James Crosby (banker)

James Robert Crosby (born 14 March 1956) was Deputy Chairman of the Financial Services Authority from January 2004 until he resigned on 11 February 2009. He had previously been the chief executive of Halifax Bank until its merger with Bank of Scotland to form HBOS, of which he was Chief Executive until 2006. On 3 December 2012 Crosby was required to appear before Britain's Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.

Crosby was knighted for services to the financial industry in 2006, but offered to renounce his knighthood in 2013 following the official report into the collapse of HBOS. The Honours Forfeiture Committee considered his request and his knighthood was formally cancelled and annulled on 6 June 2013.

Crosby was born in Leeds. He was educated at the Lancaster Royal Grammar School between 1967 and 1974. After leaving the school, he continued his studies in mathematics at Brasenose College, Oxford.

Crosby joined financial services company Scottish Amicable (acquired in 1997 by Prudential plc) in 1977. After qualifying as a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries in 1980, he was a founding director of J Rothschild Assurance in 1991, which went on to become wealth manager St. James's Place plc.

Crosby joined the Halifax bank in 1994 as Managing Director of Halifax Life. Five years later, he became the chief executive of Halifax plc, and in 2001 Crosby became the first chief executive of the newly formed HBOS Group after overseeing the merger between Halifax plc and the Bank of Scotland. In early 2006 Crosby resigned after seven years as chief executive leaving HBOS as the fourth largest bank in the United Kingdom in terms of market capitalisation. His position was taken by "his young protégé" Andy Hornby in July 2006. In April 2013, the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards assigned the primary responsibility for the collapse of HBOS to Crosby, along with Dennis Stevenson and Andy Hornby. The commission urged the regulator to ban all three men from the industry.

...
Wikipedia