High Street Bank Closures

Debate between Andrew Griffith and Alex Davies-Jones

Tuesday 28th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Griffith]

I thank the hon. Member, as I thank all hon. Members for their contributions to the debate. The issue we are debating is why we have urged all banks seeking to close branches to examine the Financial Conduct Authority’s guidance to ensure that, when they do make closures, they carefully consider the impact. I hope that those procedures have been followed in the case of the hon. Member for Pontypridd, and I encourage her to contact the FCA if she is concerned. Where firms fall short of expectations, the FCA can and will ask for closures to be paused.

We are taking strong steps on access to cash. We must not impede innovation. People and businesses are embracing the benefits of new services. Some small micro-services are benefiting, and some female entrepreneurs are setting up businesses without the overhead of having to have access to cash. Many people do like to tap and go, so that flexibility is important. As I mentioned earlier—the hon. Lady was also kind enough to mention it—the Financial Services and Markets Bill will protect access to cash, both withdrawals and deposits, because that gives businesses the confidence to take cash safe in the knowledge that they can deposit it, hopefully not too far away. It will be the first time since the ancient Celts first started minting coins in this realm that there will be a statutory right to access to cash.

I must not digress, but I recently visited the Royal Mint in Wales—

[Alex Davies-Jones]

It is in my constituency.