Three bank bosses at the centre of the payment protection insurance mis-selling scandal washed their hands of responsibility yesterday. Giving evidence to the banking commission of peers and MPs, Gordon Pell, the former chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland’s retail arm, said PPI ‘passed the smell test’. But commission member Lord McFall attacked the executives for their lack of remorse, pointing them to Tesco’s apology for selling burgers containing horsemeat. He said: ‘In every paper there was an apology. I’d put it to you – you knew there was a problem… but you kept pushing people back because it was such a profitable enterprise…’

Paul Geddes, the former chief executive of RBS retail bank and now boss of The Direct Line Group, argued there were ‘checks and balances all the way through the system’ to ensure customers were not mis-sold. A total of around £13billion has now been put aside to compensate customers. Of this, RBS has made provisions of £1.7billion. Pell described the figures as ‘astronomical’ but claimed many of these customers had not been mis-sold.....Read more here: Bank bosses in PPI scandal attacked by commission member Lord McFall for lack of apology to customers