Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

The hon. Gentleman knows well that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has been reviewing that whole matter. It has had many thousands of responses to its consultation, and we await the response, which will be published in due course.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

15. What recent steps he has taken to reform the banking sector.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)]

Through the Financial Services (Banking Reform ) Act 2013, the Government have brought forward the most significant reform to the banking sector in a generation. We have ring-fenced vital everyday banking, including investment banking, and introduced depositor preference and bail-in to ensure that taxpayers are not on the hook when a bank fails.

[John Howell]

Does my hon. Friend agree that under the previous Government’s system of financial regulation, there were no clear channels of accountability, and that by putting the Bank of England back in charge, it will be better placed to take full responsibility for financial stability?

[Sajid Javid]

I agree with my hon. Friend. Under the previous Government’s system of financial regulation, there was a lack of clarity over who was responsible for financial stability, so when the alarm bells were ringing, no one was listening. We have reformed the system of financial regulation to address those failures by placing responsibility for financial stability firmly with the Bank of England and creating two newly focused financial regulators, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.