Silicon Valley Bank

Kit Malthouse Excerpts

Monday 13th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Kit Malthouse (North West Hampshire) (Con)]

I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

Bravo to the Minister and, in particular, the resolutions team at the Bank of England, who have been honing their skills for many years and finally got the chance to put them to use. Further to the question from my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Danny Kruger), does the Minister understand the relief felt by many that the taxpayer, once again, has not been asked to step in and, in effect, nationalise private sector losses? Does he agree that for a capitalist economy to function, even in the most painful of circumstances, it has to be allowed to do what it does best—recycle distressed assets?

[Andrew Griffith]

My right hon. Friend is quite right to talk about risk and capital systems’ proficiency at recycling capital to productive uses. That is also an enormous focus of this Government and is why our No. 1 priority was to seek to make a private sector transfer of the bank if we could, to protect the taxpayer while also protecting customers and the solvency of the financial system. I am glad that we were able to achieve this outcome. We will continue to do so by having fit-for-purpose regulations in this space.