Banking Bill

There was a great deal of anxiety, but there was not an enormous exodus by British retail depositors from the banking system. It reflects very well on the common sense of the British people that they were not tempted to move all their money out to Ireland. Not a great deal happened; there were, of course, great problems in the wholesale market as we know, but in the retail market, although some individuals may have moved their money to Ireland, not many did. The reason for that basic common sense is that people understood that they were fully protected. They were fully protected not only by the deposit protection scheme, but by the certain knowledge that if banks went down, the Government would take them over and protect their deposits. However, had the position escalated and there had been a serious run on retail deposits, the British Government would have been forced to give stronger reassurances of the kind that I have just described.