4. Will the Minister make a statement on the impact of high street banking on businesses in Anglesey? OAQ(5)0090(EI)[W]

Whilst banking is non-devolved and branch closures are a commercial matter for the banks, we are keen to ensure that businesses and individuals across Wales have access to banking facilities, including cashpoints and cash deposits and collection facilities. We have put in place measures to support this.

The Minister will be aware, I’m sure, of the announcement of NatWest of its intention to close three branches on Anglesey next June in Holyhead, in Amlwch and Menai Bridge, leaving Amlwch with just one limited-opening-hours bank and no bank in the booming town of Menai Bridge. This follows a series of recent bank closures, leaving large parts of the island with no bank service. The Minister will know how important these services are to businesses. Will the Cabinet Secretary join me in condemning what seems to be the abandonment of large parts of Wales by the big high street banks and will he give an undertaking to do whatever it takes, working with UK Government, to try to prevent the further haemorrhaging of these vital services?

Can I say to the Member that I am most sympathetic to what he is going through and what his communities are going through at the moment? In my Constituency of Clwyd South, I have just one bank remaining—just one bank. That’s a Barclays bank. So, I’ve been through, over the past five years, repeated so-called consultations, which always conclude with the closure of a bank. I think it’s absolutely essential that the Griggs review recommendations are implemented in full and that we move away from artificial consultations and to meaningful ones that could result in the retention of banking services.

Insofar as what we as a Welsh Government, in addition to pressing for implementation of the recommendations of the Griggs review, can do, I think we need to make sure that post offices continue to provide banking facilities. At the moment, I believe something in the region of 95 per cent of customers can access their banking facilities through post offices, so it’s vitally important that we support that network as well. I think it’s absolutely imperative that NatWest listens not just to you but to, I’m sure, the people you will take to the bank, particularly business customers, because business customers often find it difficult to access the full range of services available from the Post Office that they expect to be able to access within their local branch. I’d be happy to meet with the Member to discuss any additional assistance that I could possibly give, but, again, the Member has my sympathy in this area and I would very much like to work with him to find solutions for the three communities affected by the NatWest decision.