Financial Services Bill

Baroness Anelay of St Johns Excerpts

Wednesday 18th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

My Lords, I am impressed that I will be standing opposite an immaculate Whip, which I am sure will make for a good day’s work on the Bill.

The amendments in the first group—

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

My Lords, I hesitate to interrupt the noble Baroness who is carefully moving her amendment, but I remind noble Lords that a substantial number of Peers wish to take part in the Committee stage of the Bill. Will noble Lords please leave the Chamber a little more quietly so that we can hear the noble Baroness?

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

I thank the noble Baroness for that assistance.

The amendments would raise the standards of professionalism in the financial industry; partly by adding professional standards to the definition of integrity, partly by introducing a code of conduct and partly by mandating a training and competence regime. That is only what other professions expect: training, a code, a qualification, CPD and proof of competence.

Part of the reason that we trust lawyers and doctors, architects and surveyors, is that they meet these requirements with proof of competence. That is why we trust them with our wills, our conveyancing, our divorces and our lives. A code of conduct enables us to know what is expected of them in terms of behaviour, ethics and integrity, as well as in particular skills and standards.

Let me quote from just one such code—that for solicitors. It reads:

“You must: …act with integrity ….act in the best interests of each client … provide a proper standard of service to your clients”—

—although, having checked lots of codes of conduct, I find that surveyors have to,

“always provide a high standard of service”,

so perhaps we could have some trading up there.

So you have to act in the best interests of clients, provide a good standard of service to your clients and not behave in a way that is likely to diminish the trust that the public places in you or the profession. If only bankers and the rest of the industry had signed up to that and it had been enforced by their professional body or regulator. Sadly, we have learnt the hard way that the culture and behavioural traits of those working in the financial services sector have not been sufficient with regard to professionalism, integrity and competence.