Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what role the (1) Financial Conduct Authority, and (2) Prudential Regulation Authority, played in granting regulatory approval for Greensill Capital or its associates; and whether they advised BaFin in connection with the acquisition of Greensill Bank in Germany.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Greensill Capital (UK) Limited was not authorised by the FCA. It was a registered entity under the Money Laundering Regulations, which means that it was subject to FCA regulation only for compliance with Anti-Money Laundering rules, not for wider conduct issues. Greensill Capital Securities Ltd was an Appointed Representative of an FCA-regulated firm, under whose supervision it could conduct some regulated activities. However, it was not itself supervised or authorised by the FCA. Greensill Capital Securities Ltd is no longer an Appointed Representative.
At no time has the Bank of England authorised or supervised Greensill Bank AG, Greensill Capital (UK) Limited or any member of their group.
The UK Financial Authorities were not involved in the acquisition of Greensill Bank AG by Greensill Capital PTY in 2014.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 24 June 2019 (HL16211), whether they received a response from the Financial Conduct Authority after it had been made aware of the Parliamentary Question regarding Greensill.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Financial Conduct Authority acknowledged notification of the Parliamentary Question regarding Greensill referenced in the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 24 June 2019 (HL16211).
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether (1) ministers, or (2) senior civil servants, have met either (a) Mr Lex Greensill, or (b) representatives of Greensill Capital or SoftBank, since 1 January; and if so, (i) who attended the meeting, and (ii) on what dates were the meetings held.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Senior civil servants and ministers routinely meet and correspond with a range of private sector stakeholders. Transparency releases are published on a quarterly basis, and are currently publicly available for Senior Official and Ministerial meetings up to and including September 2020, which is in line with normal reporting timelines on disclosures.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether records at HM Treasury record or refer to any conversation since 1 January between David Cameron and ministers or senior civil servants relating to (a) Mr Lex Greensill, (b) Greensill Capital, or (c) Mr Sanjeev Gupta and his businesses; and if so, whether they will place copies of these records in the Library of the House.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Senior civil servants and ministers routinely meet and correspond with a range of private sector stakeholders. Transparency releases are published on a quarterly basis, and are currently publicly available for Senior Official and Ministerial meetings up to and including September 2020, which is in line with normal reporting timelines on disclosures.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further the Written Answer reply by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 16 March (HL13828), whether David Cameron attended any meetings with ministers or civil servants relating to Greensill Capital.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Senior civil servants and ministers routinely meet and correspond with a range of private sector stakeholders. Transparency releases are published on a quarterly basis, and are currently publicly available for Senior Official and Ministerial meetings up to and including September 2020, which is in line with normal reporting timelines on disclosures.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 16 March (HL13828), what records they hold of (1) correspondence, or (2) telephone conversations, between ministers and officials in (a) Her Majesty’s Treasury, (b) the Cabinet Office, or (c) the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy about (i) Lex Greensill, (ii) representatives of Greensill Capital, or (iii) the Rt Hon David Cameron, on matters relating to Greensill Capital.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Senior civil servants and ministers routinely meet and correspond with a range of private sector stakeholders. Transparency releases are published on a quarterly basis, and are currently publicly available for Senior Official and Ministerial meetings up to and including September 2020, which is in line with normal reporting timelines on disclosures.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Bank of England’s actions to insulate public funding to interest rate increases by issuing debt with larger maturities; and the effect of quantitative easing on that strategy.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The UK Debt Management Office, an executive agency of HM Treasury, is responsible for government wholesale sterling debt issuance, not the Bank of England. HM Treasury and the Debt Management Office seek to minimise, over the long term, the costs of meeting the Government’s financing needs, taking into account risk.
In its March 2021 Economic and fiscal outlook the Office for Budget Responsibility noted that quantitative easing reduces the average effective maturity of UK government debt from 15 years to 11 years. This maturity remains much longer than international peers, with most G7 countries’ debt maturity averaging 5-8 years.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on how many occasions over the last six months ministers and civil servants in (1) the Cabinet Office, (2) HM Treasury, and (3) the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, hosted meetings with (a) Lex Greensill, or (b) representatives of Greensill Capital; and whether David Cameron was present at any of the meetings.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Senior officials and ministers routinely meet with a range of private sector stakeholders. There are robust transparency processes in place to ensure appropriate scrutiny of such meetings. Transparency releases are currently publicly available for meetings up to and including September 2020, which is in line with normal reporting timelines on disclosures. These are published on a quarterly basis, with the most recent release published in February 2021. Mr Roxburgh’s transparency release from July-September 2020 will be published shortly, but there are no meetings with either Lex Greensill or representatives of Greensill Capital to report in this release.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether (1) they, or (2) any regulators, are investigating the impact on banks and asset managers of the suspension of dealing in funds managed by Greensill Capital, and in particular the effect on banks of (a) risk concentration limits, and (b) capital requirements.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Greensill is an international group of firms, including an Australian holding company and a German bank. There are two UK entities – Greensill Capital UK and Greensill Capital Securities Limited.
Greensill Capital UK is not authorised by the UK financial authorities. It is registered under Anti-Money Laundering regulations, which means that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) supervises it for compliance with anti-money laundering rules, but not for wider conduct issues.
Greensill Capital Securities Limited is not authorised or supervised by the FCA but was an Appointed Representative of a regulated firm (Mirabella Advisers). An Appointed Representative is a firm or person who carries out regulated activities under the supervision of a firm directly authorised by the FCA (known as a principal firm). A principal firm is responsible for ensuring that its Appointed Representative complies with the requirements, rules and regulations of the FCA.
HM Treasury has been working closely with the FCA and PRA to monitor developments and assess the implications for the financial sector, and with other government departments to understand any impacts that these developments may have on linked UK-based companies and the services they provide.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they (1) are investigating, or (2) plan to investigate, matters related to a fund managed by GAM investing in securities packaged by Greensill Capital.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Greensill is an international group of firms, including an Australian holding company and a German bank. There are two UK entities – Greensill Capital UK and Greensill Capital Securities Limited.
Greensill Capital UK is not authorised by the UK financial authorities. It is registered under Anti-Money Laundering regulations, which means that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) supervises it for compliance with anti-money laundering rules, but not for wider conduct issues.
Greensill Capital Securities Limited is not authorised or supervised by the FCA but was an Appointed Representative of a regulated firm (Mirabella Advisers). An Appointed Representative is a firm or person who carries out regulated activities under the supervision of a firm directly authorised by the FCA (known as a principal firm). A principal firm is responsible for ensuring that its Appointed Representative complies with the requirements, rules and regulations of the FCA.
HM Treasury has been working closely with the FCA and PRA to monitor developments and assess the implications for the financial sector, and with other government departments to understand any impacts that these developments may have on linked UK-based companies and the services they provide.