UK watchdog says can't give date for HBOS bank failure report

LONDON (Reuters) - The long delayed report into the failure of HBOS bank during the financial crisis will come out as "soon as practicable", Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Wednesday.

HBOS, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, had to be rescued at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 with a government-engineered takeover by rival Lloyds , which subsequently needed a 20 billion pound ($31 billion) bailout to survive.

The report was due to be published at the end of 2014.

Regulators have repeatedly said the delay was due to so-called Maxwellisation, which refers to the process whereby people criticised in the review have a right of reply before publication.

Brian Pomeroy, a non-executive director at the watchdog, said because of the uncertainty of Maxwellisation, he could not give a precise publication date at this point in time.

"We have a team of people working very hard on this," Pomeroy told the FCA's annual meeting. "We are committed to get this report out and published as soon as practicable."

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Mark Potter)