Declares that the Petitioners wish to protest against the closure of the NatWest branch on Splott Road, Cardiff, in the constituency of Cardiff South and Penarth and further that a local Petition on this subject has received nearly 300 signatures.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons notes the Petition and urges the Government to hold talks with representatives of NatWest to consider the impacts of the branch closure on the local community.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Stephen Doughty, Official Report, 14 May 2014; Vol. 580, c. 858.]
[P001354]
Observations from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Treasury, received 25 July 2014:
The Government thank the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) for his petition on the closure of the NatWest bank branch on Splott Road, Cardiff.
The Government are sorry to hear about the disappointment of the residents of Cardiff South and Penarth at the closure of this NatWest branch. Although we can understand their concerns, decisions on opening and closing branches are taken by the management team of each bank on a commercial basis. As with other banking service providers, NatWest will need to balance customer interests, market competition, and other commercial factors when considering its strategy, and the Government do not seek to intervene in these decisions.
It may be useful to note that many bank account providers already have an arrangement with the Post Office to provide access to their bank accounts, where customers can withdraw money, deposit cash and cheques and check balances at all 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.
It is vitally important that the banking sector serves the wider economy, and the Government are committed to increasing competition to deliver innovation, and good financial products and services for all banking customers.