Clause 179
Banking Bill
4:30 pm
Peter Viggers (Gosport, Conservative)
I last came across the exercise of powers such as this last week in parallel circumstances, when I found myself answering questions on behalf of the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission about the powers of the Electoral Commission to investigate premises and to call for papers. I am thus looking with some interest at clause 179 and wondering whether the Minister can tell me what the previous powers were in this field. No doubt there were powers for the Bank of England to carry out investigations, and the provision may be a repetition or a strengthening of powers that previously existed. I would be interested to know whether there were such powers.
Secondly, I wonder if the operator of a recognised inter-bank payment system knows that he is an operator of a recognised inter-bank payment system. What process is there for ensuring that when the inspector authorised by the Bank of England arrives to inspect the premises, the operator realises that he must give the inspector access?
My third point is about the phrase
“otherwise co-operate with an inspector,”
which seems very broad and seems to mean that the operator must do everything that the inspector requires him to do. However, one would like rather more clarification of exactly what it is that the inspector can require the operator to do. To say that they must “otherwise co-operate” with the inspector is really very broad and might leave the operator, who might not be briefed in banking law, at a loss as to what exactly they are required to do. I would be grateful for some clarification of what appears, on the face of it, to be a very general clause.