Financial Services Bill

My Lords, this is a rather shorter topic than my last one. The amendment would add a new subsection to Clause 2. Under Clause 2(1) the Council for Financial Stability must meet in each quarter of each calendar year, which is a rather curious formulation. It could mean that the council met at the end of one quarter and then again at the beginning of the next, with perhaps only a few days between so-called quarterly meetings. I hope that in practice the council will not meet in this way. My amendment would give transparency to meeting dates by requiring the council to publish them at least 12 months in advance. There is a substantive reason for making meeting dates well in advance. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee is required to meet monthly and the outcome of those meetings is watched carefully by financial markets. The Bank, being mindful of that, publishes the meeting schedule of the MPC well in advance. The meeting dates of the MPC are already well known for 2011. The meeting dates for the Council for Financial Stability may never have the high drama of the monthly decision on interest rates. The minutes of the first meeting that I have seen have nothing in them to interest markets, let alone move them. Nevertheless the topics discussed could become much more relevant to financial markets over time if, for example, it was clear that the council was watching excessive leverage building up or was considering actions necessary to counter it. It is just as likely to be on another topic, but I cite leverage because we are familiar with it as an issue from the recent financial crisis. If the way in which the council works becomes part of the framework of information which markets look to, some certainty about its meeting schedule would be highly desirable. That is what has been suggested by the British Bankers’ Association. I hope that the Minister sees the sense of that. I beg to move.