bank tried to raise £12 bn by selling extra shares through a rights issue.

If the writ is successful Mr Goodwin will not be personally liable - it would be the bank - but he and the other bosses could be called to give evidence early next year.

Unite said "the reckless folly of RBS management and lax regulation" cost 30,000 jobs at RBS since its collapse.