Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 30 January 2019.
Thank you very much for raising that. Of course, bank regulation and the post office network are both responsibilities of the UK Government and we've been very clear time and time again that the UK Government does need to take a more coherent and strategic approach to community banking. We believe that all banks, when they leave a community, do have a responsibility to the customers who have often been giving their loyalty to that bank for decades, in many cases.
We know that, actually, six banks in total, that we're aware of, are due to close later this year, including the one previously mentioned in Tonypandy, which is one of the reasons that we're interested in exploring the idea of a community bank for Wales. So, we're in some very early-stage discussions with a number of stakeholders who are keen to explore with us the feasibility of establishing that community bank in Wales. That work will be led by partners who will prepare a full market assessment and business plan with the intention to submitting it then to the Bank of England as an application later on this year. Banking professionals working within the Development Bank of Wales will support the work, providing advice and guidance where appropriate and ensuring that the creation of a community bank does integrate with the existing financial institutions, including, for example, the Development Bank for Wales and the credit unions. The credit unions particularly are a really important part of that financial inclusion that the Member was talking about.