Clause 179
Banking Bill
4:30 pm
Ian Pearson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Dudley South, Labour)
I will not be tempted to speculate or to respond to that comment; I discussed the issue at some length yesterday in the statutory instrument Committee dealing with Landsbanki.
The hon. Member for Dundee, East made a number of interesting points relating to the fact that some bank systems are outsourced. I recognise that, and it will have to be taken into account by the Bank of England as part of its supervisory role. The Bank will want to ensure that it has confidence that the systemic and system-wide recognised inter-banking systems are being operated in an appropriate manner. I cannot prejudge all the circumstances in which an inter-bank system might operate and I do not think that it would be right to put them in the Bill; that is not the purpose of primary legislation. However, the hon. Gentleman makes a valid point that will have to be considered as part of how the Bank views its oversight arrangements.