Cranston Review

Sir Ross Cranston has been appointed to undertake an independent Assurance Review of the Customer Review undertaken by LBG following the criminal misconduct at the HBOS Impaired Assets Office for London and the South East. The Customer Review was overseen by Professor Russel Griggs OBE.

Sir Ross’ job is to inquire whether the Customer Review delivered fair and reasonable outcomes for customers.

Sir Ross understands the importance of this task and the impact of what occurred at HBOS Reading on customers. As such he is committed to a thorough and robust process. It is vitally important that the review is open, rigorous, and fair, and that LBG act upon its recommendations (which it has committed to do).

The aim of the Assurance Review is to consider whether:

• The Customer Review was conducted in Accordance with established principles of Treating Customers Fairly.
• The judgements that have been made on individual customer cases are fair and reasonable, including in relation to the assessment of direct and consequential losses.
• The overall level of compensation to customers has been fair and reasonable when compared to the damages likely to have been available through a court process.
• Professor Russel Griggs has exercised appropriate levels of independent challenge over customer outcomes, ensured that offers to customers have been reasonable and was able to properly perform his role.

Given the nature of the task, it should be made clear that Sir Ross is not acting as an appeals process for those unhappy with the compensation offered by LBG. Instead, he is to consider if the Customer Review provided fair and reasonable outcomes for customers, and specifically whether the methodology provided a reasonable basis to deliver fair outcomes.

Customers who participated in the Customer Review will have every opportunity to engage with the Assurance Review. To that end, Sir Ross welcomes anything those customers would like to share in relation to their experience of the Customer Review. Any comments customers would like to make can be submitted via email at info@CranstonReview.com, in writing, or, if you would prefer, by way of a meeting or telephone call at a time to be arranged.