The former banking chiefs widely believed to be responsible for bringing Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS to the brink of collapse, have each made a profound apology for their role in the financial crisis. Andy Hornby, former chief executive of HBOS; Lord Stevenson, former chairman of HBOS; Sir Fred Goodwin, former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland and Sir Tom McKillop, who recently stepped down as chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland, appeared before the panel of Treasury Select Committee MPs as part of a gruelling inquiry into the banking crisis. MP John McFall, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, began the lengthy session into the banking crisis by asking the four whether "sorry was the hardest part." The former bosses were also quizzed over why warnings over substanial lending from both the Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England appeared to be ignored.

Sir Fred Goodwin, former chief executive of RBS, denied that warnings were not heeded, but instead argued that nobody could have anticipated the extent or speed of the downturn. He said: "As you can imagine I've gone over this time and time again in my own mind as to what was the point we should have seen things differently."