Results 1-20 of 2,582 for in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates' speaker:Lord Sassoon

Finance: Peer-to-Peer Lending — Question (19 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords-

Finance: Peer-to-Peer Lending — Question (19 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: Wait for the Answer-but I believe it is a good news story. Peer-to-peer platforms are currently small in the context of the UK lending market but they are growing fast. It is too soon to assess what impact they might have on other financial institutions but, over time, we expect alternative forms of finance, including peer-to-peer platforms, to bring additional choice and greater competition...

Finance: Peer-to-Peer Lending — Question (19 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, I am grateful for my noble friend's remarks. I certainly agree that we want diversity in lending. I do not believe that p-to-p lending will solve every problem but I think it has an important role to play. Alongside the money that BIS put in to support two of the p-to-p businesses only last week, through the Business Finance Partnership, BIS also put some money into funds managed by...

Finance: Peer-to-Peer Lending — Question (19 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: As always, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Barnett, who keeps me on my toes until the end. On regulation, we had some interesting debates in the course of the passage of the Financial Services Act but, on balance, I think it is appropriate that p-to-p lending comes within the FCA's regulatory framework. We also need to look at the experience in places such as the US and ensure that...

Finance: Peer-to-Peer Lending — Question (19 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, these are critical issues. The fundamental trade-off between stability in the system, which clearly has to improve over what it was before the financial crisis, and the need to boost growth. The fact that the Financial Policy Committee at the Bank of England is up and running in shadow mode and is identifying the counter-cyclical tools that it will need is a very important new step...

Finance: Peer-to-Peer Lending — Question (19 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Oldham. I would not want, on an occasion like this, to point out that the previous Government did not take any policy on p-to-p lending, but it was very small then. These lenders only got into business in 2005. The critical thing is that now, having handed the challenge and the responsibility to the FCA, we will see a draft plan very soon,...

Banks: Money-laundering — Question (18 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, the UK is internationally recognised as having one of the most robust anti-money-laundering regimes in the world. However, no Government should ever be satisfied that sufficient steps have been taken to prevent money-laundering by those who handle money in the UK. It is an ongoing multi-billion pound threat to the financial system. However, the Financial Services Authority is taking...

Banks: Money-laundering — Question (18 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, I agree with the numbers that my noble friend shared with us. However, the traditional approaches in the UK and US towards fines have been very different. I believe that my noble friend's numbers go wider than the narrow question of money-laundering. As I said, the FSA has levied much larger fines in recent years. Prosecutions are, of course, possible and should be pursued where...

Banks: Money-laundering — Question (18 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, I certainly accept that there is unfinished business to be done around the whole "know your customer" and opening bank accounts regime. Many of us know what difficulty that causes, whether on our own account or on that of our children. This is something that we discussed during the passage of the Financial Services Bill. It is interesting that some banks require less detail and...

Banks: Money-laundering — Question (18 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, on the first of my noble friend's points, I certainly agree that the banks need to get much more intelligent about this matter. I have met in the Treasury senior bankers on the retail or wealth management side of these banks to make precisely my noble friend's point: namely, that they need to be intelligent about this matter. This must not be a box-ticking exercise. I have made the...

Banks: Money-laundering — Question (18 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, for his kind words, but I regret to say that the House may have me at the Dispatch Box again for the Topical Question tomorrow, unless I can persuade a colleague to take it from me. As for HSBC, the FSA will do what it should as the independent regulator in this area. However, it is important that the FSA has agreed a series of...

Autumn Statement — Statement (5 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend for her generous remarks and for her support since she has been her party's spokesperson on the economy. The two parties are joined at the hip when it comes to the key economic work and all the other work of the Government. Importantly, she reminds us of a critical part of the Autumn Statement: raising the tax threshold to the benefit of 25...

Autumn Statement — Statement (5 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, that seemed to be a speech rather than a question. However, I am grateful for some of what the noble Lord, Lord Myners, had to say and I shall miss sparring with him. I remain an optimist. In less than three years since the previous election, the private sector in this country has created 1.8 million new jobs, which is twice what the OBR projected, and the OBR's projection today for...

Autumn Statement — Statement (5 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend and agree with every word that he uttered.

Autumn Statement — Statement (5 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, the question of corporation tax in Northern Ireland continues to be considered. The key thing is that we are making the United Kingdom as a whole a more competitive place and in corporate tax terms the most competitive place to do business among our major competitors. Of course, the position in Northern Ireland will continue to be debated. As far as the reduction in VAT is...

Autumn Statement — Statement (5 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: Again, I am grateful to my noble friend for her kind words. It is also important that the House recognises that the damage done by the fall in GDP as a consequence of the structural position and the mess left behind by the previous Government, combined with the financial crisis, continues to be assessed as worse and worse. As my noble friend said, it is now estimated to be fall in GDP of an...

Autumn Statement — Statement (5 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: I believe that I can confirm both points. The allocation will be for the Welsh Administration in the normal way. I believe that the noble Lord's understanding on the second point is correct. If it is not, I will correct that understanding.

Autumn Statement — Statement (5 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: I could spend the rest of the three minutes and a lot longer on this but I will be brief. Again, I am grateful to my noble friend for his remarks. On how the infrastructure is funded, there is still a need for a large debt component in many of the projects, and the debt markets continue to be very difficult. My noble friend is completely right about the appetite of the sovereign wealth funds...

Autumn Statement — Statement (5 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, first, the test of increase in demand will ultimately be the growth numbers. The OBR has set out its forecast of growth numbers and-I can only repeat-it is forecasting higher growth next year for the UK compared to countries such as France and Germany. On the question of the distribution, I draw the attention of the noble Lord, Lord Hollick, to the new chart on the overall level of...

Autumn Statement — Statement (5 December 2012)

Lord Sassoon: My Lords, as my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer said earlier in another place, the British economy is healing. We are on the right track and turning back now would be a disaster. The deficit has already been cut by a quarter and is forecast to continue falling every year of the Parliament. I find it extraordinary that the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, questions the OBR's...