Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing guidance to banks on providing access to bank accounts for (a) crypto and (b) digital asset businesses in the UK.

The Government recognises the hardship businesses face when they experience problems with banking and takes this issue very seriously.

That is why the Chancellor asked the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to help us collect evidence to understand where account closures or refusals are happening and why.

The FCA’s interim report (“UK Payment Accounts: Access and Closures”) was published on 19 September 2023, and it is continuing to work with firms to explore this issue.