§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take action to compel directors of building societies to declare publicly in full the benefits they will gain personally when takeovers, amalgamations and conversions into banks are promoted and recommended. [20683]
§ Mr. NelsonRegulations made under the Building Societies Act 1986 require the disclosure of information about the interests of the directors of a society in any transfer of business, the compensation or other consideration proposed to be paid to directors or other officers of the society attributable to the transfer and the manner in which the salary and other benefits of officers of the society will be affected by appointment to any position by the successor company. This information must be contained in the transfer statement, which is sent to all members eligible to vote.
§ Mr. DuncanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will introduce changes to the Building Societies Act 1986 so that when the Building Societies ombudsman confirms that maladministration is proven against the interest of a category of saver, all such savers shall be recompensed, and not only those who have registered a complaint. [20975]
§ Mr. NelsonThe purpose of the building societies ombudsmen scheme is to provide an alternative to legal action for settling individual disputes between societies and their customers. Each case must be decided by the ombudsman on its merits and the details of any two complaints are seldom identical, so it would not be appropriate for the decision of the ombudsman in one particular case to be applied automatically to a number of other cases which had not been submitted to him.