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This Week – Future of Banking Commission meets; the Annual Financial Inclusion Conference; Bankers’ Bonuses; BoE Governor delivers inflation report.

Financial Inclusion Conference
On Monday I delivered a speech the Transact Annual Financial Inclusion Conference hosted by Toynbee Hall. The Transact project seeks to widen the debate around the issue of financial inclusion and raise its political profile.

It was satisfying to witness an energetic approach being taken to what is an urgent issue, and it was encouraging to see so many like-minded delegates.

Recent Treasury Committee Meetings
The Committee heard from Mervyn King last week. The Bank of England Governor has always been useful and informative in his appearances at the Committee. He also praised the quality of our reports and claimed they have resulted in helping to reform the banking sector.

The need for productive engagement with the Bank of England and other regulators such as the Financial Services Authority has been important in helping to get to the bottom of the banking crisis.

We continued our investigation into the Too Big To Fail inquiry, this week taking evidence from Lord Turner, Chairman of the FSA. It was interesting to hear his thoughts that the Barack Obama endorsed model of ‘narrow banking’ does not go far enough. He gave us his perspective that regulators must be proactive in achieving a tighter and safer financial services sector.

Future of Banking Commission
The recently launched Commission has got off to a flying start in recent weeks. On Thursday the Commission, made up of parliamentarians including myself, David Davis, and Vince Cable, also took evidence from the Governor along with senior academics and representatives of prospective new entrants into the banking sector.

Ideas for the long term reform of the banking sector were discussed, but with the consumer placed at the heart of any major decisions that would be made. It was interesting to listen to the views of experts and their suggestions for safeguarding the deposits of customers.

Daily Politics
I appeared twice this week on BBC’s Daily Politics show. On Monday I spoke about the Icelandic bank Landsbanki in 2008. I discussed the issue of the British Government compensating the savers who have lost out, but not yet being able to secure the return of this money from Iceland.

On Tuesday I was speaking about the devaluation of the pound in the foreign exchange markets at the start of the week. I do not agree that this is either the start of a sterling crisis or a reaction to Labour’s recent progress in the polls. In fact, as the Governor of the Bank of England said only last week, we should not take three or four day market movements as evidence of fundamental change. In addition, a more competitive pound is good for exporters. You can view the shows here and here.