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Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

Let me begin by saying that, despite the discussions we have had in Committee and today, I agree with the hon. Gentleman: I want the accounts to be provided through as wide a range of organisations as possible. I was saddened by the attitude of those representatives of the banking industry at the evidence sessions who seemed to say, ““We may not be interested in providing these accounts, because there may not be enough profit in it for us.”” The purpose of these accounts is to help people who would not otherwise have got the saving habit to acquire it. In any other sphere of activity in the markets of this country, that would be welcomed as increasing the customer base, yet bank representatives were sitting there saying, ““We’re not sure we’re interested in expanding our customer base.”” Given the money we have given to the banks recently, and the debt most of us think they owe to our society at the moment, I would have thought that they would have been falling over themselves to say, ““We want to help.””