Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the decline of free to use ATMs in Rotherham on residents.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. Importantly, in relation to personal current accounts the FCA is required to seek to ensure reasonable provision of free cash access services.
The FCA is currently holding a consultation on its proposed regulatory approach ahead of this coming into effect by Q3 2024: FCA Access to Cash Consultation
LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK has committed to protect free-to-use ATMs more than one kilometre away from the next nearest free ATM or Post Office, and free access to cash on high streets (where there is a cluster of five or more retailers) that do not have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within one kilometre.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the consistency of decision-making processes at the (a) Financial Conduct Authority and (b) Financial Ombudsmen Service.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) are independent non-governmental bodies.
Both the FCA and the FOS operate within the framework set by Parliament, and they are directly accountable to Parliament for how they discharge their statutory functions.
This accountability includes a requirement for the FCA and the FOS to produce annual reports and accounts which are laid before Parliament by the Treasury. Both bodies are subject to full audit by the National Audit Office and to scrutiny through committee hearings, including the Public Accounts Committee and the Treasury Committee.
Both organisations maintain arrangements for the independent investigation of complaints against them.
The FOS regularly commissions independent reviews of its service. Most recently, a review carried out by Oaklin Consulting in 2021 found that the FOS is widely respected and viewed as reaching fair and impartial outcomes in the majority of cases.
The FOS and the FCA are operationally independent from one another, but engage extensively on a range of issues through the Wider Implications Framework. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 introduced a statutory duty for the FCA, the FOS and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to co-operate on issues which have or are likely to have significant implications for each other, or for the wider financial services market.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to discourage banks regulated in the UK from supporting businesses which receive income from industrial livestock companies contributing to deforestation.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to working with UK financial institutions to further tackle deforestation-linked finance.
On 9 December at COP28 Nature Day, the Government announced the next steps on the Forest Risk Commodities Scheme which will be introduced through provisions under the Environment Act 2021. This new due diligence legislation will see businesses that have a global annual turnover of over £50 million and use over 500 tonnes of regulated commodities a year banned from using them if sourced from land used illegally.
As set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, HM Treasury will also conduct a review to assess if the financial regulatory framework is adequate for the purpose of eliminating the financing of illegal deforestation, and to consider what changes to the regulatory framework may be appropriate.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to protect free-to-use ATMs.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. Importantly, in relation to personal current accounts the FCA is required to seek to ensure reasonable provision of free cash access services.
The FCA is currently holding a consultation on its proposed regulatory approach ahead of this coming into effect by Q3 2024: FCA Access to Cash Consultation
LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK has committed to protect free-to-use ATMs more than one kilometre away from the next nearest free ATM or Post Office, and free access to cash on high streets (where there is a cluster of five or more retailers) that do not have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within one kilometre.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the level of the interchange fee set by LINK to help ensure that there is no cost to customers for using ATMs.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups or who are reliant on cash as a payment method.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect free access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of free cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. This will help prevent financial exclusion for those who are reliant on access to cash.
The government published a policy statement earlier this year. This stated that consideration should be taken of the degree to which services meet local needs in relation to both business and personal use. The government’s policy statement is available at: Cash Access Policy Statement.
The FCA is currently holding a consultation on its proposed regulatory approach, ahead of this coming into effect by Q3 2024: https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/consultation-papers/cp23-29-access-cash
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to maintain the provision of free-to-use ATMs in Portsmouth South constituency.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups or who are reliant on cash as a payment method.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect free access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of free cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. This will help prevent financial exclusion for those who are reliant on access to cash.
The government published a policy statement earlier this year. This stated that consideration should be taken of the degree to which services meet local needs in relation to both business and personal use. The government’s policy statement is available at: Cash Access Policy Statement.
The FCA is currently holding a consultation on its proposed regulatory approach, ahead of this coming into effect by Q3 2024: https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/consultation-papers/cp23-29-access-cash
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to prevent financial exclusion for people reliant on access to cash.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups or who are reliant on cash as a payment method.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect free access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of free cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. This will help prevent financial exclusion for those who are reliant on access to cash.
The government published a policy statement earlier this year. This stated that consideration should be taken of the degree to which services meet local needs in relation to both business and personal use. The government’s policy statement is available at: Cash Access Policy Statement.
The FCA is currently holding a consultation on its proposed regulatory approach, ahead of this coming into effect by Q3 2024: https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/consultation-papers/cp23-29-access-cash
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with the Financial Conduct Authority on the potential merits of taking into account the specific needs of local communities when setting minimum cash access standards rather than using geographic criteria.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities.
In determining what constitutes reasonable provision, the legislation requires the FCA to have regard to a government policy statement, any local deficiencies in cash access that it has identified and considers to have significant impacts and any other matters as it considers appropriate.
The government published a policy statement earlier this year. This stated that consideration should be taken of the degree to which services meet local needs in relation to both business and personal use. The government’s policy statement is available at: Cash Access Policy Statement.
The FCA is currently holding a consultation on its proposed regulatory approach ahead of this coming into effect by Q3 2024.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2023 to Question 2866 on Land Registry: Blockchain, what steps she is taking to overcome the regulatory uncertainty associated with blockchain technologies.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to creating a regulatory environment in which firms can innovate, while maintaining financial stability and clear regulatory standards so that people can use new blockchain technologies both reliably and safely.
Cryptoasset markets, for example, continue to develop with increasing pace and complexity, which brings risk as well as opportunity. Risk-taking is a part of the innovation cycle, however ongoing turbulence in the cryptoasset markets has highlighted some of the implications for markets and investors. We think this reinforces the case for clear, effective, timely regulation. The Government is therefore proposing to bring a broad suite of new cryptoasset activities into the regulatory perimeter for financial services for the first time. This includes exchange activities, custody and lending.
HM Treasury launched a consultation on the Future Financial Services Regulatory Regime for Cryptoassets in February and published its response to stakeholder feedback and final proposals on 30 October. The consultation delivers on the Government’s commitment to bring forward proposals for regulating activities relating to the trading and investment of cryptoassets, such as Bitcoin.
The Government has already taken action to address risks to consumers and market integrity in cryptoasset markets. Cryptoassets were brought into scope of UK anti-money laundering legislation in 2020, and following the government’s legislation, the financial regulator has commenced enforcement for cryptoassets financial promotions, requiring them to be fair, clear and not misleading.
More broadly, my department will continue to monitor developments in the use of blockchain technology and will work with other government departments to identify where this could require the introduction of further regulation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of raising the cap on interchange fees.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has previously legislated to ensure that interchange fees remain capped for UK domestic card transactions, where both the card issuer and acquirer are located in the UK, through the Interchange Fee (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. This instrument ensures that the previous EU regulation on interchange fees for card payments continues to operate effectively as direct retained EU law following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. These caps ensure that the cost of card payments is affordable for merchants and acquirers.
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, repeals retained EU law in financial services, which includes the Interchange Fee Regulation 2015, in order to deliver a Smarter Regulatory Framework. Retained EU law will be repealed and replaced with rules set by our independent and expert regulators, operating within a framework set by government and Parliament. Under this framework, the Payment Systems Regulator will be responsible for any future rules on interchange fees.