Speeches by Glen.

“On the leverage regime you are subject to—perhaps someone else wants to comment as well—the big banks have MREL, the challenger banks have Strong and Simple, and you are subject to a third regime. The impression we get sometimes, from talking to industry, is that the PRA can be very conservative in its approach to this…”

“I get that you have constructive conversations. I would have said the same when I was sat there, but is it getting to the outcome that you need on the scale that the Government want? What I hear when I talk to different banks is that some of the conversations about bespoke arrangements can go on for years before there …”

“In certain parts of the country, it is a massive constraint.”

“Mr Haire, from Skipton’s perspective, is there anything you would like to add? You do not have to repeat anything.”

“So your conservative lending practices can point to historically very safe positions, and you therefore need more freedom to hold less capital so that you can do more with it.”

“As I understand it, the FCA has come back in the first half of this year on the wealth advice and guidance review, and you have spoken about the risks around the principles-based steer from the FCA and the rules-based ombudsman outcomes; there is an ambiguity between them. Can we get as specific as we can on what you n…”

“Can I come back on the issue of cash versus equity? I totally get that, with the age profile, when people are near retirement, it would generally be unwise to invest in equities. But this interacts with the challenge of financial education as well. For people below a certain age, it would be very unwise not to invest i…”

“If you are tracking the FTSE over 10 years on a tracker product, that does not really carry a big fraud risk, does it? What I am trying to get at is that there is a reasonable assertion around the mass use of trackers and low-risk equities, which is far better than the normal rate of return from interest over 10 years.”

“Point taken.”

“On stamp duty, when I was a Minister, we looked at this principle of someone downsizing from, say, a house of £800,000 to one of £500,000, and the argument was that if you say that people do not pay stamp duty on the £500,000, obviously there is a lot of dead-weight cost, because of all that equity. What was happening …”

“The question is, from a rational policymaking point of view, how do we achieve that outcome when, clearly, the argument is that we would be wasting money on people who do not need it—but then we do not get their behavioural change? What do you say to that?”

“I could not resist it. I wanted to do something, but I could not for the reason that I have just described.”

“About 40 new banks have been created over the last 10 years, but the concentration of customer accounts still massively resides with five of them. You are examples of some of those new banks. One of the things that we want to get to grips with is regulatory burdens. You will have gone on a journey to get your banking l…”

“So they did not index the thresholds to GDP, which was one of the things you wanted a few years ago in the regulatory changes. Is that what you would like them to do? Is there anything else? Is there not also some ambiguity over the £15 billion to £25 billion window? How clear are they about when it actually hits? If y…”

“Do you agree with that, Mr Davies?”

“Let us be clear. In the UK, about 10 years ago, we set up the new banks unit—Harriett probably did it. The regulator looks after the big banks, but there is no regulator that looks proactively, with you, at this middle stage. You have set up and got your licence, but then you are in a bit of an abyss before you get to …”

“Is that because they do not want to be at a competitive disadvantage to the US or Europe? That is why they are holding back.”

“It would be helpful if you wrote to us on that, because that is detail that we value.”

“Mr Mullen, is there anything you would like to add?”

“And you do not have the data to justify it.”