Financial Services and Markets Bill [HL]

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 22nd June 2026 Grand Committee

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

I shall speak to Amendment 23 in the name of my noble friend Lord Sikka. He very much regrets not being able to be here, but I hope that the Minister will still respond to the point that it raises.

The key issue is that there is a public service element in banking. It goes beyond commercialism; it is reasonable to ask that the review which is taking place should consider that issue, and specifically whether it requires an amendment to the Bill to effectively pre-empt the issue and say that villages, towns and districts need some form of banking services. I think there could well be broad agreement on that—the issue is that banks are competitive commercial organisations and so are not going to do it. They will do it only if there is some sort of collective scheme, funded by a levy, that provides good services for people where they live. I very much enjoyed the contribution of the right reverend Prelate, and indeed churches have closed down far less frequently than banks and post offices. I hope my noble friend will respond positively to that point on the public service element.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, I speak for the first time in Committee on my third Financial Services and Markets Bill. I reflect on the curious circumstances in which we find ourselves and offer reassurances to those who do not like Clause 3 in particular. Surely under the new regime, which we expect to see in a month or so, we are unlikely to see the Bill in anything like its current form given that it aims overall to deliver the so-called Leeds reforms of Chancellor Reeves. Those intend to give the financial sector a boost of growth, at an inevitable cost to the real economy—a boost to London and the tax havens at a cost to the rest of the country—and to reduce the regulations which were brought in as protections for all our security after the last financial crash. However, there is still a point in all of us going through the Bill in detail as we are doing now, because we are also making bids for what a future Government will look like.

On that basis, I will speak in particular to Amendment 22, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, and Amendment 23, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Sikka. We are expressing very important issues, as the right reverend Prelate put so well. He was speaking about religion but also about humanity and human need, which these amendments particularly address. Your Lordships do not need to listen to me with my radical voice; reading around this, I found an article in March from the Civil Service Pensioners Alliance. It quoted figures which state that about 53 bank branches close each month, and pointed out that this was forcing older people in particular into digital exclusion, stripping away their independence and leaving them highly vulnerable to scams. No one has yet brought that up, but speaking to local persons in a local branch can be an important prevention against scams, and there is also the premium on having to pay more for things because you are poor.

Picking up the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, the pensioners alliance talks about circumstances of bereavement or the need for a power of attorney, which are circumstances that can happen to any of us. They will continue to happen, and technology cannot make them disappear. On that, I take issue with a couple of points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes. The noble Baroness said that we can get rid of branches when cash users drop to an insignificant number. First, we should not be treating anyone in our society as insignificant, but more broadly, that assumes that we are heading—both as individuals and collectively—only in one direction. You may, at a certain age, be able to cope very well with digital banking and be perfectly comfortable with it, but that is not to say that later in life you might not want to use a different system. You might not be able to see the screen of your phone or manipulate its buttons, or you might not be able to hear on the telephone anymore. At that point, cash being available is an absolutely crucial thing.

Finally, I will pick up a point from the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, which the right reverend Prelate also discussed. It is not the case that customers have to pay for the provision of these services. I point out that the big four UK lenders made £14 billion total profit in the first quarter of this year, and their profits last year were £46 billion. The financial sector depends on government support to survive. That is a licence, and we can comment on the conditions under which that licence is held. If this legislation goes forward, surely we can add a provision on local banking services—having a person to speak to when you really need it. Whatever future legislation comes in, there clearly needs to be action in this area.