HSBC chairman says new rules on banker accountability reasonable

London

NEW rules being rolled out to make bankers more accountable were "entirely reasonable" given the pain Britain suffered in the financial crisis, HSBC chairman Douglas Flint said on Tuesday.

The new "senior managers' regime" will make top bankers directly accountable for rule breaches on their patch from 2016, but it has been criticised by some bankers and financial lawyers for going too far and hard to apply in practice.