Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 45A: 45A: Clause 12, page 7, line 12, after first ““fund”” insert ““any”” The noble Baroness said: In moving Amendment No. 45A, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 45B and 45C. These amend Clause 12, which remove the obligation of secrecy from banks and building societies when they give the reclaim fund information to allow them to deal with repayment claims under Clauses 1 and 2. This is one of the amendments suggested to us by the Law Society of Scotland, which believes that Clause 12 provides inadequate protection as merely disclosing the existence of an account at first instance would be a breach of the banker’s duty of confidentiality and may also give rise to difficulties under the Data Protection Act. The amendments would remove the restriction to disclosures made only in connection with repayment claims under Clauses 1(2)(b) and 2(2)(b). As redrafted, the banks and building societies would be able to provide information on a broader basis, referring instead to any information needed by the fund to enable it to deal with claims on it. I hope that the Minister will see this set of amendments as helpful. I beg to move.