Banks fury as ACCA chief blames crunch on boards

Angry bankers have complained directly to
ACCA about comments by
its president Richard Aitken-Davies, who they say accused banks and their boards
of being the root cause of the credit crunch.

The comments came in the middle of efforts last week to stave off the
collapse of the world banking system and were distributed alongside an ACCA
discussion paper called Climbing out of the credit crunch.

A spokesperson for the British Bankers Association this week confirmed they
had approached ACCA to remonstrate in relation to comments made about
the‘transparency’ of banks.

‘This is a global financial issue. It’s not only the fault of banks,’ said
the BBA spokesperson. She added: ‘Accountants were the people who audited the
banks’ books’.

In ACCA’s statement, Aitken-Davies said: ‘The fundamental responsibilities of
a corporate board appear to have been inadequately discharged. We need to ask
what inhibited banks’ boards from asking the right questions and understanding
the risks that were being run by their managements.’

The BBA made clear that it believed the report from ACCA had been useful but
took exception to the tone of Aitken-Davies’ remarks, prompting the spat.

ACCA said views expressed in the press by Aitken-Davies were his own
‘strongly’ held opinions and the paper clearly laid out the institute’s
position.