Today, as Co-Chair of the All-Party Group of Fair Business Banking, I launched my report ‘Fair Business Banking for All’ in which I call for a new Financial Services Tribunal to be established for a simple, low-cost resolution of financial disputes to ensure justice for businesses when they are in a dispute with their banks. The report identifies and offers solutions to problems faced by small business accessing justice in banking disputes.
Over the last ten years we have witnessed disgraceful business banking scandals unfolding that have destroyed thousands of businesses and countless jobs. Some of these cases have involved my constituents who have talked to me about the terrible ordeals they have endured. It is clear to me and to other members of the APPG that there is a systemic failure with many of those firms that have suffered from disgraceful mistreatment and malpractice by their own bank denied access to justice. Not only are our banks too big to fail, they are also too big to take to court.
To address this my report recommends that an extension of legal rights to SMEs, giving them the same protections as ‘private persons’ under Section 138D of the Financial Services and Markets act 2000; the extension of regulatory protection and the establishment of an independent, quick, low-cost Financial Services Tribunal with procedural rules and legal powers to resolve financial disputes.
I am grateful to Lord Dyson, one of the country’s most senior judges for his endorsement. He said he “unreservedly commends this report”. The former Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice said it would enable SMEs “to use financial services in the knowledge that unresolved complaints could be determined affordably by an independent expert tribunal”.
Enterprise and entrepreneurship are the lifeblood of the British economy. To prosper further, we need banks and business to maintain a healthy, supportive relationship and to have confidence that when disputes arise, they are dealt with fairly, efficiently and effectively.
The report can be read in full here: https://www.cps.org.uk/publications/fair-business-banking-for-all/
The banking sector failures debate can be read here: http://bit.ly/2mndszM
More information about the APPG and its work can be found here: http://www.appgbanking.org.uk/