Crown Currency Exchange

Debate between Tessa Munt and Russell Brown

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt]

That is quite correct. It certainly seems that on several occasions a number of people brought these problems to the attention of the FSA. One of whom was Robin Haynes, the managing director of Currency Index Ltd. He raised concerns about Crown Currency Exchange with the FSA in March 2009 and September 2010. He raised his concerns with HMRC in September 2010 and with Barclays, Crown Currency Exchange’s bankers, in May 2009. None of those appears to have been acted on.

There is also the case of a whistleblower who reported his concerns to the companies investigations branch of the Insolvency Service on 20 August 2009, but again nothing appeared to happen. It seems that none of those bodies is able to investigate a company until it has done something completely awful to its customers.

[Mr Russell Brown (Dumfries and Galloway) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing the debate, because it has been stipulated that Barclays bank raised concerns about the company prior to its collapse but kept quiet. Does she, like me, believe that that should be further investigated?

[Tessa Munt]

I hope so, because so many people were taken in by the idea that they had some security, and Barclays probably should have done something. I understand that there was a meeting between one or two company directors and their bankers, Barclays, on 21 July, and that there were concerns at the time about the company’s solvency, yet for some months afterwards people still tried to put their money into the company, without any results.