THE Northern Rock lending crisis has revealed systemic failures at Britain's financial regulator after it failed to spot the reckless behavior of the bank's directors, British law makers said.
The Financial Services Authority, or FSA, failed to properly supervise Northern Rock, Britain's fifth-largest mortgage lender, the Treasury select committee said.
The bank ran into trouble in September because it relied too heavily on short-term money markets instead of deposits for funding. A subsequent profit warning and appeal to the Bank of England for an emergency loan led to the first run on a British bank since 1866.
"Northern Rock's managers behaved like a bunch of cowboys and the FSA did nothing to rein them in, or even appear to see there was a problem," opposition Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said.
The bank now owes the Bank of England more than 25 billion pounds (US$49 billion).
"The FSA appears to have systematically failed in its duty and this failure contributed significantly to the difficulties and risks to the public purse that have followed," committee Chairman John McFall said.
The report recommended the FSA improve its communications procedures to prevent panic in the future and an expanded role for central bank's deputy governor, who would advise the government's Treasury chief on potential crises.
Treasury chief Alistair Darling said the government will make proposals within a week to beef up the powers of the Bank of England and the FSA.
"These changes will mean that we can spot risks earlier and try to prevent problems like Northern Rock happening in the future," Darling wrote in Sunday newspaper the News of the World. He did not disclose details.
Law makers also expressed concerns over the lack of financial qualifications held by the bank's former chief executive, Adam Applegarth - a cashier who at 39 became the youngest chief executive of any FTSE 100 index company - and chairman, Matt Ridley, a former journalist and science writer. The report recommended the FSA urgently review the credentials of senior directors at other major firms.
The law makers recommended measures for handling troubled banks so that taxpayers and small depositors are protected.
"With measures such as these, there should be no reason for the queues in the streets that we witnessed in August to form ever again," McFall said.
The FSA said it was studying the report and would release the conclusions of an internal review in March.