Tag: Charles Walker

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment she has made of which of her Department’s agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.

Mr Desmond Swayne

Under the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, a politically exposed person is one who has been entrusted with a prominent public function domestically or by a foreign country. This would include some senior civil servants, such as ambassadors and chargés d’affaires. The Government’s view is that the Directive permits a risk-based approach to the identification of whether an individual is a politically exposed person and, when identified, the Directive enables the application of different degrees of enhanced measures to reflect the risks posed. The Government will be setting out this view in a consultation which will be published shortly.

The changes proposed under the Directive should not prevent any individual in this category from gaining or maintaining access to financial services. The Treasury regularly raises these issues with financial institutions and the regulator, and we encourage financial institutions to take a proportionate, risk-based approach when applying these measures.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he plans to take to ensure that no bank accounts of military personnel are closed as a result of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive while they are on active service; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster

There is no reason why the bank accounts of any military personnel would be closed as a result of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive, whether or not they were on active service, unless financial institutions suspected individuals of fraudulent activity.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-05-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to increase the scope of the Financial Conduct Authority’s terms of reference to include the application of the Treating Customers Fairly policy to banks.

Harriett Baldwin

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is operationally independent of Government and its remit is set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Under the FCA’s policy, banks which are regulated by the FCA are already required to treat customers fairly. Principle 6 of the FCA’s Principles for Businesses states: A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what research his Department has undertaken on the social costs of fixed odds betting terminals; and if he will make a statement.

David Evennett

On 21 January the Government published its evaluation of the £50 regulations introduced in April 2015. You can find it here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/493714/Evaluation_of_Gaming_Machine__Circumstances_of_Use___Amendment__Regulations_2015.pdf

The evaluation indicates that a large proportion of players of FOBTs may now be making a more conscious choice to control their playing behaviour and their stake level. We will now consider the findings of the evaluation before deciding if there is a need for further action.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department’s agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department for Transport’s current assessment is that none of its senior civil servants, including those in its agencies or other public bodies, will fall under the provisions of the fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of implementation of the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849 on trade between US and European banks and financial service companies and their UK equivalents which include on their Board a Member of the House of Lords.

Harriett Baldwin

Under the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, a politically exposed person is one who has been entrusted with a prominent public function domestically or by a foreign country. The Government will publish an Impact Assessment in due course. This will set out the benefits and costs for businesses in a wide range of sectors, including banking and financial services.

The changes proposed under the Directive should not prevent any individual in this category from gaining or maintaining access to financial services. Board appointments will remain a matter for individual banks and financial services companies in line with relevant codes and regulations. The Treasury regularly raises the Directive with financial institutions and the regulator, and we encourage financial institutions to take a proportionate, risk-based approach when applying these measures.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-05-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on how many money service businesses had their bank accounts closed in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

Harriett Baldwin

The FCA have recently published a report on the nature and scale of de-risking in the UK. The report reinforces the view that de-risking is driven by a variety of factors, not just anti money-laundering compliance or a fear of regulatory action. From a data set of 23 banks the report noted that “tracking the proportionately tiny number of closures linked to financial crime concerns within this immense dataset is thus inherently challenging, especially if the reason for closure is primarily commercial, with a small component of the equation relating to ‘increased compliance costs’.”

However the report does indicate that the rate of customer exits has accelerated over the last 2-3 years.

Data from HM Revenue and Customs (the supervisor of Money Service Businesses outside the banking sector) shows that there are about 2000 MSB’s principals registered to trade with approximately 45,000 agents around the UK. It is a large and diverse sector. HMRC does hold data on the number of de-registered MSB’s, however given that MSB’s are not required to provide HMRC with information on when they have had their bank accounts closed, data on MSB’s effected by de-risking is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he or officials of his Department have had with Dr Salim Munayer and Musalah on prospects for reconciliation between Israel and Palestine; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not had discussions specifically with Dr Salim Munayer and Musaleh on prospects for reconciliation between Israel and Palestine. However we fund several projects through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund which aim to foster reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis. For example, we support the Peres Centre project to train Palestinian doctors in Israeli hospitals. This not only provides advanced training but also creates people to people relations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations he has received on the ethics of fixed odds betting terminals; and if he will make a statement.

David Evennett

On 21 January the Government published its evaluation of the £50 regulations introduced in April 2015. You can find it here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/493714/Evaluation_of_Gaming_Machine__Circumstances_of_Use___Amendment__Regulations_2015.pdf

The evaluation indicates that a large proportion of players of FOBTs may now be making a more conscious choice to control their playing behaviour and their stake level. We will now consider the findings of the evaluation before deciding if there is a need for further action.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department’s agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.

Anna Soubry

Under the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, a ‘politically exposed person’ is one ‘who is or who has been entrusted with prominent public functions’. This could potentially include some senior civil servants in the Department and its agencies or other public bodies.

The Government’s view is that the Directive permits a risk-based approach to the identification of whether an individual is a politically exposed person and, when identified, the application of different degrees of enhanced measures by banks and other financial institutions to reflect the risks posed. The Government will be setting out this view in a consultation, which will be published shortly.