Treasury Committee: Press Notice

TREASURY COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES NEXT STEPS IN BANKING CRISIS INQUIRY

The Treasury Committee announced today that it will take evidence from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Governor of the Bank of England and the Chairman of the Financial Services Authority at the start of its inquiry into the Banking Crisis, and also set out plans for the next steps in its inquiry.

Initial hearing

The first public evidence session will take place at 4.00 pm on Monday 3 November 2008 in the Wilson Room, Portcullis House, with the following witnesses appearing together:

As previously announced (in the Committee’s press notice of 14 October [see Note 1], the Committee is inviting members of the public to send in questions they would like to see put to the witnesses, which can be sent to bankingcrisis@parliament.uk up to 48 hours before the start of the hearing. Further information about submitting questions is given in Note 2 at the end of this announcement.

Listed financial institutions during the current period of heightened instability

The Committee has decided that, during the current period of heightened instability, it would not be appropriate for the Committee to take oral evidence from listed financial institutions. The Committee does expect to take evidence from such institutions at a later stage in its inquiry.

Topics for further hearings planned for November

The Committee plans to hold three further hearings in November on the following topics:

• The performance and actions of two banks that have recently been nationalised: Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley;

• Fair value accounting and accounting standards, and their role in the current financial crisis;

• Incentive structures (including remuneration policies) within financial institutions, and their potential effects on financial stability, both at the institutional and system-wide level.

The Committee will invite written evidence on these three specific topics when it announces the dates and witnesses for these hearings.  Further written evidence will be invited at a later stage in the inquiry. Details about the submission of written evidence will be given in a subsequent press notice.

1. PRESS NOTICE ISSUED ON 14 OCTOBER 2008

For details of the Committee’s press notice issued on 14 October, see:

http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/treasury_committee/tsc0708pn74.cfm

2. GUIDANCE FOR SUBMITTING QUESTIONS RELATING TO HEARING ON 3 NOVEMBER 2008

Questions can be submitted up to 48 hours before the hearing, which will take place at 4pm on 3 November. The Committee regrets it cannot accept any other form of submission apart from email to the following address: bankingcrisis@parliament.uk

Submissions should take the form of questions rather than statements and should be no longer than 100 words.  If  you wish to remain anonymous, please state clearly at the beginning of the email. 

The Committee regrets that not all questions submitted can be guaranteed to be asked.