§ Mrs. LawrenceTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he intends to include sterling denominated payments within the scope of the proposed regulation on cross-border payments in euros. [21456]
§ Ruth KellyThe Government do not intend to extend the scope of the proposed Regulation on cross-border payments in euro to sterling denominated payments. The approach taken in the Regulation is inconsistent with the competition-based approach that we believe is the better way of tackling the problem of market failure in cross-border payments. Such an approach would be consistent with our commitment to introduce a new regime for regulating competition in domestic payment systems—as recommended by the Cruickshank report. Not including sterling denominated payments would also avoid the potentially counter-productive effects arising from the proposed Regulation that could be damaging to consumers.