Crown Currency Exchange

John Howell Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt]

I hope so, because so many people were taken in by the idea that they had some security, and Barclays probably should have done something. I understand that there was a meeting between one or two company directors and their bankers, Barclays, on 21 July, and that there were concerns at the time about the company’s solvency, yet for some months afterwards people still tried to put their money into the company, without any results.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree with a constituent of mine, who wrote to me to say:

“I think everyone would agree that if one is registered with the FSA it implies that that actually means something—it didn’t”?

[Tessa Munt]

Absolutely. Alarmingly, the FSA website states:

“We keep an up-to-date record of all FSA-regulated firms, bodies and individuals doing business in the UK. Our register is available to the public, so you can search for more information on all of our authorised firms.”

The problem is that the FSA seems to use “registered”, “regulated” and “authorised” almost conversationally, but in legal terms those definitions should not be bandied around on its website in such a way.