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Building Societies (Funding) and Mutual Societies (Transfers) Bill

That is an important point. We may need to distinguish between a member of a mutual as a customer of that mutual and a member of a mutual as ““a shareholder”” in the organisation. What I am trying to tease out is how that distinction works in the case of a pan-European mutual. Presumably a member of a United Kingdom mutual that has been taken over would expect to remain a member of the pan-European mutual. How will his rights as a member of that pan-European mutual be protected? The Treasury has powers under clause 3(1) and (2) which I understand to apply to a UK merger. I should like to know how they would apply in the context of a merger between, say, a UK and a French financial mutual. Lords amendment No. 6 gives the Financial Services Authority power to charge fees for any functions conferred on it under the Bill. I wonder whether the Minister has had any discussions with the FSA about the type of charges that might be incurred. Our debate on extraterritoriality demonstrated some of the complexities involved in these matters, and the amendment implies that complex situations could be involved in this instance as well. My comments have been intended to probe, and to ensure that the House exercises its role of scrutinising legislation. A gap was left at the end of the last Commons stage, and I think it should be filled. We all want financial mutuals to be strengthened, and if the amendments would allow that to happen, I approve of them.