Asset Protection Agency (Interim Report)

(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)

Monday 29th October 2012 Written Statements

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)]

The interim report for the Asset Protection Agency (APA) has today been made electronically available in the Libraries of both Houses.

The report contains commentary on key developments in relation to the APA and the asset protection scheme (APS) over the period from 1 April 2012 to 29 October 2012.

I am pleased to note the statement in the report that on 17 October 2012 the Government announced that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will exit from the APS on 18 October 2012. This represents an important milestone on RBS’s path of recovery and towards a return to the private sector.

It also removes a substantial contingent liability from the Government’s balance sheet. At its peak, the APS pledged £400 billion of taxpayer support to the UK banking sector, and by exiting the APS, this figure is reduced from approximately £40 billion to zero. During this Parliament the taxpayer guarantee to the sector has fallen by over £450 billion, a drop of almost 95%.