Peter Cummings, the former chief executive of HBOS's corporate division, has accused the UK financial regulator of singling him out in an example of "tokenism at its most sinister" after the Financial Services Authority fined him £500,000 and barred him from taking senior financial roles.

The FSA said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon that it had decided to fine and ban Cummings for allowing his unit to pursue an aggressive expansion strategy without suitable controls in place.