Interest Rate Swap Derivatives

Gary Streeter Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

I had a very interesting meeting two weeks ago with senior regional managers of HSBC, who told me that the bank is transforming its culture by removing from individual managers any sales targets: no more pressure from on high and no more commission on individual products sold to a customer. If that is right, then that is significant news. That is how it was when I started my illustrious legal career in 1978: bank managers could be trusted and they were on our side.

Last night, a few colleagues and I met senior figures from the Royal Bank of Scotland in the west country, as well as the managing director of RBS corporate for the UK, Chris Sullivan. They were at pains to tell us how RBS is changing its culture, removing from managers the pressure to sell products to customers and instead offering a service to help customers succeed and grow.

[Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con)]

While progress is welcome, not least just before a parliamentary debate, does my hon. Friend recognise that people have been the victims of dishonest and probably fraudulent sales, and are now victims of a process that is characterised by delay and inaction by the Financial Conduct Authority? It is also far too dependent on parliamentary pressure. Can we look forward to reassurance from the Minister that there will be leadership and a timetabled delivery of compensation before it is too late?

[Mr Streeter]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. I am expecting robust leadership from those on the Front Bench at the end of the debate, because our constituents have waited far too long.

The shift in culture is to be welcomed, but the point I made last night and make again today is that if the banks want to decontaminate their brand—that is what they are really talking about—it is not enough to change the way they do business today; they have to deal with the past. They have to put right the wrongs of the past and compensate those who have been hurt by wholesale mis-selling of products before 2009.

The realisation by the banks—or some of them—that they need to change their culture is fundamental to our debate today on interest rates swaps. The banks not doing what was right for customers and not being on their side—instead selling them products they did not request, could not understand and were not in their interest simply to rack up commission for the bank and its managers—is the cause of the problems we are discussing today. A shift in culture is welcome, but the banks must deal with the problems of the past.

That was certainly the case for my constituents, Mike and Di Hockin, erstwhile owners of London and Westcountry Estates Ltd, a company owning several business parks across the south-west, which is now, after a lifetime’s work and through no fault of their own, in administration. In July 2008, RBS insisted that if the company wished to have its borrowing facility renewed it must enter into a swap arrangement on the alleged imminent threat of rising interest rates. My constituents are experts in property, not finance. They were given no alternative by RBS, so they signed up to a three-year loan and a 10-year swap arrangement. How does that work? It turns out that they had been persuaded to enter into a swap arrangement for 10 years at a rate of 6.4%. Although they had been told that the deal contained a break clause after three years, it transpired that this would enable the bank only to withdraw, not the customer. They later learned that breaking the swap arrangement would incur a penalty that seemed to fluctuate on a daily basis, but would be millions of pounds. None of this was known to them at the time of signing the agreement. I submit that this is a clear case of mis-selling.

It got worse. The loan was bundled up with a number of other troubled loans and sold on by RBS to a new company, Isabel Assetco Ltd, which was 25% owned by a US venture capital company called Blackstone and 75% owned by RBS. This £1.36 billion deal was made at a 30% discount and funded with £550 million from RBS. A bank owned by the taxpayer transferred my constituents’ company’s debt at a discount to a third party company, lending it taxpayers’ money to do so, so the new company could set about dismantling the business that my taxpaying constituents had spent years building up. That is an absolute disgrace.

None of this would have happened but for the mis-sold swap. That the company was put into administration unnecessarily needs to be investigated. Several of my hon. Friends have talked about criminal sanctions for the bankers who make such decisions. I add my support to that call. The people who knowingly make such decisions deserve to be investigated and penalised. I have no doubt that RBS is liable in law to compensate my constituents for their losses. However, because of the administration involved, that will be a complex journey. I intend to help them to succeed, no matter how long it takes.

Talk from bank bosses is cheap. Anthony Jenkins, the new chief executive of Barclays, says that it has learnt its lesson and will put things right. However, in another constituency case, involving a company established in south Devon in 1925, the financial ombudsman determined seven weeks ago that Barclays had mis-sold a swap to the company and ordered it to put the company back in the same position it would have been in if the swap had never been sold. Imagine the disappointment on the part of my constituents when Barclays responded just yesterday by indicating that it accepts only a tiny part of the judgment and intends to fight the rest—so much for the fine words from the chief executive of Barclays. Has Barclays really listened, learned and changed? It does not seem so.

I welcome the fact that there seems to be a cultural shift on the ground in some of our leading banks. This will eventually lead to public confidence being restored, which is very important. Dealing with customers differently today, however, is not enough. The banks have to deal with the past and only then can their reputations be fully restored, as we all want them to be. The UK needs a vibrant and trusted banking sector. Chris Sullivan, the RBS UK corporate managing director, insisted last night that this was his intention. He assured me that every case of mis-selling, including that of London and Westcountry Estates Ltd, is being investigated, and that if mis-selling is established it will compensate. I want to say on the record that I am prepared to take him at his word, but need to see the process speeded up.

As a taxpayer, I hope we will be able to sell off RBS one day, but I ask the Minister to make it clear to RBS that it cannot go forward with any flotation until it has compensated properly all the small and medium-sized enterprises it has dragged down through mis-selling. The message is clear: the banks have done wrong. Let them deal with the past and compensate their customers rapidly and fairly. Then, and only then, can we welcome a new dawn of helpful banking.