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Lords amendment: No. 61, in line 4, after "descriptions" insert
to amend section 187 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 in relation to arrangements for the electronic transfer of funds; to clarify the powers conferred by section 183 of the Financial Services Act 1986;
§ Mr. Ian StewartI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
The amendment is to the long title of the Bill and is consequential upon amendments 51, 53 and 56, which have been dealt with.
The proceedings on the Bill at all stages in this House and in another place have been carried through constructively. I thank all my hon, Friends who were members of the Standing Committee and the hon. Lady the Member for Thurrock (Dr. McDonald) and her hon. Friends who took part in the Committee for the way in which they have approached this important legislation. It 886 is far from being the most contentious of Bills which has been before the House this Session, but it is neccessary, along with the Building Societies Act 1986 and the Financial Services Act, to provide the basis for modernising and updating the supervisory arrangements for the financial sector. It is an important advance on the Banking Act 1979.
I hope that, having had the opportunity of observing and operating the Banking Act for the past seven or eight years, we have been able to take account of lessons learned and have made provision for a rapidly changing financial sector. It is of great importance to the economy, but it must be properly regulated and supervised. This Bill is designed to do that. I thank all those in this House and in another place who have contributed constructively to its passage.
§ Dr. McDonaldI rise, not to comment on the amendment, but to thank the Minister for his remarks and to say that Opposition Members, both here and in another place, have been glad of the opportunity to improve the legislation. Members of all parties have an interest in seeing that banks are properly supervised, and the legislation which will shortly be on the statute book provides much of the necessary framework for that.
The main point now, as the Minister well knows, will be how the Bank of England uses the powers conferred on it by this legislation. We trust that the Bank will keep a close watch on banking institutions. It has already looked into the conduct of some banks, notably the investigation currently under way into the Standard Chartered Bank, which we hope the Bank of England will be able to bring to a conclusion successfully once this legislation is fully operative.
§ Question put and agreed to.