Weak oversight led to Greensill Capital putting millions of taxpayers’ money at risk

Weak internal controls at the state-owned bank overseeing Covid-19 loan schemes led to Greensill Capital putting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money at risk.

A probe by the Public Accounts Committee, a group of MPs that scrutinise the government’s spending, found the British Business Bank, the state-owned bank that oversaw the Covid-19 emergency loan schemes, failed to conduct proper due diligence on Greensill Capital.

A lack of adequate oversight has led to £335m of taxpayers’ money being put at increased risk.

Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “The British Business Bank only had to read the papers to be aware of serious questions about Greensill’s lending model, over-exposure to borrowers, and its ethical standards – yet it didn’t really start to delve into those issues until the problems were clear and hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money was already at risk.”

“It professed itself “very surprised” to discover where these taxpayer-backed loans had gone on its watch, in contravention of its own lending and accreditation rules.”

The Public Accounts Committee said it was deeply concerned that Greensill had leant Sanjiv Gupta’s Gupta Family Group Alliance £350m from the pandemic loan schemes, “appearing to contravene its £50 million group lending limit rule,” the report said.