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Bank Penalty Charges

I am happy to confirm, as the hon. Gentleman says, that the principles that apply to credit cards apply equally to the banking industry. It is for the OFT to get the facts and to judge whether it thinks those principles and the law require it to act. It is not for me to do so. It is clear that the principles that applied to credit cards also apply to the banking industry. I have a short amount of time left, so I should like to make one further point to the hon. Gentleman. As a result of the Cruickshank report, there is now a regular review of the banking code—the voluntary, good practice code for UK financial institutions, to which all the major banks signed up and which was first established in 1991. Mike Young, a former senior Bank of England official, is conducting the triennial review of the banking code this year. As part of that, he has written to stakeholders to seek views on possible changes to the code. He has asked stakeholders to consider the following:"““Are the requirements about how lenders deal with people who get into financial difficulties clear enough?””" He is examining whether or not the banking code requirements, to which banks sign up voluntarily, are sufficiently clear and onerous to ensure proper protection for some of the people the hon. Gentleman mentioned. The Treasury will make a submission to the review, as it always has done on such matters, part of which will address those issues. I encourage the hon. Gentleman, and all other hon. Members who have concerns, to make a contribution to that ongoing review of the banking code. I am sure that Mike Young would be happy to meet the hon. Gentleman as part of his independent review. I would be happy to write to Mr. Young about this debate and to send him a copy of Hansard. Whether we are talking about the work of the OFT, our response to the Treasury Committee, the work of the payments task force or the review of the banking code, we are determined to ensure a fair deal for customers, particularly those who are potentially most disadvantaged by financial exclusion and the problems of late payment, which the hon. Gentleman has raised today. The OFT is examining charging, so I cannot comment further on that, but I am grateful to him for having raised this debate and for bringing transparency to these issues.