Royal Bank of Scotland (FSA Report)

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown Excerpts

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend makes an important point and he speaks with some experience, having worked with the FSA. We need to look carefully at the fit and proper person test for people becoming registered with the FSA to ensure that they are good quality, and can do the job properly and competently.

[Dr William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP)]

I welcome the Minister’s statement. It is right and proper that we review past failures and learn from them, but how can we use the current situation to get the banks to lend to the hard-pressed small and medium-sized businesses crying out for finance they urgently need, especially in Northern Ireland, where credit is particularly squeezed?

[Mr Hoban]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about the credit situation in Northern Ireland, and I know that the hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) pays close attention to it. We need to ensure that banks are sufficiently well capitalised to enable them to lend to businesses. One of the things that the hon. Gentleman may have noticed from last week’s report from the European Banking Authority is that no UK banks required additional capital, because they are already well capitalised and should be in a position to lend, as was demonstrated by the third quarter Project Merlin figures.