§ Sir Eldon Griffithsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will place in the Library copies of the consultative papers he sent out to interested parties in the course of his discussions with the banking industry on the Leigh-Pemberton Committee's report, together with a list of the persons and institutions to which each of those papers was sent;
(2) what consultations he had with interested parties before he published in his White Paper on Banking Supervision, Cmnd. 9695, the proposal that only institutions with £5 million paid up equity be allowed to use the word bank as part of their name; and if he will list the persons and institutions to whom he addressed requests for comment on this point.
§ Mr. Ian StewartI refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the hon. Member for Stafford (Mr. Cash) on 19 July 1985, col. 289. The consultative papers in question were sent to all institutions at that time authorised to take deposits under the Banking Act 1979; to major United Kingdom accounting firms; to a number of United Kingdom Government Departments and supervisory authorities in other countries; and to the following bodies:
- The British Bankers Association
- The Committee of London Clearing Bankers
- The Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers
- The Finance Houses Association
- The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
- The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland
- The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland
- The National Association of Security Dealers and Investment Managers
- The Registry of Friendly Societies
- The Securities and Investments Board
- The Stock Exchange
The Bank of England also invited representations from any other interested individuals, institutions or representative bodies. All institutions were invited to comment on all matters in the consultative papers. Copies of the consultative papers were placed in the House Library at the time they were issued. The proposal that only institutions with £5 million paid-up equity capital be allowed to use the word "bank" as part of their name was made in the light of representations received following the issue of the consultative papers.
§ Sir Eldon Griffithsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a list of the currently authorised deposit factors that fall outside the £5 million limit in paid-up equity which he now proposes to apply before allowing the use of the word "bank" as part of their name.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThe Government intend to bring forward as soon as practicable legislation to implement the 229W proposals in the White Paper "Banking Supervision" (Cmnd. 9695), but I will write to my hon. Friend after the Bill is published.