William Wragg MP today made calls in the House of Commons for the Government to investigate the poor lending practices of Royal Bank of Scotland towards its small local business customers.
William spoke up to defend small businesses which had fallen victim to aggressive and improper lending practices by RBS, and raised directly with Treasury Ministers the case of one local business, a former building firm in Romiley which carried out work across gr, which had reportedly been forced into insolvency by the bank.
The banking giant is now majority owned by the Government following the 2008 banking collapse, and William also asked the Government to work to improve the reputation of the bank, ahead of the planned share sell off next year.
George Osborne announced in October that the Government wanted to return a significant share of its ownership of the bank to private hands in the New Year.
Speaking during a debate on the potential sale of Government’s RBS shares, William discussed how previous practices in the bank’s turnaround division had operated very concerning patterns of behaviour leading to the destruction of good and viable UK businesses, all for the sake of profit for RBS.
The details of this poor practice was detailed in a 2013 independent report by Lawrence Tomlinson. William called on the Government to publish a full response to the Report and to ensure the timeliness of a full investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority of the allegations against RBS.
William Wragg, MP for Hazel Grove Constituency, said:
“Whilst [the Government] still holds a large controlling stake in RBS, to use its position of influence to ensure that these matters are fully investigated, to deem what admission of wrongdoing is appropriate, and if necessary to facilitate compensation and the issuing of apologies to those business owners affected but this scandal.
“This is about more than just numbers on a balance sheet, this is about peoples’ businesses, jobs, homes, and lives.”
Responding directly to William’s questions, the Treasury’s City Minister, Harriet Baldwin, said that she understood the Financial Conduct Authority would report by the end of the year and that she would keep Parliament updated on its progress.
Commenting after the debate, William added, “I am pleased to have been able to speak in this important debate, and raise the case of poor treatment of businesses directly in the House.
“Whilst the long term goal of returning RBS to the private sector is a positive one, it is harder to proceed while this long shadow still hangs over RBS’s reputation.
“This story does not end with this debate today, and I will continue to press for a full and proper investigation and to get justice for mistreated businesses in my constituency.”