Speeches by Dean.

“My hon. Friend talked about communities being overlooked because they are contained within wealthier communities. My constituency is in the outer London borough of Sutton, which, by London standards, is on the wealthier end. We have two distinct communities in St Helier and Roundshaw, and those estates absolutely need …”

“I appreciate that there will be differences of views, but the outcomes are important. Whether you go for a bolder 0.5% move at any point, as others on the panel today have suggested, is quite significant. Dr Dhingra, I do not know whether you want to come in and give your perspective on this. Do you notice any differen…”

“I think that we have heard your view. Do you feel that there is a divide? What is your view on that?”

“Sarah Breeden, maybe you would like to come in as well. I know that you have voted the same way as the majority and as the Governor every time. What is your view on the Bank staff tending to cluster together? I know that there are exceptions that the Governor has just mentioned, but there seems to be a pattern.”

“He is the exception this time, yes.”

“I would like to come in on the voting patterns. It is notable to me that the Bank staff have one view and the external members have another. One is about going more boldly and quickly, and then holding for longer, while the other is a much more softly-softly, gradual approach. Governor, do you feel that there is that d…”

“Dr Mann, what is your view? Do you feel that there are any differences?”

“Mr Nunn?”

“We are going to kick off on car finance, so it makes sense to start with you, Charlie, as the largest lender in this market. You have made a £450 million provision for compensation, and we are awaiting the Supreme Court decision, which should come very soon. If the decision is upheld, what impact will that have?”

“Assuming that the judgment is that there has been harm, and the FCA decides to proceed with the redress scheme in the way it has announced, what impact will that have on the market?”

“Do you not think that you might just be hiding behind a legal definition of harm? I note that you just said you are not sure whether there is evidence of harm, and you said the same thing at an industry conference recently, but I have met constituents who feel like they really have been duped because there were advance…”

“But to go back to the individual case, my constituent depends on their car to earn a living. They had to borrow; it was a second-hand car, not a brand-new flashy car, but they still needed to finance it. Their credit history is not great and they had to trust that intermediary. Without the consumer knowing, that interm…”

“But when it comes to the lending element in particular, people trust the intermediary to act as an honest broker. This is not the same as chucking in some car mats or saying that a sat nav is included; this is about a financial arrangement, where people are trusting the intermediary to be an honest broker. If things li…”

“One decision, which you mentioned, is clear, and that is around discretionary arrangements. There is a fair understanding of what might happen next, so you might expect lenders to have already baked that in. As far as I understand it, the market is still operating fine. Do you think that it would be heavily disrupted i…”

“I guess my question is, is there really a threat to the market from this decision being upheld? It seems like the market has already adjusted.”

“That was actually going to be my question, Mr Thwaite, so perhaps I can ask you: is there a concern that, by delivering all these demand-side measures while supply is still constrained, we could simply be driving up prices over the medium run? I know there are commitments to increase it, but there always are. That make…”

“I appreciate that we should do that as well. Do you think that banks should act with caution, while the supply is—”

“I guess it is not necessarily against the banks’ interest, is it? Because if banks are still able to sell mortgages and they are going at higher rates, then you could still be getting a good profit from the mortgage market and would not be worried about the market clogging up.”

“Changing tack slightly, I want to talk about the Financial Ombudsman Service reforms. You will know them—the changes to fees, the two-stage complaints, and generally making it harder for claims to come via claims management companies. There is concern that some of these measures will weaken protections for consumers, w…”

“Can I ask you about that? I know that UK Finance has proposed to remove the FOS’ “fair and reasonable” remit. My understanding of that is that if, say, an 85-year-old customer transferred £3,000 somewhere overseas, then it is probably fair and reasonable for you not to have to investigate that, but if they transferred …”