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Safety Deposit Current Accounts Bill [HL]

My Lords, I had intended to put my name down for the debate, but was told that the speakers list had closed at 6 pm. So I wondered whether I might say just half a word in the gap, although I had not expected the gap to be after the first speaker. I congratulate my noble friend on thinking up this idea. He has explained the purpose of his Bill very well. Fundamentally, it is that if you put money on deposit, it should be in the form of cash; it should remain there; it should not be the property of the bank; and if you ever want to take that cash out, you can get it out, and the bank cannot squander it on other things. That seems fine. My only concern relates to Clause 1(5), which states: "““Money held in a safety deposit current account must be … kept in the form of cash””." I remember an elderly lady who had about £40,000 in a deposit account. She went along to the bank and said, ““Can I please have my money out?”” The bank said, ““Yes, we will give you a cheque””. She said, ““I don’t want a cheque, I want the money””. ““You mean you want all the £40,000?”” She said, ““Yes””. The bank said, ““Well, will you come back after lunch, because we’ll have to count it all out?”” So she came back after lunch and there were great piles of notes all over the place. She said, ““Oh, that’s fine. I just wanted to make sure it was still there, so will you now put it back again?”” I fear that this is the kind of thing that might happen with my noble friend’s Bill, so I merely offer that tale as a caution.