Speeches by Grady.

“When it comes to the imposition of remedies, leaving aside the judicial review, do you think that there is a reasonable argument that the PSR, or the PSR and the FCA, should have more, rather than fewer, powers to impose remedies to protect consumers against a duopoly of Visa and Mastercard?”

“To pick up on a couple more points, your investigation on cross-border interchange started in June 2022. We are pretty close to June 2025, so it has taken quite a long time. Consumers might ask, “We are paying more than we should. Why is this taking so long?”. With that in mind, do you carry out benchmarking or other l…”

“What about consumer protection? You have taken words out of my mouth, Dame Meg: it is really about consumer protection. I was quite surprised that your report in March looking at scheme and processing fees talked about competitive constraints, but I could not see any reference to consumer rights. Maybe they are not a c…”

“You mentioned consumer protection. There are these new ways of paying for things. If I was buying goods, I would always use a credit card because I would then have an additional route to claim. Ms Walsh and Mr Geale, I suspect you are not dissimilar on that front, being well informed. If we push people to pay using new…”

“This is the final question from me, because I do not want to try the Chair’s patience. There are trade bodies—we have seen it with fraud as well—with the banks and fintechs are having a right good go at it. Doubtless Mastercard, Visa and everyone else have several KCs and magic circle firms advising them. The odds are …”

“You will be looking at enhancements to those powers?”

“As we are looking at fresh legislation, will you be carrying out a review to see whether you should ask for an increase in powers, for example sanctions on people who do not co-operate with investigations?”

“On the investigation side, do you have enough powers to conduct investigations?”

“You are proposing remedies to regulate those. When will the remedies come into force, do you think, for both sets of investigations? You are looking at remedies for both, aren’t you?”

“This is a simple yes or no question, because I am a simple person: are customers in Glasgow East, and everyone’s constituents here, in your view, or the PSR’s view, effectively being overcharged?”

“You have two investigations on the go at the minute on cross-border interchange fees, and scheme and processing fees. For my constituents in Glasgow East, it boils down to this: they are paying more for goods and services than they should because Mastercard and Visa have been increasing fees well above inflation.”

“The mid-strategy review, of course, will come to an end. After that, will the work become less consumer-focused, or will it have the same regulatory focus on consumer protection?”

“Ms Walsh, you mentioned the Government’s deregulation agenda. Your organisation carries out work that saves people in Glasgow East, and all our constituencies, money and protects them. Is there any proposed substantive reduction in the work that you will do once you are in the FCA? Is there going to be any deregulation…”

“A family member of mine works for Virgin Money.”

“What would you most like to achieve as a member of the PRC?”

“You will feel entirely comfortable saying no to your former contacts in the industry.”

“Thank you very much, Mr Soanes. You have had a very long financial services career and that is the experience you will bring to bear in this new role. I guess that people might ask how you will feel, pushing back against the lobbying of your former colleagues.”

“That is all very interesting, Mr Enria. I have one macro question about the role of a regulator in financial services. All regulators fall into the fallacy sometimes of fighting the last battle, be it the tulip boom, the railway boom, property in the 1970s or the last financial crisis. Do you feel that the regulatory c…”

“You are calling for fiscal caution on the part of western Governments.”

“On the first chapter of your answer on the risk-free rate, is your real concern that various western economies are heavily indebted and, if the cost of borrowing goes up, that will feed through to the rest of the economy?”