Sants says sorry and blames Tiner for RBS collapse

Financial Services Authority (FSA) chief executive Hector Sants has attempted to shift the blame for the regulator's actions in the run-up to the failure of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) on his predecessor John Tiner.

Giving evidence to the Treasury Select Committee (TSC) over the collapse of RBS, Sants (pictured) apologised for the bank's failure but defended his personal role in scrutinising the bank.

'I am truly sorry that the bank failed. I am truly sorry for all the small shareholders that got caught up in the financial crisis,' he said.

But he claimed that previous FSA chief executive Tiner 'didn't even look' at RBS's ill-fated acquisition of ABN Amro and said staff he had inherited as FSA boss were 'completely inadequate'.

'At least I had the guts to consider the issue. I did what no-one else - including the exec chairman - did: to get out there and look at the question,' he said.

He added that none of RBS's former managers were fit to run a regulated group and that he would block any of their attempts to return to financial services.

TSC chairman Andrew Tyrie said MPs would need to 'digest' Sants' evidence.