The UK economy is still bearing the scars of the banking crisis; banks are impaired, businesses struggle to get credit and public appetite remains high for explanations of what happened. Since the Lehman Brothers debacle and the bailout of Halifax/Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), there has been a Financial Services Authority report on the collapse of RBS but no equivalent enquiry into the drama at HBOS, and no comprehensive investigation into the whole banking crisis. This book is the definitive insider’s guide to the UK banking crisis; the drama and characters involved in the astonishing collapse of some of the major pillars of British banking and the continuing impact on the economy, informed by those directly involved at Downing Street and the Bank of England.