Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of local bank branch closures on vulnerable older people.

The Treasury does not make assessments of the impact of bank branch closures or reductions in customer service staff on vulnerable older people.

Decisions on the opening and closing of individual bank branches as well as on numbers of customer service staff are taken by the management of each bank on a commercial basis without intervention from Government. Banks and building societies need to balance customer interests, market competition, and other commercial factors when considering their strategy.

The Government welcomed the industry-wide Access to Banking protocol announced in March 2015 as well as Professor Russel Griggs’ recently published ‘one year on’ review evaluating the operation of the Protocol to date. We are pleased to see that, following the publication of the review, the industry is committing to further improvements to protect those affected by closures.

Banks’ and building societies’ treatment of their customers is currently governed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in its Banking Conduct of Business Sourcebook. The Sourcebook includes a general requirement for firms to provide a prompt, efficient and fair service to all of their customers. This includes older people, the disabled, and those who may lack the capacity to manage their account on their own. In addition, like all service providers, banks and building societies are bound under the Equalities Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments, where necessary, in the way they deliver their services.

The FCA has also launched a programme of work on how older consumers engage in financial services and make best use of financial products and services. They intend to release a regulatory strategy and recommendations in 2017.

The Government takes all fraud extremely seriously and is taking steps that will help to protect older people from online banking fraud. In February, the then Home Secretary announced the creation of a new Joint Fraud Taskforce. The Taskforce is a partnership between government, law enforcement and the financial sector, working in new innovative ways to deliver a more effective response to fraud.

The Home Secretary chaired an Oversight Board of the Taskforce in September, where a forward programme was agreed that will focus on: improving the national, regional and local law enforcement response to fraud; introducing a system to make it much easier for the victims of fraud to have their money repatriated; an industry led strategic action plan to address ‘card not present’ fraud; launching a very visible national fraud prevention campaign to provide targeted advice to protect members of the public; and a new collective approach to better support victims of fraud.