Tomlinson Report
Debate between Natascha Engel and Sandra Osborne(10 years, 11 months ago)
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Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I am delighted that the hon. Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) has secured this important debate on what is an absolute shocker of a report. He has led a campaign to expose the bullying tactics that were often used by banks on interest rate swaps. We have all been quite shocked to discover that interest rate swaps were just the tip of what is a very large iceberg.
The Tomlinson report gives us an insight into behaviour that, if it is not systematic fraud, certainly reflects a culture and set of practices in the banking sector that are shocking in the eyes of most right-minded people. Small and medium-sized businesses are already struggling in a difficult business climate; to find that the very institutions that are supposed to help them through that difficult time are using practices that make their situation even more difficult—and often force them into insolvency —is truly shocking.
Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)
On interest rate swaps, is my hon. Friend aware that tailored business loans sourced from the Clydesdale bank, for example, have been excluded from regulations and from the review? Businesses taking out those loans are just as badly affected as everyone else, so does she agree that such loans should be included in a review?
Natascha Engel
Absolutely, and I will conclude later by saying that that means we really have to look at the whole banking sector. The Banking Commission has done a good job of starting to expose some of these malpractices, but they are very worrying. The issue does not affect just RBS, and it needs to be looked at more widely.
What is really worrying is that RBS would, arguably, not exist if not for the fact that it was bailed out, and is 80% owned, by the taxpayer. However, some of the practices exposed by Tomlinson represent a double whammy for the taxpayer. I can cite examples of RBS using the GRG to take money out of bank accounts that businesses had set up expressly to pay Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. The bank was, therefore, not just taking taxpayers’ money so that it could continue to exist, but taking money from accounts specifically set up to pay HMRC.
I started to get involved in this issue as a result of constituents coming to see me about interest rate swaps. One particularly big example involves a man who owns care homes, which are disproportionately affected by interest rate swaps. He was a solvent customer running a successful business, but RBS bullied him into taking on loans that included interest rate swaps. He wanted to refuse, but RBS bounced his cheques until he took the loans on. He is now involved with the GRG, even though it was expressly set up for severely distressed customers. He is not in severe distress now, but he soon will be, because the money he has to use to pay back the interest rate swaps RBS forced him to take on should be going into investing in his care home business. In addition, when RBS first forced him to take on the loan, the exit fee was £10,000. Only a few months later, it was £150,000. Given the amounts involved, we really need to start taking a serious look at what RBS is doing.
The hon. Member for Aberconwy was reluctant to use the word “fraud”, and I understand why, because it is a serious accusation. However, what I would like to hear about from the Minister is the reverse: what makes him confident that systematic fraudulent activity is not happening in RBS? I am focusing on RBS because that is what the Tomlinson report focused on, but also because RBS is more than 80% state owned. What makes him confident that the bank is not forcing people into the arms of the GRG, with the result that perfectly solvent businesses are not solvent any more, and asset stripping them at the same time? What makes him confident the bank is not taking huge fees from companies that bank with them, asset stripping them and making sure they can no longer exist properly?