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Banking Bill

The noble Lord, Lord Blackwell, is right that the use of ““temporary”” is a declaration of intent rather than a specification of any length of time. However, I think that he is wrong to go on to say that perhaps we should specify a time longer than three years. The special resolution regime before us derives from that introduced in the United States in the case of Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Company. In due course, most of the structures of Continental Illinois were returned to the private sector but it took more than a decade for that to happen. Given that one cannot predict economic circumstances, especially financial circumstances, with any accuracy even a year ahead—let alone three years or even more—putting any form of time limit on a movement in temporary public ownership would be a mistake. However, retaining ““temporary”” as a declaration of intent to which the Government can be held is important.