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Banking Bill (Money)

I, too, am happy to support the amendments. The balance between transparency and accountability is very difficult to achieve in these areas. Trying to ensure that we get as much information as we can without undermining the whole purpose of what we are trying to do is a delicate balance. The original amendment was a useful contribution, and I welcome the Government's slight amendment to it while nevertheless agreeing the principle. I welcome the inclusion of other financial institutions. I have always felt that a significant number of financial institutions are doing a good job in that they do not receive deposits but take wholesale money, they have lent responsibly, and they have been a genuine provider of consumer credit to an important market that we would not want to be diminished in any way. However, there is a problem with confidentiality. We seem to have got ourselves into a situation where the leaking of information is becoming more prevalent. Given the ingenuity of financial journalists, in particular, in phoning around various institutions and individuals, I suspect that, whatever we do to try to ensure otherwise, it will not be too long before these bits of information will regrettably be coming out in the press, possibly undermining our actions.