Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to the answer of 16 December 2025 to Question 98338, whether she has reviewed the Bank Confidential report; and if she will establish a judge-led inquiry into its findings.

The Treasury is aware of the Bank Confidential report about former misconduct in SME banking by the NatWest Group. The Government also recognises the serious impact that historical issues of misconduct have had on small businesses, and we acknowledge the significant distress and hardship this has caused to many business owners.

Successive Governments, as well as the Financial Conduct Authority, working with lenders, have taken steps that aimed to address these issues. This included helping to establish and support a range of compensation and redress schemes to enable those affected to seek appropriate compensation, with redress over interest rate hedging rate disputes alone paying out more than £2bn to affected customers.

As I set out in my previous response, the Government keeps the financial services regulatory framework under ongoing review, working closely with the Financial Conduct Authority.