Lords to question Chairman of HSBC, Executive Director of Lloyds and Sir John Vickers on banking standards
The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee will next week take evidence from Sir John Vickers former Chairman of the Independent Commission on Banking.
The Committee will follow this session with evidence from Jonathan Symonds, Chairman of HSBC Bank in the UK and Europe and George Culmer, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, Lloyds Banking Group.
In the evidence sessions, which will start at 3:35pm on Tuesday 30 June, the Committee will quiz the witnesses on whether the ring-fencing of retail banks, proposed by the Independent Commission on Banking in 2011, is still necessary today. This follows recent criticism of the proposals which has alleged that subsequent reforms to bank regulation, such as more stringent capital and liquidity requirements, has made the ring-fence redundant before it has even been implemented.
Sir John Vickers will give evidence from 3:35pm areas the Committee will cover include:
• Is ring-fencing still necessary? Given other reforms, will it make banks any safer or merely increase complexity?
• Do you share the optimism of the Governor of the Bank of England that banks in future will be resolved “without recourse to the taxpayer?”
• Given you argued against the full separation of banks, would you be concerned if HSBC decides to spin-off its UK retail bank?
• Will the costs of ring-fencing, which the Treasury estimate to be more than £4 billion a year, end up being borne by customers?
• Is there merit in limiting the size of banks?
This will be followed at around 4:30pm by evidence from Jonathan Symonds and George Culmer. In this session questions the Committee will ask include:
• Are you in favour of the ring-fence?
• How much do you expect the implementation of the ring-fence to cost?
• To what extent will ring-fencing disadvantage you relative to foreign competitors?
• Has subsequent regulatory reform rendered the ring-fence redundant?
• If HSBC decides to spin-off its UK retail bank, is that a sign of the effectiveness of the ring-fence? Do you agree with the Chancellor that a recovery in banks' profitability means they can make a bigger contribution to the repair of the UK's public finances?
Both sessions will be held in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords.
