Peter Cummings, the former HBOS banker who was fined and banned from the City, admitted that he regrets taking the job at the bank's commercial division.

He said in a parliamentary session that the £26 billion impairments of the division were horrendous but pointed out that he did not expected the credit crunch in the economy. Cummings was fined £500,000 by the City regulator in September and he revealed that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) had originally planned to fine him £1 million.

Cummings left HBOS after it was formally taken over by Lloyds in January 2009. He took the £352,000 pension but did not withdraw a £1.3 million bonus available in the company. When asked about other officials who are to be blamed for the mess and were not charged, he said, "It is not down to me to point fingers at anyone. I am absolutely heartbroken about what happened, and I live with it every day, but it would be inappropriate of me to point the finger at any colleague."

He said that the team did not consider the liquidity position in the economy while planning operations.