Swinney hits out at regulators

SCOTTISH finance minister John Swinney has attacked the banking regulatory system for failing to scrutinise the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS before their financial collapses last year.

He said the "tripartite" system had failed to deliver the scrutiny needed. This was an issue "fair and square" for the Financial Services Authority, the Bank of England, and the Treasury. "Those arrangements have failed to deliver the type of scrutiny that we could reasonably expected them to deliver," he said.

He also called for regulation of Scottish financial services to be devolved. "I quite clearly want the Scottish government should have the full range of responsibilities," he said.