Clause 176
Banking Bill
12:30 pm
Stewart Hosie (Spokesperson (Economy; Home Affairs; Treasury; Women); Dundee East, Scottish National Party)
Subsection (1)(d) states that an operator may be required
“not to change the rules without the approval of the Bank.”
I do not know the internal workings of any inter-bank payment systems, but I have written financial computer systems. I would be astonished if an entire system and the rules under which it operated did not include the creation of financial and transaction reports, which may subsequently be used in company accounts or bank accounts to calculate things such as tax liability.
Should the tax regime change, will the provisions mean that rules cannot be altered to change the reporting from the systems without the approval of the Bank? I suspect that that is not the intention, but it might be an unintended consequence. Perhaps the Minister will think about whether minor changes in the rules of systems should require approval by the Bank if they are made simply to facilitate additional or changed reporting that falls outside the inter-bank payment system.