May 2001 Halifax and Bank of Scotland merge to create HBOS, a “new force in banking”.
January 2004 Mike Ellis, the then finance director, tells the board the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is concerned the bank is an “accident waiting to happen”. This subsequently emerges in the parliamentary commission on banking standards (PCBS) report in 2013.
Late 2004 According to the PCBS, a so-called “Arrow” review by the FSA found the risk profile of the bank had improved.
December 2005 HBOS issues an upbeat trading statement.
January 2006 James Crosby resigns as chief executive and Andy Hornby is named as his successor.
January 2006 HBOS makes big push into the Republic of Ireland.
June 2007 HBOS’s share of new mortgage lending halves to 8%, its lowest level for seven years. Pricing errors are blamed.
August 2007 Dividend raised by biggest amount since HBOS was created, as half-year profits rise by 13% to nearly £3bn.
February 2008 HBOS reports full-year profits for 2007 down 4% to £5.4bn.
March 2008 HBOS shares plunge in dramatic day on the stock market amid rumours about its financial health. City regulators launch an investigation into the share price movements.
April 2008 The bank launches a £4bn cash call to bolster its capital. Some investors question the need for the extra resources. “Ours is a strategy for all weather, good or bad,” chairman Lord Stevenson tells shareholders.
July 2008 The rights issue flops, and the big City firms underwriting it are left with all but 8% of the shares.
August 2008 Profits plunge 70% and HBOS warns house prices could tumble 18% in next 18 months.
September 2008 Lehman Brothers collapses in the US and HBOS gets caught up in the turmoil. Lloyds TSB makes £12bn takeover offer, which the FSA says would “enhance finance stability”.
October 2008 Government announces bailout of the banking system.
November 2008 Hornby, who had initially been sidelined in the rescue takeover, offered £60,000 a month consultancy role with the enlarged Lloyds Banking Group, nicknamed the Bank for Britain.
December 2008 Profits warning as bad debts in HBOS’s corporate division hit £3.3bn.
January 2009 Deal with Lloyds completes.
February 2009 Lord Stevenson, former chairman of HBOS, and Hornby apologise at the Treasury select committee.
November 2009 Bank of England admits that HBOS was given a secret lifeline during the 2008 crisis, peaking at £25.4bn on 13 December 2008, which was repaid on 16 January 2009.
September 2010 Arrests made over allegations of fraud at HBOS in Reading.
March 2012 FSA says the Bank of Scotland arm of HBOS committed “very serious misconduct” in the run-up to the crisis and prioritised risk over prudence.
September 2012 Peter Cummings, former head of HBOS’s corporate arm, is fined £500,000 and banned from the City. He hits back, accusing the FSA of “tokenism at its most sinister” with regard to his punishment. Work on the FSA’s wider report into the crisis at HBOS begins.
March 2013 Treasury select committee appoints experts to review the FSA report. They are Stuart Bernau, former chairman of Chelsea building society, and Iain Cornish, former chief executive of Yorkshire building society.
April 2013 Crosby, Hornby and Stevenson accused of “colossal failure” of management by the PCBS.
July 2013 The HBOS report had been scheduled to be published before the FSA was disbanded. However, at the last public meeting of the FSA, Bank of England deputy governor Andrew Bailey indicates the report will now be published at the end of 2013.
July 2014 Andrew Green QC appointed to consider the “reasonableness” of the decision to take action against Cummings.
July 2015 Bank of England reveals the HBOS report runs to 500 pages and that the investigation has received 1,425 representations from more than 35 individuals and their lawyers.
November 2015 Bank of England publishes report, which lays the blame for the near-collapse of the bank on its board and management. It also criticises the FSA regulators.