Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, Mark Isherwood AM, has today called on the Welsh Government to ensure that its proposals for a Community Bank do not compete with the financial services being provided by Post Offices.
Mr Isherwood raised the issue in the Welsh Parliament this afternoon when questioning the Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government, Hannah Blythin AM.
He said:
“Post Offices remain at the heart of our communities, especially where the last bank branch has closed. During the years of the UK (Labour) Government's Post Office Closure Programme between 2007 and 2009, we were repeatedly told here - and quite rightly so - that Post Offices had to become sustainable and that included the development of financial services.
“Last October we all received an announcement that the Post Office had agreed a new Banking Framework agreement with 28 UK banks, ensuring that bank customers continued to have free access to everyday banking services in every corner of Wales. It also ensured a fair and sustainable remuneration package for sub-postmasters and mistresses (for providing these vital services).
“So, how is the Welsh Government, therefore, engaging with the Post Office in the context of this Banking Framework agreement, to ensure that its proposals for a Community Bank do not compete with those services that simply fill in the gap, so that we can ensure that our Post Office network is here tomorrow and for next week, next year and future generations?”
In her reply, the Deputy Minister said: “Officials last met with Post Office Ltd earlier this month and actually raising awareness of the banking framework and commitment was one of the things high on the agenda, about how we can work with them, with the roles that we're doing across Government to ensure that Welsh citizens have access to the services they need”.
Last month, Mr Isherwood, a qualified Banker who worked in a mutual Building Society prior to becoming an Assembly Member, asked the First Minister, Mark Drakeford, what progress had been made to establish a Community Bank in Wales.
Speaking after that exchange, he said: “Although Mark Drakeford’s leadership manifesto pledged to create a new ‘Community Bank of Wales’ and ‘Banc Cambria’ has been formed as a co-operative society to deliver this, a prudent First Minister would instead be working with the Post Office to support our local Post Office Branches and ensure convenient, local banking facilities for individuals and businesses in communities across Wales, especially when the last bank branch has closed. A prudent First Minister would instead be working with our Credit Unions where Credit Unions can’t. Above all, a prudent First Minister would instead be working with industry experts and existing retail Banks and Building Societies to co-deliver sustainable local branch services at minimum public cost and maximum reach”.
