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Banking Bill

I should like to follow on from the point raised by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, regarding the objective of the stability of the UK’s financial systems. Why were investment banks or bank holding companies not mentioned in Clause 2? Leaving aside bank holding companies, and looking more carefully at the clause with respect to investment banks, which we will consider later, I can see that this refers purely to an insolvency regime and not the special resolution regime, so I quite understand why they are not mentioned. Will my noble friend elaborate a little on the objective of financial systems? It is now clear to everybody that the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the willingness of the United States authorities to let it become insolvent was a major factor in enhancing the severity of the financial crisis in which we now find ourselves. Therefore, if we want to enhance the stability of the financial system, would it not be desirable for a special resolution regime to be applicable to an investment bank so that it could be kept going and we would not see the type of disaster that has resulted from the mistake that the American authorities now acknowledge they made? Will my noble friend confirm that it is not the intention of Her Majesty's Government to develop a special resolution regime for investment banks and that we will have this extended and valuable insolvency procedure which is to be introduced later but not the means of keeping an investment bank in operation?