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Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

I hear what the noble Lord, Lord Newby, says, but we are making strenuous efforts with this legislation to minimise the rules imposed by statute. That is what the Bill is all about. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, for giving a fascinating illustration of a potential bank account. On the blessed day when Aung San Suu Kyi becomes free, it would be a pretty dim bank that was not able to respond to her claims upon resources which she might have lodged in the United Kingdom. Let us remember where we are starting from: these are the minimum bases for an account being dormant; the bank is involved in judgment on other matters. The noble Lord, Lord Newby, referred to the regulations on money laundering, which is an important consideration, but with dormant accounts the bank has other means at its disposal beyond just the minimum. It is quite clear from the Banking Code that banks will err on the side of protecting the customer—that is their obligation—and the account holder still has the right to claim even when a transfer to the reclaim fund has occurred. I hope I have been able to respond positively enough to this probing amendment to reassure the noble Baroness. At the root of this and other anxieties about how far we should go on definitions, the concept behind the Bill is not to impose the money-laundering regulatory definitions to which the noble Lord, Lord Newby, referred; this is an attempt to get the co-operation of the banking and building society institutions in a flexible scheme with the minimum amount of statutory constraint.