HBOS failures raise questions about senior City figures Former top managers at HBOS said the Financial Services Authority's (FSA) report into "misconduct" in HBOS's corporate division had put members of the bank's former audit and risk committees under the spotlight. Group audit was HBOS's "third line of defence" on risk and had an obligation to ensure the auditors, KPMG, were fully informed of risks. However, the report found: "The full extent of stress in the corporate portfolio was not visible to group, auditors and regulators ... There were issues with the assurance provided by the third line of defence. Anthony Hobson, who was chairman of the audit committee, is currently chairman of the FTSE 100 technology group Sage. He is also chairman of Glas Cymru's audit committee. John Ormerod, a member of the HBOS audit committee, is now chairman of audit committees" at ITV, Misys and Computacenter. Richard Cousins, chief executive of Compass, was one of just four members of the risk control committee for the failed corporate division. Questions were also raised about HBOS's finance directors Phil Hodkinson and Mike Ellis, who were part of the "second line of defence" about which the FSA found "significant issues." The FSA is still considering taking action against former HBOS directors.