Clause 174
Banking Bill
12:15 pm
John Pugh (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Southport, Liberal Democrat)
My view is similar to that of the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire, but possibly more basic and a little more naive. I could have said the same about the principle, the rules or the codes of conduct. I have not seen examples of each, but when we have discussed them hitherto in Committee, we have talked primarily about the robustness, the security and the resilience of payment arrangements—the technical issues. There are wider issues of banking practices and ethics. At its simplest level, we consumers have all noticed how debits are recognised almost immediately and credits after appreciable delay, which causes concern and seems unreasonable in the high-speed world of IT. There is a distinction between what is regarded as a legitimate matter of commercial choice for payment systems, and what is a matter for public regulation. In commenting on this, the British Banking Association said that it was worried about the effect of regulation on competition. I seek further clarification from the Minister, if only to help me, on the scope of the principles, codes and system rules.