Northern Ireland Banknote (Designation of Authorised Bank) Regulations 2020 Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Livermore
Main Page: Lord Livermore (Labour - Life peer)Northern Ireland Banknote (Designation of Authorised Bank) Regulations 2020
Lord Livermore Excerpts
Lord Livermore (Lab)
I am grateful to the Minister for introducing this statutory instrument, and I join others in welcoming her to her position. I have listened with great interest to the points made by other noble Lords during this debate. My noble friend Lord Wood of Anfield made a characteristically interesting speech, and I strongly support the very powerful words of my noble friend Lord Hain. As the Minister explained and the Explanatory Memorandum details, this is a minor technical change to take account of a recent restructuring within the RBS Group. I will therefore be very brief in my comments.
It seems that people in Northern Ireland should notice no practical difference as they go about their day-to-day business, and that is certainly welcome. Paragraph 2.1 of the Explanatory Memorandum states:
“The RBS Group anticipates that customers in Northern Ireland will continue to be served under the Ulster Bank Limited brand”,
albeit with its assets and liabilities having been legally transferred to National Westminster Bank plc. As I understand it, Ulster Bank has close to 100 branches across Northern Ireland, with a slightly higher number operating across the Republic. Is the Minister able to give any additional detail about the discussions that her department had with NatWest about the future use of the Ulster Bank brand? How strong were the assurances given, and will the number of bank branches remain broadly the same?
As well as printing cash, the bank plays an important part in distributing it. On several occasions your Lordships’ House has discussed the decline in cash and the difficulties that some communities have in accessing it. Lastly, therefore, as part of the Treasury’s conversations with the RBS Group—to reiterate a point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer—I ask the Minister whether any commitments were made on maintaining free-to-use cash machines across the region.